Survey: Fund managers move to overweight on Europe (by Barbara Kollmeyer)

MADRID (MarketWatch) - Fund managers have moved overweight on euro-zone equities for the first time since February 2011, according to the latest survey by Bank of America Merill Lynch released Tuesday. The September survey found U.S. fiscal concerns, rather than the European Union sovereign-debt crisis, is now the top tail risk identified by those managers. It's a slim margin, but a net 1% of global asset allocators are overweight the euro zone versus a net 12% underweight in August.The survey also shows three consecutive months of double-digit positive swings towards European equities. A net 9% of managers say the eurozone is the region they most want to overweight in the next 12 months, whereas in August 5% of managers were opting for that region as a top underweight. A separate regional fund manager survey showed fading pessimism over Europe as well. Meanwhile, the survey also showed managers trimming overweight positions on U.S. equities and growing more bearish on Japan. As for sectors, banks remains a broad underweight for Europe and global equities, though in both cases, that underweight has been scaled back.