No turnaround in investor sentiment: Karl-Thomas Sec

Most of the Asian stocks have been on the rise led by financial companies after JP Morgan reported better than estimated profits and oil prices slummed yesterday.

Patrick Shum, Chief Strategist at Karl-Thomson Securities says investors in Asia still prefer to sell stocks and hold more cash on the back of major uncertainties from the US financial crisis.

He told CNBC-TV18 that Asian markets have seen some technical rebound but the investment sentiment is unlikely to have a turn around.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Patrick Shum:

Q: We have seen pretty strong rallies in the US in the last few days but Asia seems to be de-coupled in its enthusiasm and we haven’t seen rallies extend more than 1%, are the headwinds still too large on account of high oil prices in Asia to stem such a rally in Asian Markets?
 
A: The investors still prefer to sell the stock and hold more cash because there is fair amount of uncertainty there. The major uncertainties are coming from the US because of the financial crisis.

The recent correction of the oil price is of course a positive factor to the market but the question is can the oil price continue to fall and so the Asian markets have only some technical rebound but the investment sentiment is unlikely to have a turn around.