SLI's Legget: Banks are too cheap to avoid

Standard Life Investments' Ed Legget has bought into Barclays in both his £447m UK Equity Unconstrained and £67m UK Equity High Alpha funds to take advantage of its depressed share price.

Legget said the market sell-off, which has seen Barclays’ share price tumble more than 20% over the past two weeks, has been overdone. He has built up a 3% position in the stock in both funds. Legget believes Barclays is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated rebound in the market. He said banking share prices have hit such low levels it would be risky for investors not to have exposure to the space. The manager also owns Lloyds in his UK Equity Unconstrained fund. “With the hit to corporate and consumer confidence sending the market into disarray, I have been looking for ...