Intl shares in favour: AMP Henderson

The country's largest fund manager AMP Henderson is adding its weight to the view that international equities is the most favoured place to be putting money at the moment.

Investment strategist Paul Dyer says the company's balanced funds have moved to an overweight position in international shares for the first time in three years.

He says on a relative basis international shares look a far better bet than global fixed interest.

AMP says that in the past quarter and past quarter equities have had shocking performances falling up to 30%, while fixed interest and cash have boomed.

It says fixed interest and cash has delivered returns of 9.8% and 6.6%. Investors with diversified portfolios would have suffered losses in the recent period, however the fixed income part of the portfolio would have worked to counter some of the equities losses.

AMP Henderson chief investment officer Chris Wozniak says property has also been quite good, producing a "solid but not exceptional" performance of 5.9%.

"Diversification has worked relatively well in this environment," he says.

Dyer says although fixed interest has performed well, that situation won't continue.

"We believe (global bonds) will be the poorest performing sector over the next 6 months."

On a strategic level Dyer calls on history to provide a guide of where markets may go.

History shows that there is normally a sharp equity sell off immediately after a major event such as the Cuban missile crisis or the Gulf War.

However, it also shows that a year after the event the markets are normally as high as they would have been in normal times.

In the past 50 years, the US market has averaged 25.8% in the first year after a crisis, and 37% growth during the first two years.

You can read Philip's blog here: http://www.goodreturns.co.nz/blog/

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