Australia is offering better opportunities than Asia for income investors, according to Jason Pidcock, manager of the £1.8bn Newton Asian Income fund.
Mining stocks slumped in afternoon trading as Rio Tinto said it has seen slowing demand from China, its best customer, while Australia implemented a controversial mining tax.
The past three years have been a tumultuous time for the financials sector, which has seen a phase of deleveraging, rights issues and balance sheet repair which continues to this day.
Barings' multi-asset team has bought £350m in Italian government bonds in the expectation European banks will use the ECB's Long Term Recovery Organisation (LTRO) to buy government debt.