Andrew Freris, senior investment strategist for Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, was one pundit who doubted the much-touted "green shoots" theory suggesting budding signs of economic recovery represented the foundations of an upturn.

"I still feel uncomfortable to call purely on the basis of macro, that the equity markets have turned and will continue to turn. That's why our advice is to be modest on the rallies and as soon as we get some lousy news, which we will, turn it down," he said on CNBC Asia's Protect Your Wealth.

Freris asked investors to tread with a good dose of caution in equity trades and to stick with the staid: "We prefer very solid counter-cyclical stocks, you know, boring stuff like pharmaceuticals, consumer durables, consumer goods in general, household items, as opposed to going into something a little bit more exciting."

He finds Asia promising compared to the rest of the world, in particular China and the emerging markets.

"The differentiating factor is the reluctance to say 'that's it, it has turned now, buy and hold and build up big equity positions.' That's not what we're telling our clients," Freris said.

Freris also advised investors to avoid holding long-end U.S. Treasuries and to look towards parking some money in shorter-end corporate bonds.

"Just to put it in perspective, there's a lot of money coming through and it's not necessarily true that all of it is going to be sold at the right price and hence, the pressures on the long end of the yield curve," he said. "Plus the fact that we're hearing more and more about exit strategies...that means only one thing -- interest rates will be going up."

Comments? Questions? Send them in here.

Catch "Protect Your Wealth" on CNBC's Asia Pacific network every Tuesday on "CNBC's Cash Flow," Wednesday on "Asia Squawk Box" and Thursday on "Capital Connection."

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