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Investing.com-- Asian fund managers turned more optimistic over the economic outlook amid cooling investor concern over the economic impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, a Bank of America survey showed.
BofA said its survey of about 222 Asian fund managers, who control a total $587 billion in assets under management, showed 70% of participants seeing only a slightly negative impact on Asian markets and economies from Trump’s tariffs.
The survey was conducted between June 6 and June 12.
The positive outlook was driven chiefly by lingering hopes for a trade deal and persistent monetary easing by major global central banks.
Expectations of an improvement in corporate earnings also drove optimism, while investors were encouraged by signs of stability in China’s growth outlook, BofA said.
Among individual countries, BofA said its survey found Japan to be the most favourite market “by a distance,” followed by Taiwan and South Korea, while India was in the fourth spot.
Optimism over Japan was driven by increasing favorability towards banks, which stand to benefit from higher interest rates, while semiconductors were also favored. Taiwan and Korea are benefiting from resurgent semiconductor demand, BofA said, while Korea is also benefiting from optimism around its new government.
China dropped in preference to the fifth spot in BofA’s survey, followed by Australia, and Thailand.
Among sector preferences, BofA said fund managers were biased towards semiconductors, software, tech hardware, and banks, in Asia ex-Japan. Investors were wary of materials, energy, industrials, and real estate.
In China, AI and chips remained the most favored themes, while in India, investors were geared towards consumption and infrastructure, while shifting away from IT services.