Fund selectors: Our key calls for portfolios at the start of 2018

Asset allocations for the year ahead

Asset allocators are positive on risk assets - especially Asian equities - at the beginning of 2018, while they remain cautious on the UK and are concerned about the potential for policy errors by central banks, as they reveal their new year portfolio positioning.

While some fund selectors who spoke to Investment Week were sceptical about how long the equity market bull run could continue, the majority concluded a correction was unlikely in the first half of the year. Global equity markets have reached fresh record highs in the early part of 2018, after a strong 2017 when the FTSE 100 closed the year at 7,687 points and the S&P 500 reported gains every month. Meanwhile, the volatility index (VIX) remained unusually low during the year at around 11. Third of UK wealth managers opting for 'correction protection' Ryan Hughes, head of fund selec...