Based on valuation and momentum, Italian and French equities remain our favourite markets to be long in. Japanese equities are no longer among our top three. Swedish, Australian and Canadian equities remain our least favoured equity markets.
Last week we published our top picks among developed equity markets and we will update this on a weekly basis. This week there are a few changes to the top with Italian and French equities still amongst the top three. Being long in those two markets will essentially be a bet on the recovery of the euro area economy. Our least favoured equity markets are the Swedish, Australian and Canadian which have the common denominator of having either high natural resource exposure or dependence on economic growth in Asia.
Valuation Assessment
As the table also shows, valuation is not dangerously high despite the recent rally with the average P/E ratio at 14.1 and the dividend yield at 3.3 percent.