IFAs and fund managers are generally optimistic about the stock market’s prospects in 2008, research from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and Unbiased.co.uk has shown.

Blue chips were tipped as the sector most likely to outperform in 2008 by the largest proportion of fund managers. IFAs, in contrast opted for the resources sector. IFAs have tipped emerging markets as the best performing region in 2008 and fund managers favoured the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan.

When it comes to the FTSE 100, most fund managers and IFAs agreed that the market will close at between 6,500 and 7,000 points next year.

Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director at the AIC, said: “After a challenging year for equities, it is encouraging to see that optimism is generally prevailing for 2008 among IFAs and fund managers, although investors may well want to prepare for a bumpy ride along the way.”

She added: “In the very volatile markets that we’ve seen recently, regular investing can be a sensible tool as it helps smooth out some of those highs and lows in the price of shares.”