Investors predict at least one euro exit

The 17-nation euro area will lose at least one member in the next year, according to 58% of investors surveyed by Barclays Plc.

The poll, which was taken from June 7 to June 14 and closed before Greece’s election, showed a 19 percentage-point increase since March in the number of respondents anticipating a euro exit. Half of those asked said the exodus would be limited to Greece.

“Investor caution has increased as the euro-area problems are once again at the forefront of investors’ concerns,” Paul Robinson, Barclays’s global head of foreign exchange research in London, said in a report.

Sixty-four percent of currency investors and the same proportion of equity investors identified the euro area as the main risk to markets. About 40% said Greece would restructure its government debt again in the next year and a similar number said several other countries would ill follow.

Thirty-eight percent said high-quality bonds would be the best performing asset class over the next quarter, compared with 24% who favoured equities, Barclays said.