Emerging markets most desired among buyers of protected investments

Emerging markets is the investment area to which investors are most eager to gain exposure through a protected investment, according to research from Barclays Wealth.

In a recent survey of 742 customers, Barclays Wealth found that emerging markets was the underlying investment area to which investors were keenest to gain exposure without putting their capital at risk.

Winning a 17.3 per cent share of the overall vote, emerging markets proved the most popular investment sector with the more established areas of Europe (16 per cent), UK equities (14.1 per cent) and property (16.6 per cent) somewhat behind.

The balance was made up of commodities (10.9 per cent), US equities (10.5 per cent), Eastern Europe (8.6 per cent) and Latin America (6.1 per cent).

Colin Dickie, director, Barclays Wealth, says: "Emerging markets is clearly a key area for protected investment buyers and came out significantly ahead of a number of more mainstream investment options. This suggests investors want exposure to the high returns emerging markets has the potential to deliver but remain wary of the area's volatility and diversity.

"Our Emerging Markets Optimiser investment is designed to auto-manage risk, giving investors a smoothed return in addition to the comfort of knowing their initial capital will be returned if held to maturity. There is a lot of market commentary around the use of volatility to manage investment risk, with emerging markets proving an ideal investment area in which to use this technique, in particular with capital protection. The research shows there is real demand for this kind of investment and we hope it continues to be as popular as it has been so far."