FRANKFURT - Cheap stocks and robust consumption by its middle class are reason to buy into China now, even though markets have turned cautious on the world's No 3 economy, a fund manager at BlackRock told Reuters.
"The sentiment (regarding investing in China) is quite different from 6-8 months ago. And we are not immune to these concerns. There is risk, but we do think that it is a good opportunity to invest in the country, due to low valuations and strong consumption," Jing Ning, portfolio manager at BlackRock, said in an interview on Thursday.
Ning said her fund was overweight on Chinese financial stocks -- top holdings include China Construction Bank, Bank of China and China Life Insurance -- and underweight on stocks with a focus on exports.
"In the first half of 2009, we were underweight in financials. Now we are overweight and are very positive on the sector for the next three to six months," Ning said.
Ning said China's middle class, amounting to more than 300 million people, roughly equal to the entire population of the United States, would push the country to become less dependent on exports and more reliant on strong domestic demand.
Ning manages the Black Rock China Fund, with a size of about $350 million.
