Diversification still essential

       The worst of the global recession may have passed but enough uncertainties remain to make investors desperate for expert advice.
       Suppamas Payakapan, an analyst at Phillip Securities, said asset allocations could be divided into three markets:high-risk (commodities and equities),medium-risk (debt instruments) and lowrisk (money market).
       "Investors should allocate 30% of their investment portfolios to high-risk assets,50% to debentures and 20% to the money market," she said.
       For the high-risk market, investors may increase their weighting on gold to about 10-15%, as it is a safe asset and good for speculation, while stocks could make up 10% and oil 5%, she said.
       "Growth stocks are still attractive as they have been on an upward trend in the past three months and are expected to continue rising until the first half of next year," she said.
       Attractive sectors remain energy, property and banking, as they tend to move with broad market conditions, while oil prices are likely to rise further into the next year.
       Patchara Samalapa, deputy managing director of Kasikorn Asset Management,said that although the economy had picked up, it had not yet reached the point where everyone could feel relieved.Stock prices could be affected by risk factors in the fourth quarter relating to economic uncertainties and the performance of listed companies.
       "When investors are not sure whether stock prices will go up or down, as at this time, they should make sure of liquidity," he said.
       At the moment, he said, investors should not lock their money into long-term government bonds that mature in three to five years as they will not be able to get money when they want to invest in stocks as the market goes up.
       Somjin Sornpaisarn, CEO of TMB Asset Management, said investors should have a neutral asset allocation among three areas: equity, short-term fixed income,and long-term fixed income.
       "Equity has been on a rise during this period. The money market offers quite little return and 10-year bonds yield only 4%, so it's not the time to overweight your investment on either type," he said.
       "It's better for investors to consider the period of investment to match the money they have."
       Investors might add commodities in a ratio of about 10-15% of their portfolios,said Dr Somjin. Diversifying to overseas markets to reduce risk is also essential.It could be 20% for domestic equity and 10% overseas.