Forecast-busting Chinese import data gives market sentiment a boost, but ING IM's Ad van Tiggelen says doubts about the quality of the data make it more of a mixed bag.

SHOWS: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (APRIL 10, 2013) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. ING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SENIOR INVESTMENT SPECIALIST, ADRIAN VAN TIGGELEN, SAYING:

(QUESTION: Do the China numbers dispel concern about domestic demand there and help overall sentiment here?)
They don't dispel those concerns fully, I think. You see, also the market reaction is quite muted. On one side, we see better than expected imports; 14% of that, that's clearly good for sentiment and might be the start of better data, import data in the future because there is data elect in the past months. However, on the export side, you saw a disappointment with only 10% growth and usually high exports to Hong Kong, which gives some doubts about the quality of the data. The exports to U.S. and Europe have been disappointing so on the whole, I would say it's more a mixed bag than a very positive bag of data.
(QUESTION: Is the overall tone changing now in the equity markets as it traditionally does around now? Or has done for the last 30 or so years?)
Yeah. Now, it is. It's getting a bit less positive here. We've also reduced our overweight in equities to a small one. What we are missing now is positive surprise. You said that at the first part of the rally last year was of course, led by positive central bank surprises. The second part was led by positive economic surprises and now, we are waiting for positive earnings surprises to carry the rally on and I think we will not see those. So, we will now enter a period with more muted gains or even a small correction, we think.
(QUESTION: Germany is selling debt this morning, 2-year Schatz auction. We expect the yields to be up a bit but you like to play a defensive game in the equity markets right now instead?)
Definitely, we are overweight equity slightly by default basically because we are definitely convinced on the prospects but because the prospects elsewhere, are quite poor. Within equities, we are quite defensively positioned so especially healthcare, we like. Staples are a bit on the expensive side. We have another look at utilities again, which are starting to look interesting. So, quite a defensive positioning there. And on bunds, there was quite a realistic chance I think, personally, this year, that we may see 10-year bunds below 1% in Germany because the decline in bond yields is not over yet.