Dr. Mark Mobius, the executive Chairman of Franklin Templeton Investments,is in Nairobi this week. He gave a talk this morning on his investment perspectives. It is especially timely considering the bear market being experience the world over and at the Nairobi Stock Exchange this year.

Some notes
– They are bargain hunters, they love cheap stocks and thus love bear markets
– Emerging markets look good for long term investors for several reasons: they are growing faster than developed countries, they have less debt, they have more reserves, inflation is coming down, they are taking up a lager share of world trade and also trading more with each other
– Bull markets are followed by bear markets which are followed by bull markets then bear……
– Bull markets last longer than bear markets, and values appreciate more during bear markets than they depreciate during bear markets. he said by their measures over the last 20 years bull markets last on average 22 months and values appreciate by 113% while bear markets on average last 6 months and values depreciate 32%
– Various FT funds are concentrated in mainly energy stocks, then banks, raw materials, communications etc.

My take: This is a time to buy Nairobi Stock Exchange Shares (NSE) , if you have the money and a long term investment perspective