Fidelity's Shah: Now is best time to buy shares since 2009

Fidelity's Sanjeev Shah, manager of the group's £2.7bn Special Situations fund, said UK share prices look their most attractive for two years following the sell-off in markets.

Shah, who took over the portfolio from Anthony Bolton in 2008, said shares are trading at historically low multiples of earnings, while also offering attractive dividend yields.

As such, he said the market today looks as attractive as 2009, when shares rallied off lows by as much as 70% over the next year and a half.

Although this time around the sell-off is nowhere as severe, Shah said markets were nonetheless throwing up a number of opportunities.

"The fall in share prices has shaken investor confidence this summer but, for an investor who likes to go against the flow, this represents the best opportunity in more than two years to find new opportunities, or add to my positions," he said.

Shah has also sold the protection he took out for the portfolio earlier this year.

"I had recently taken out some protection by buying puts when the market was above 6,000. These I have now sold when the market got to the 5,000 level," he said.

Shah's contrarian investment strategy has seen him steer clear of a number of sectors which thrived prior to the recent correction.

He has dodged miners while backing banking stocks, including the domestic names, which has impacted performance.

In the last year alone his fund lost 7.2% compared to the UK All Companies sector average gain of 3.8%. The FTSE 100 itself has effectively stood still over the last year, with any gains wiped out in the recent correction.

However, he is sticking to his guns and backing companies in the growth space which he expects to deliver sustainable sales and earnings streams.

For a full list of stocks Shah is snapping up amid the sell-off, click here.