Portfolio rebalancing with respect to sector specific asset classes rather than country-specific factors has not caused a major shift in company valuation, owing to the persistence of country-specific risk factors.27 Nevertheless, euro area indices such as the EuroStoxx or the EuroMSCI have gained in importance and become benchmarks - at least for institutional investors.
This coincides with the observation that, in Germany, managers of investment funds open to the general public spread over 50% of their portfolio in foreign securities, whereas for private direct investors this share was below one-quarter.28 Another indicator for a growing - although not perfect - diversification with respect to sector-specific asset classes might be the increasing number of cross-listings of shares.