Littlewood: I am more risk-off than ever before

Artemis Strategic Assets fund manager William Littlewood is running the lowest net equity position in the fund's history in expectation the current rally cannot continue.

Littlewood (pictured) has a net equity position of 49% on the £880m fund, with long exposure running at 63% and short exposure at 14%, the latter figure representing a record high. The manager said he would be prepared to buy back in to equities at lower levels, but has concerns over the valuations of many cyclical companies and the recent market run up. He is shorting cylical shares which are discounting "peak margins in perpetuity", and has also taken profits on other stocks and eliminated previous long positions such as a long Nikkei future. "We have a net equity position of 49%...