Templeton fund manager Mark Mobius picks China and Nigeria as tips over the next 12 months, according to an interview with Reuters. Mobius oversees more than $40 billion as chairman of Franklin Templeton’s Emerging Markets Group.
He said Chinese firms in sectors linked to consumption, such as food, clothing, restaurants and services, could pose good investment opportunities as the consumers in China get wealthier.
Aside from opportunities in the so-called “BRIC countries” – Brazil, Russia, India and China – Mobius says there are favourable prospects in frontier markets. Nigeria is his top pick: “I know it’s way out in terms of people’s minds. The risks are there of course. But it’s a big country, it’s one of the biggest in Africa, and it’s a fast-growing country, so I think there’s a great opportunity there.”
He said the biggest risk was that too much money would be invested in the market, chasing too few stocks. This needed to be balanced by a good supply of initial public offerings and secondary issues. “.. that balance is very, very important because you’ve got to get this money in a home where it’s relatively safe. And some of these IPOs are in pretty good shape, so that’s something we have to watch very carefully,” he said.