Institutions will diversify

IRISH-institutions will increasingly hold fewer Irish stocks, according to New Ireland's Irish equity manager Mr Gerard Mangan. A slower rate of growth in the Irish economy over the coming years would inevitably make the Irish market less attractive for domestic institutions, he said. In the run-up to European Monetary Union, Ireland's rate of economic growth would slide to converge with the slower pace of growth in other European States, prompting domestic fund managers to diversify their portfolios even further beyond the Irish economy. This, he stressed, would happen irrespective of whether Ireland joined EMU.