Europe still favoured for yields and international firms

Singapore

EVEN as the possibility of a Greek default remains alive, Europe remains a buying opportunity due to its relatively high dividend yields and its international companies, a couple of fund managers have told The Business Times.

Dividend yields at 3.5 per cent are the highest among developed economies. European corporates get two-thirds of their earnings from outside the eurozone, and will get a boost from a weak euro, they said.

Paras Anand, Fidelity's head of pan-European equities, has argued that Greece's current negotiations with its debtors represent the peak of the appeal of populist parties in Europe. If Greece manages to stay in the Eurozone because the anti-austerity Syriza party makes some concessions, people will be disillusioned. "Very few parties ca…