Investment Insights from Standard Chartered for 2026

Manpreet Gill, Chief Investment Officer for Africa, Middle East & Europe at Standard Chartered, shared insights on investment lessons from the first half of 2026 in an interview with Nume Ekeghe. He highlighted the importance of diversification and resilience during market volatility, noting that global equities, particularly in Asia and the US, recovered strongly despite geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices.

Gill identified three key investment themes for the second half of 2026: a continued preference for global equities due to resilient corporate earnings, attractive opportunities in corporate bonds and emerging market dollar bonds, especially African Eurobonds, and the critical nature of diversification, including an overweight position in gold. He also expressed optimism about broader participation in equity markets, particularly in the US and Asia, while predicting a gradual weakening of the US dollar due to fading short-term factors.