Global asset managers have voted in favour of Indian equities in the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest Fund Manager Survey (FMS) by BofA Securities. About 42% of the fund managers surveyed preferred India over other regional markets, placing it ahead of Japan (39%), China (6%), and Singapore (3%).
Working in India’s favour is its ongoing supply chain realignments, strong macro factors and optimistic consumption trends, the survey noted. Experts would argue that the revival in confidence comes barely months after India slipped to the second-least favoured stock market in Asia in February. The survey took responses from 208 global panelists, who manage about $522 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Other interesting findings in the survey show that about 58% fund managers believe that there will be an earnings slowdown, which is a slight improvement in sentiment from a month before wherein 78% were certain of a slowdown especially after Trump’s tariffs disrupted economic and market sentiment.
China is also clawing back into the minds of these fund managers and has managed to climb to the 3rd spot after it languished at the bottom as the least favoured nation the month before.Thailand and Taiwan continue to rank as the least preferred markets.
Among key themes that the fund managers are keeping an eye out for include infrastructure and consumption. Sentiments towards the semiconductor industry has also improved, with only 42% now expecting a slowdown in the chip cycle versus 59% last month
All-in-all, a turnaround in the economic growth outlook has boosted market return expectations across the Asia-Pacific region.