World investors cut back stocks as risk aversion reigns

London

WORLD investors lifted exposure to bonds and cut back on more volatile equities as sentiment was buffeted by a Russian currency crisis, an uncertain growth outlook and rapidly declining energy prices, according to a Reuters poll.

A monthly survey of fund managers in the United States, Japan, Europe and Britain in which 48 institutions took part, found the average allocation to stocks in balanced portfolios fell nearly a percentage point to 48.2 per cent.

This marks the third consecutive month that exposure to equities has fallen. Allocations to bonds, seen as relatively stable and typically favoured at times of market volatility, rose for the fifth month running, increasing to 38.2 per cent f…