Among other findings, almost three-quarters think central banks will backstop markets if there is a correction, but few think calls on policymakers to break up Big Tech firms will happen next year. Most think this technology sector will continue to shine.

Asia-Pacific institutional investors are getting more defensive and think that market levels underestimate the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the economy, according to a survey by Natixis Investment Managers. 

More than half (53.8 per cent) of the investors said they have revised their portfolio allocations in response to COVID-19 concerns, it said. Among all investors around the world, 52.3 per cent took this view. The firm polled a total 500 institutional investors.

Reflecting a more defensive attitude amid the pandemic crisis, four in ten Asian investors (46.2 per cent) said they are parking more money into cash (against 39.5 per cent globally).

“Institutional investors in APAC are revising portfolio allocations in response to the pandemic and the ongoing geopolitical and social tensions around the region, with further economic pain expected to come in 2021,” Fabrice Chemouny, head of Natixis Investment Managers Asia-Pacific, said.

Asked about current financial market behaviour, some 82.1 per cent of respondents said that it is unsustainable, versus 78.0 per cent of global respondents, and 89.7 per cent said that valuations don’t reflect actual value.

Some 53.8 per cent of respondents reckon that tax hikes will come to restore pandemic-ravaged public coffers, although that is a lower share than the overall global investor view, at 65 per cent.