LONDON: Private bank Coutts is selling some of its equity positions after a sharp stock market rally in Europe and Japan since October, looking for opportunities in countries which have lagged and keeping parts of the proceeds in cash.

“We think it makes sense to reduce overweight positioning in global equities and focus on areas of better value - markets or sectors that have lagged in the recent rally and should have greater upside,” Coutts’ UK chief investment officer Alan Higgins said in a note to clients.

Higgins said German stocks “no longer look like good value” after a 30 percent rise over the past six months. He is switching some of his positions out of Germany and into Italy and Spain, where the benchmark local indexes have respectively gained 17 percent and 10 percent in the same period.

“Given the dearth of good investment opportunities at present, we also think it makes sense to keep some powder dry while waiting for better and more attractively valued prospects to appear,” he said.—Reuters