Investors seek returns through diversification

Investors are becoming increasingly more diverse with their investments according to new research from Barclays Stockbrokers, with 79 per making concerted efforts to ensure their portfolio is diversified. A fifth (20 per cent) of investors diversify their portfolio through investing in different asset classes, 19 per cent through different markets and 40 per cent through different sectors such as aerospace and financial services. However, there are a number of investors that do not employ any of these techniques – 22 per cent admitted they don’t yet have a diversification strategy.

Melissa Jenner, Director at Barclays Stockbrokers comments: “It is encouraging that investors are making such good efforts to fully diversify their portfolios. Given recent market volatility it is essential that investors have a balanced portfolio. This used to be achieved by investing in a basic mix of asset classes such as cash and bonds, but now investors can exercise increasingly sophisticated techniques to maximise their returns. In the last year we have seen the growth of clients using products such as CFDs, Investment Notes and ETFs and we can see demand for these products continuing to increase. With investors having better access to a broad range of market and product types, diversification strategies can come in many forms.”