Pre-millennial tension is set to be the investment issue of 1999, but many fund managers believe the new era will bring unusual opportunities as well as threats. So far most investors have focused on the computer bug which has the potential to bring corporations, banks and even large swathes of the global economy grinding to a halt.

But the dawn of a new epoch will also bring with it interesting opportunities, according to some money managers.

"There is one area of Year 2000 that people completely overlook and that is millennium advertising, media and leisure," according to Mr Tim Wilson, global strategist at Newton Fund Managers in London.

The hype surrounding the big day will prompt a huge rise in consumer spending and massive spending by those trying to capture that. Other managers are combing the markets for shares that could get a boost from the millennium bug itself.

If not reprogramed, the millennium bug will leave computer systems unable to recognise the date and unable to function. This means a premium for companies which provide computer support services, fund managers said.

Mr Wilson gives short shrift to fears that millennium bug spending will make IT companies one-year wonders.

Industry estimates show millennium bug spending falling in 1999 from a peak in 1998 but overall IT spending rising, according to Mr Alan Torry, head of US equity investment at Societe Generale Asset Management in London.

"There is a strong argument that post-2000 people will move away from fixing problems to genuine productive investment that has been put off," he said.