SWFs hold off foreign buys, invest at home

Senior executives of some of the world's biggest funds said they held off any substantial investment for now and were generally cautious, particularly with bailing out distressed firms, according to a survey by Financial Dynamics International published on Sunday; Kazinform has learned from Today's Zaman. "SWFs are broadly adopting a very cautious approach to the current market, expecting better value to materialize later during the year," the survey found. The funds see attractive opportunities in Western European stock markets thanks to lower price-earnings ratios, and in Brazil, China and part of Central America, but they would wait until markets further drop, the survey found. "We are ready to re-enter the market in a major way -- but not for several months given that we are sure prices are only heading down," the survey quoted an unnamed senior executive at a fund as saying.