Although they were hardly hot spots last year, the markets of Asia excluding Japan should outperform in 1996, quite a few portfolio managers believe.
A recent survey of managers by Rivel Research Group, Westport, Conn., showed of the portfolio managers who said they invest outside the United States, the largest percentage - 52% - cited Asia-ex-Japan as the region they expect to fare best over the next 12 months.
(The U.S. market was not included as a choice.)
In second place was Latin America, cited by 29.4% of respondents. In third place were the markets of Western Europe, cited by 23.5% of respondents as the likely winners.
Prospects for other regional markets appear less bright. For example, only 16.2% of survey respondents expect Japan's market to lead the pack. In addition, North America excluding the United States was favored by 10.3%, while the markets of Eastern Europe excluding Russia and the markets of Nordic Europe were tied at 8.8%, and Russia trailed with 4.4%.
In the broad survey, Rivel Research queried portfolio managers involved with managing assets for pension funds and other institutional investors, mutual funds, insurance companies and banks.
Of the 200 portfolio managers questioned in the broad survey, 34% said they trade in non-U.S. equities.
