Merrill Lynch Turns Bullish on Philippines

Investment banking heavyweight Merrill Lynch recently took a contrarian position by turning bullish on the Philippines according to the Finance Asia.

Merrill increased weightings on the country following the improvements in the company’s composite valuations which makes the Philippines the third most attractive market following Australia and Taiwan.

While Merrill sees rising oil prices as a challenge, ``Merrill Lynch notes that its new country allocation however appears to be in flagrant contrast to how a fund manager should be positioned, if the conviction is oil prices will keep rising. However, the firm notes that the impact of oil prices on a market is different from the overall call on that market,” notes Rita Raagas De Ramos for Finance Asia.

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