Aussie investors optimistic about future growth
Australian investors saw a ‘particularly marked’ rebound in optimism in the last quarter of 2020, according to PIMCO.
In its quarterly sentiment survey, PIMCO said Australians had been hit harder than other nations by the pandemic in economic terms but there had since been a surge in optimism. They were second only to Taiwan when it came to forecasting economic success in 2021.
Some 63% expected to achieve better-than-average investment returns over the next 12 months and 57% expected to outperform the benchmark index, up from 40% in the previous survey.
“The previous survey (Q3 2020) suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Australian investors more severely than most. Nevertheless, the latest (Q4 2020) survey shows a surge in optimism among Australian respondents about prospects for their own portfolios,” PIMCO said.
“This turnaround in outlook is a feature of APAC as a whole for the quarter but in Australia, it is particularly marked, with 50-point swings in the investor sentiment for the home and regional economies.”
However, this optimism about the economy was tempered by concerns for their personal finances with the majority of Australian investors saying they are just as or more so concerned than they were in the previous quarter. This was particularly the case for women who had been worse affected by job losses in the pandemic.
Looking at asset allocation, multi-asset strategies were most popular during the fourth quarter followed by property and REITs then commodities. Actively-managed strategies were more popular than passive ones.
Male investors were more likely to be reducing their cash weightings while females planned to allocate more to it as a way of seeking liquidity to reinvest in new opportunities.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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