Samsung Securities Co. has made a big change to its investment strategy in two months, recommending investors to buy more stocks rather than bonds in the first quarter of this year as the stock market rose faster than expected.

The Korean brokerage firm said in an investor memo on Wednesday that its outlook on the stock market for the next three months turned positive compared to the past and therefore it adjusted its investment opinion for stocks to overweight from neutral and for bonds to neutral from overweight, while upgrading its outlook for China in country strategy to neutral from underweight on a three-month basis.

The rating shift came amid growing expectations that inflation has passed its peak on several economic indicators since the beginning of this year and that the Federal Reserve could ease its monetary tightening.

Samsung Securities also downgraded its investment rating on crude oil to underweight from neutral, considering that China is reopening its borders, while offering a rating of overweight on gold instead of neutral as precious metals are inversely proportional to the value of the greenback.

With the latest rating adjustments, Samsung Securities’ asset allocation in the first quarter portfolio will focus on stocks more than bonds and cash. The company’s top stock picks for the quarter include Kakao Corp., POSCO Holdings Inc., Kia Corp., KB Financial Group Inc., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. and Macquarie Korea Infrastructure Fund.

By Cha Chang-hee and Minu Kim

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