COVER STORY
Find out where you should invest your hard-earned cash
14 promising investment picks for 2014
Place your bets on these winning investments for the Year of the Horse.
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y most accounts, a nascent and patchy global economic recovery is underway, promising new opportunities for investors. But the question remains: should investors remain cautious, or take the risk and take bigger gambles? Are equities still attractive? Which markets will outperform in the next 12 months? Singapore Business Review interviewed several top investment analysts to get the answers to these critical questions. In doing so, we uncovered 14 of the most promising investment picks for 2014 – picks that could bring great returns amid the prevailing uncertainty and risk.
1. US equities According to most analysts interviewed, US Equities are predicted to shine in 2014, and are a steal given their current valuations and projected returns. Karen Lim, Head of Retail Sales, Southeast Asia at Alli-
“US equities are a good buy and will likely remain so in the long term.”
ance Bernstein, is confident that US equities are a good investment. “We believe that current valuations suggest that US equities are a good buy and will likely remain so in the long term, even in a higher-interest-rate environment brought about by the end of the Fed’s expansive monetary support,” Lim concurred. A survey by online brokerage firm E*TRADE revealed 63% of Asia Pacific customers said they were very confident or confident about the short-term performance of the US equity markets. “Our survey findings demonstrate that despite global economic uncertainty, individual investors remain confident in the foundations of the US economy and see considerable prospects for growth,” said Helen Chan, VP of Asia Pacific at E*TRADE. However, equities in general are considered to be a good investment given their valuations, and projected
returns relative to other asset classes, says Herve Lievore, Senior Macro and Investment Strategist at HSBC Global Asset Management. Lievore says; “With the current economic backdrop, corporate assets are the preferred asset classes relative to top quality government bonds based on valuation and expected earnings over the medium to long term.” 2. China equities Whilst equities in general are projected to shine in 2014, China equities will measure up with US equities as two of the most preferred picks in the category. Gary Dugan, CIO of Asia & Middle East at Coutts think this could be China’s year. “Although some investors may be disappointed with the slower pace of growth in China next year the growing awareness of the better quality of the Chinese economy should encourage larger foreign investment inflows and more domestic investment in the equity market.” The same E*TRADE survey found that around 51% of Asia Pacific investors were either confident or very confident of the short-term