Bolton betting on equities again
Anthony Bolton, the former manager of the Fidelity Special Situations fund and one of the UK's most high-profile investment managers, is optimistic that the stock market is approaching its low point and has in recent weeks bought shares for the first time in two years.
Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Bolton said he believed that "a lot of ingredients are now there to restore confidence" in the stock market, and that he saw "a lot of value in certain areas of the market".
He said: "I think the real lesson in times like this is not to be shaken out when the environment is very uncertain, because those are the conditions that make the lows in the stock market.
"Investing is about buying the fundamentals of companies and their attraction as an investment. But the stock market is also a place of fashions, it is a voting machine as much as a weighing machine. At times like the moment when people are very negative, I want to be a contrarian and go against that."
Bolton added that he had recently bought shares for "the first time for a long time", having previously sold his equity holdings two years ago. He added that he thought a recession in the UK had already been priced in to UK equities, making them an inexpensive and attractive bet.
Bolton remains a senior strategist at Fidelity, having stepped down from active fund management in 2006. As manager of Fidelity's Special Situations funds, he earned an average annual return of more than 20% over his 27-year tenure.
-- write to mturner@efinancialnews.com
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