Dubai – Mubasher: Emirates NBD Bank released its investment outlook for 2018 on Monday.

The year of 2018 will be an interesting year for investors in which they will focus on diversification and study the market carefully, Emirates NBD Group’s executive vice president Tariq Bin Hendi stated.

Shares will play a major role in the first six months of 2018, along with the technology sector, head of equity strategy Anita Gupta revealed.

India and Saudi Arabia are still Emirates NBD’s favourite countries, given the volatile situation either of them undergoes, which could have a global-scale impact, Gupta added.

“For Saudi Arabia, we would expect positive performance in both bonds and equities alongside the anticipated MSCI upgrade and continued focus on social and economic reform,” Gupta commented.

Gupta stressed that Indian companies are expected to resume leading position among the emerging and the developed markets during the current year.

“We expect DM bonds to deliver negative to flat returns; EM bonds to deliver alpha. US Government bonds remain appealing and we believe that they may sustain a range of 2.5% to 2.75%,” Head of Fixed Income Strategy Yahya Sultan concluded.