Aberdeen Sees Asian Equities as Refuge From Global Concerns
Asian stocks are still “fairly cheap” and offer “higher potential for dividend growth”: Aberdeen.
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(Bloomberg) -- A $670 billion asset manager plans to seek shelter in Asian equities next year amid slowing global economic growth and trade tensions.
James Thom, Asian equities investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments, said his firm sees Asian stocks, excluding Japan, as a better haven than their Western counterparts on prospects for monetary easing, growth in wealth, valuations and low debt.
MSCI’s broadest measure of stocks listed in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, has underperformed global equities this year.
Stocks in “fast-growing Asian economies with large and increasingly wealthy populations” are a good place to hide in 2020, Thom wrote in a note. Asian stocks are still “fairly cheap” and offer “higher potential for dividend growth.”
Thom’s list of “Asian hideouts” includes bets on property developers, cement producers, financial services and health care in China, India and Indonesia.
He is also positive on technologies such as 5G, digital connectivity, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
--With assistance from Ishika Mookerjee.
To contact the reporter on this story: Abhishek Vishnoi in Singapore at avishnoi4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Naoto Hosoda, Liau Y-Sing
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