Reuters polls of 44 fund management companies in the US, Europe, Japan and UK showed an average portfolio holding 54.7 per cent of its money in equities, the lowest level in the nearly five years compilations have been made.

It was down from 56.0 per cent in September and more than five percentage points below the 60 per cent long-term average.

Bond holdings dropped to 32.3 per cent from 32.7 per cent in September. Cash rose to 6.3 per cent, the highest recorded, from 5.8 per cent.

There was one sign that some investors believe stock markets may be at or near the bottom: as a group, US investors raised their exposure to stocks, although they remained well below the long-term average.