Aberdeen's Docherty looks to defensives on wary outlook

Aberdeen's head of global equities Stephen Docherty has been adding defensive stocks to the £664m World Equity portfolio in anticipation of the end of the cyclical rally.

The manager said valuations have become expensive and he is seeing better value in defensive stocks so has added to these at the margin of the portfolio. “Two years ago when the credit crunch was in full swing, cyclicals got battered and we bought them at a huge discount. They have rallied from their lows and there are still economic uncertainties, so we now perceive them to be more expensive,” he said. Performance Docherty leads a team of 14 people managing a total of £15bn in assets. He joined Aberdeen in 1994 and has run the World Equity fund since its launch in July 2003. The ...