Local EMD vital to fixed income allocation


The growth of local currency emerging market debt (EMD) is a sustainable long-term trend that Australian investors are yet to take advantage of.
That's according to Blair Reid, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's lead portfolio manager, global fixed income, who said that investors have the opportunity to benefit from emerging market currency appreciation, higher yields and better fundamentals relative to many developed markets.
He said the asset class also has a low correlation to Australian equities and fixed income, which provides portfolio diversification benefits.
"The world has changed and the whole spectrum of investment choice in the fixed interest market today is much broader than it was five years ago," Reid said.
Local emerging market debt should be a strategic allocation within an overall fixed income portfolio, he said.
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