Tech falls offer buying opportunity-Mobius
(UPDATE: Adds detail)
WARSAW, May 25 (Reuters) - Emerging markets investment guru Mark Mobius said on Thursday he welcomed falls in the tech-heavy U.S. Nasdaq index, which he said had further to tumble, because it presented buying opportunities in global stocks.
``We are very happy with the situation on Nasdaq, because Nasdaq has fallen and will probably continue to fall for a little while,'' said Mobius, who manages $12 billion for the Templeton Emerging markets fund.
Since its peak on March 10, the technology share-laden Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - news) has lost 37.5 percent of its value. The global ripple effect has brought other stock markets sharply lower, with so-called TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) stocks suffering the brunt of the damage.
``The reason why we're happy is, first of all, it gives an opportunity to buy stocks much cheaper than they were before,'' Mobius told a news conference in the Polish capital after reviewing his investment in a local systems integrator.
``Secondly, we're injecting a sense of realism in the entire Internet, TMT, and technology story,'' he added.
``Many of these companies did not have a very good financial business model,'' he said. ``Many of them did not have a plan for profitability, and most of them should not be in business.''
The Singapore-based Mobius foresaw a harsh separation of winners from losers as investors steer clear of flimsier business propositions and inherently unprofitable ventures.
``The supply of money for IPOs will disappear or be significantly lessened,'' he told reporters.
But the advances in technology driven by investment in TMT stocks will serve to strengthen the profitability of so-called ``old economy'' stocks, he added.
``I think that the events that we're seeing on Nasdaq are very healthy and are good for the development of the entire dot com industry globally,'' said Mobius.
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