ING Barings Advises Asian Investors To Change Investment Strategy

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

31 October 2001

Investment bank ING Barings is urging investors in Asia to change their investment strategy in favour of 'pro-growth' stocks and stay clear of defensive and value-driven sectors such as utilities. In particular the bank is advising investors to increase their holdings of companies such as Hutchison Whampoa, HSBC Holdings and TVB and move out of companies such as Swire and Cheung Kong Holdings.

It is also advising investors to purchase more cyclical stock in the technology sector such as Samsung Electronics, NCsoft and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.

'Utilities have done their bit for our portfolio. They have given us relative outperformance and paid handsome dividends,' said ING Barings chief strategist, Markus Rosgen. 'Avoiding the growth sector appears to have been the right strategy to date, but will it be thus going forward? We believe not.'

According to the bank utility stocks have outperformed by 75 per cent since early last year and financials have outperformed by 57 per cent. ING Barings says its analysis has shown that relative to cyclical stocks, defensive sectors are now pushing through the upper boundaries of their trading ranges and when the global economy begins to pick up - which will be in the first half of 2002 predicts ING Barings - pro-growth stocks should outperform defensives and telecoms.

In addition, said Mr Rosgen, growth stocks are currently very cheap and are trading at levels equivalent to previous periods of extreme pessisism in stock markets. In the last 27 years, the Asian stock markets (which are now priced at one times book value) have only ever been this cheap for a total of 157 days, which is a mere 1.5 per cent of the time.

ING Barings also says that the market is ripe for more upgrades in the technology sector which has recently seen substantial declines and claims that liquidity is on the increase as governments in the US and Europe have injected large amounts of cash into the system while simultaneously implementing fiscal and monetary initiatives to stimulate economic demand.

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