Schroders’ Dobbs doubles Singapore weighting to 20%

Schroders’ Matthew Dobbs has taken his fund’s Singapore weighting from 10% to 20% since May, as prices have become more attractive.

The manager of the £208m Oriental Income trust funded the move by trimming exposure to other countries, including selling his Indonesian holdings.

Singapore is now the second largest country allocation in the fund after Australia, which accounts for 25%.

“I have moved quite a lot into Singapore. It has attractive stocks on good valuations and the Singapore dollar is a currency I understand,” he says.

Holdings are a broad mix including financials, property, consumer, and industrials, he adds.

Dobbs is particularly bullish on the outlook for property in the country, with two of the fund’s top ten holdings in real estate investment trusts (Reits).

He also holds a number of real estate related names in other countries and is not concerned about talk of an asset bubble.

“I see property as a proxy for domestic growth and I believe in Asia, this asset class has a long way to go,” he says.