FUND VIEW-Threadneedle loads up on Korea, Taiwan stocks

* Threadneedle increases overweight on Korea and Taiwan

* Threadneedle underweight on telecoms, utilities

* Undecided on Evergrande's HK IPO

HONG KONG, Oct 23 - Threadneedle has increased its overweight position on the Korean and Taiwanese markets within its Asian funds as the UK fund manager bets on export-oriented economies to lead the next wave of growth in the region.

"We are still very positive on the Asian domestic economic growth story but we expect earnings at export-oriented companies to surprise on the upside as the global economy recovers," said Gigi Chan, a London-based fund manager with Threadneedle.

Chan said the fund manager, which has close to $94 billion in assets under management, maintains an upbeat outlook on the technology sector in Asia after the companies made significant cost cuts while the major economies were in a recession.

Threadneedle is also positive on China and Indonesia where it favours consumption stocks such as Tencent, the operator of China's largest instant messaging platform, Indonesian car distributor Astra International Tbk and microfinance provider Bank Rakyat.

The asset manager is underweight on defensive plays such as telecom stocks and utilities even though they have lagged the rally in the broad markets this year, said Chan, as its sees more attractive opportunities among Asian stocks.

Threadneedle is also light on Australia which is expected to lag the region in earnings growth and India where the valuations have soared since mid-May.

The fund firm's $1.9 billion Asia Fund had risen 44.6 percent in the nine months to end-September while its China Opportunities Fund was up almost 38 percent in the same period.

IPO FATIGUE

Chan said investors in the region were suffering from "IPO fatigue" after a glut of new issues in recent months.

"The market needs time to digest the large supply of new issues," said Chan.

"We value IPOs like we value any other equity investment. If we think its too expensive, we would rather wait till the share lists and the price falls in the secondary market," she said.

Some investors have cast a wary eye on property listings in the Hong Kong aftermarket, given the half-dozen or more that are expected to hit the market.

Threadneedle participated in the Glorious Property initial public offering earlier in October where the stock tanked 20 percent on debut, while its bet on China's largest drug distributor Sinopharm in September paid off after the stock vaulted 16 percent on its maiden trading day.

Chan said the fund manager was yet to take a call on whether it will participate in Chinese property developer Evergrande Real Estate Group's impending $828 million IPO.

Besides Evergrande, Excellence Real Estate Group has also joined the ranks of real estate firms queueing to cash in on the country's property boom with plans to raise up to $1 billion from a Hong Kong IPO.