Mobius mulls adding exposure to North Africa

28 July 2011 12:00 pm | By Joanne Ellul

Templeton Emerging Markets Group executive chairman Mark Mobius is considering adding North Africa exposure into his global emerging market funds.

Mobius runs the £27m global emerging markets fund, £834m emerging markets Sicav and £2.3bn emerging markets investment trust.

Speaking to Money Marketing, he said: “The problem with the Africa market is liquidity and as liquidity increases, we will start to add exposure to the global funds.

“Africa is at the cusp of new growth and we see a long-term trend of good development in terms of economic growth, foreign investment and consumer income.”

Mobius says it will take a year or two until the Chinese renminbi increases in value.

He says: “It is not that overvalued against the US dollar, about 12 per cent. As it goes up, China will import more food.”

Skandia fund manager Francois Zagame, who manages the £1bn global dynamic equity fund, says he expects inflation in China to fall in the coming months.

Since February, Zagame has added 2 per cent to his Asia position to make up a 6 per cent overweight in Asia, taken away 3 per cent from the US to a more underweight position of 5 per cent and moved from an underweight to a neutral position in the UK.

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