U.S. funds hold global portfolio steady in September: Reuters poll

(Reuters) - U.S. fund managers made no significant changes to their model global portfolio this month, a Reuters poll found, as the world economic outlook remains gloomy and markets await a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December.

Having raised stock allocations for three consecutive months U.S. fund managers trimmed their recommendations for equities in September.

The survey of 13 fund managers, conducted Sept. 15-30, showed recommended equity allocations were cut to 52.2 percent from 52.4 percent and bonds exposure was increased slightly to 35.8 percent from 35.7 percent.

Recommendations for non-traditional instruments, such as derivatives and commodities, were raised to 6.1 percent from 5.7 percent in August. Bets in favor of alternative assets are up from just 3.8 percent at the start of the year.

Gold prices have risen around 25 percent in 2016, one reason why investors have more than doubled their allocations for alternative instruments.

Within equities, a regional breakdown showed allocations to North American stocks were steady in September at 64.4 percent while euro zone equity allocations were up to 14.0 percent from 13.8 percent the previous month.

Better-than-expected U.S. data released on Thursday, including economic growth and business investment has made a rate hike this year a real possibility.

(Reporting by Shrutee Sarkar; Polling by Sujith Pai and Krishna Eluri; Editing by Catherine Evans)

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