Asia Is a Tale of Two Regions for Investors

Amid a highly disappointing year for emerging-markets equities, one group of countries has consistently outperformed: the Asean region. Three of the bloc's four big markets have posted large year-to-date declines, but they have fallen much less than the MSCI EM index. By contrast, the North Asi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inInstitutional Investor
Main Author Hood, Michael
Format Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC 01.07.2013
Subjects
Business conditions
Economic conditions
Economic growth
Emerging markets
Eurozone
Exports
Financial services
Foreign investment
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
International
Investors
Trends
Asia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Amid a highly disappointing year for emerging-markets equities, one group of countries has consistently outperformed: the Asean region. Three of the bloc's four big markets have posted large year-to-date declines, but they have fallen much less than the MSCI EM index. By contrast, the North Asian markets of China and South Korea have stumbled, underperforming the index, although Taiwan has done somewhat better. Investors have tended to think about Asia as a broad and largely homogeneous region, but the recent pattern favors a more differentiated approach. At the same time, the current experience in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations shines a fresh light on a major driver of emerging-markets growth fluctuations: credit cycles, a factor likely to serve as an eventual brake on these countries' expansions.
ISSN:0020-3580