Kames Capital

Fund managers are snapping up cheap portfolio insurance ahead of an expected market pull-back, after the VIX index hit pre-recession lows in March.

Kames Capital is to waive the performance fee on its £65m UK Equity Absolute Return fund for the rest of the year, and will cut it in half from 2013 onwards.

Investors ask whether falling Chinese housing starts could trigger end of commodity super-cycle.

ON BONDS

Former LV= Asset Management chief investment officer (CIO) Piers Hillier has joined Kames Capital as head of overseas equities.

As the volatility index trends downwards investors should be selling - not buying - risk assets, said Kames Capital's David Roberts and Phil Milburn as they warned the eurozone crisis will return to haunt markets.

Cash positions across bond funds are creeping up as managers struggle to maintain liquidity in an environment of restricted bank lending.

M&G tops both retail sales lists as investors seek out bond funds, while BlackRock's active and passive vehicles also prove popular.

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.

Burberry has been named the best stock to buy in 2012 by Kames Capital's head of UK equities, Stephen Adams.