How Asian stock markets shook off the pandemic City Talk It seems ancient history now, but 2020 opened with a high degree of optimism for Asian markets. True, valuations were no more than reasonable given the share price gains of the previous twelve months, but conditions appeared favourable and there was a widespread consensus on a global economic recovery and a strong year ahead for [...]
How will global disruption affect small cap stocks? City Talk Small capitalisation stocks, or small caps, can offer the potential for higher returns compared with investing in larger companies, although they are not without risks. As with all equities, investors may not get back the amount they originally invested. As well as the potential for higher returns, investors are also being drawn to the sector [...]
Why consider investing in Asia now? Seven charts that tell the story City Talk Asian stock markets (Asia Pacific, excluding Japan) have seen a decent recovery in the past 18 months. After such periods, there is a natural tendency to assume there will be a pause for breath. This is when equity valuations can be helpful. When money has been invested when valuations were low, it has, historically, resulted [...]
The rise of young Asia: how millennials are transforming a region November 6, 2017 There seems to be a growing view that Asia has a problem with ageing. It is certainly true that maturing populations will soon be putting pressure on workforces in countries like China, Korea and Taiwan. But, this misses the point: there is a huge shift of economic power to a growing and increasingly wealthy Asian [...]
20 years on, could the Asian financial crisis be repeated? July 12, 2017 The Asian financial crisis of 1997 was a traumatic dislocation for financial markets that I experienced first hand, working as a fund manager for Schroders in Singapore. The fallout was shocking. The Indonesian economy, for instance, shrunk by 85% in US dollar terms during the aftermath, a contraction unthinkable today. Twenty years on, the pressing [...]