THERE are few certainties in any market, but for top fund manager Albert Kam Kwok-shu the crystal ball shows that the Year of the Dog will be just as successful as the Year of the Rooster.
Mr Kam, winner of the Sunday Morning Post Fund Manager of the Year award, is confident the economic factors that propelled local markets to new heights in the past 12 months will continue.
Thornton Management's New Tiger Selection Hong Kong fund, managed by Mr Kam, was the region's best performer in the Hong Kong equities sector over the past one and three years.
''Our investment strategy was based on a positive China outlook even at times when this went against the market trend and when a hard landing was tipped,'' he said.
''Talk of recovery in North America, Europe and Japan will not detract from the fact that Asian economies are still the focus of investors' attention,'' he said.
''Within the Asian markets, Hong Kong has one of the best earnings potentials because of the China factor, and with GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth forecast at five per cent, the territory has a strong local economy in its own right.'' Expectations that growth in China will ease to a more sustainable 10 per cent this year, compared with about 14 per cent in 1993, will also generate a more positive market sentiment.
