Investors must be careful about whether China can continue to rein in inflation while maintaining growth, with any slowdown in China likely to hit the domestic share market even harder, according to Prime Value chief investment officer Leanne Pan.
“Our view is that when China’s growth increases we tend to benefit more than China itself, but when China slows we will slow more than the Chinese,” Pan said.
Australia will continue to be strongly influenced by China over the coming financial year, according to Pan.
The continuing shift towards developing markets will continue over the long term as well, she said.
Resources and mining related stocks will continue to perform strongly despite short-term reverses, Pan added.
Local shares were trading at reasonable valuations, but their benefit depended on possible earning downgrades as well as global markets.
The effect that Europe would have on the sharemarket will be difficult to gauge, Pan said.
“The market often anticipates problems and can overshoot both on the upside and downside,” she warned.
The two funds have announced the signing of a non-binding MOU to explore a potential merger.
The board must shift its focus from managing inflation to stimulating the economy with the trimmed mean inflation figure edging closer to the 2.5 per cent target, economists have said.
ASIC chair Joe Longo says superannuation trustees must do more to protect members from misconduct and high-risk schemes.
Super fund mergers are rising, but poor planning during successor fund transfers has left members and employers exposed to serious risks.