UK retail investors believe the best equity opportunities lie outside their home market, but most still prefer to buy shares in domestic companies, according to new research from fund manager Franklin Templeton.
The survey finds 88 percent of British respondents think the top equity investments over the next 10 years will be found globally. Just 28 percent, however, plan to invest beyond the UK market this year, with 34 percent expecting to invest globally sometime in the next 10 years.
Franklin Templeton puts the discrepancy down to ‘home bias’ – where investors prefer to invest in companies they are familiar with – and the global exposure of many UK-listed companies.
‘The ‘home bias’ trend shown by the Franklin Templeton Global Investor Sentiment Survey is not entirely surprising, given that UK adults recognize listed UK companies have good growth opportunities through exposure to global markets,’ comments Paul Spencer, fund manager of the Rensburg UK Mid-Cap Growth Trust, in a release.
