LONDON (Reuters) – Investors increased their allocations to cash and reduced their overweight positions in equities in August as expectations for global growth fell to an eight-month low, a BofA survey of fund managers published on Tuesday showed.
According to the survey, 31% of respondents said they were overweight in equities in August, down from 51% in July. Their average liquidity level was 4.3% of their assets under management, up from 4.1% a month earlier.
BofA attributed the shift to weak U.S. payrolls data for July and the volatility shock that accompanied the yen’s recovery.
According to BofA, 189 participants with $508 billion in assets under management responded to the survey.
47% of respondents expect the global economy to be weaker in the next 12 months, down 20 percentage points from July.
(Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)
