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The Asian Markets That Should Do Well But Aren't: Taking Stock

The Asian Markets That Should Do Well But Aren't: Taking Stock

(Bloomberg) -- Underneath the surface of the solid stock-market rally across Asia, there’s one spot where investors are seeing signs of some sputtering: Southeast Asia.

Despite strong economic growth and bullish expectations for the future, markets there have lagged the performance of the wider benchmark. The MSCI Asean Index, which includes Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, is up just 4.7 percent this year, trailing the 8.2 percent gain in the wider MSCI Asia Pacific Index and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s 8.7 percent surge.

Foreign investors have already pulled almost $480 million out of equities from the latter three countries this month, with Indonesia bucking the trend by posting a modest $134 million inflow, data compiled by Bloomberg show. All four have seen withdrawals from U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds in recent days.

The Asian Markets That Should Do Well But Aren't: Taking Stock

There’s plenty of potential factors that may be driving the relative equity weakness through the first two months of the year:

  • Progress made on a trade deal between the U.S. and China, while a net positive for the region given the stress on tightly connected supply chains across multiple export-driven economies, nevertheless dampens the long-term potential for Southeast Asia as a manufacturing haven for companies looking to shift production out of China on the threat of extended tariffs.
  • The U.S. dollar, which climbed 3.2 percent last year according to a Bloomberg gauge, has edged higher, even with the Federal Reserve adopting a more dovish stance. A strong dollar generally makes emerging-market investments less attractive, and the Asean index took it on the chin with its worst annual loss since 2015 last year.
  • MSCI Inc.’s decision to boost the weighting of China’s domestic A shares in its various indexes will lead to billions in flows as active and passive funds rebalance their positions in response. But that’s at the expense of other markets in the region. The Philippines has been hit especially hard by the decision, pulling back in the wake of the announcement after coming close to a bull market earlier this year.
  • Earnings in the region have disappointed. Citigroup Inc. just cut its target for Malaysia’s benchmark stock index, the poorest performer in Southeast Asia this year, due to downgrades in company price estimates as profit misses have outnumbered beats.
  • There are also upcoming elections in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines that add an extra dash of uncertainty.

Short-term concerns aside, the region still looks attractive to some investors.

After all, the economy in Southeast Asian nations has been expanding at a fast pace and, even though it’s slowing there too, it’s still an enviable growth. For this year, economists forecast gross domestic product will rise more than 5 percent in the Philippines and Indonesia, 4.5 percent in Malaysia and 3.8 percent in Thailand, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In Singapore, considered a developed market, it’ll increase 2.6 percent, they estimate.

“We see a lot more sustainable growth in Asean,” said Pauline Ng, a manager with JPMorgan Asset Management who runs the firm’s Asean equity fund, in a recent interview. “Infrastructure investment has already happened. We are also starting to see Asean as an alternate manufacturing base to China. We’re seeing growth in tourism, we’re seeing recovery in the banking sector.”

The region’s emerging middle class is also a positive sign, so while a V-shaped recovery is not expected, the foundation is much better than in the recent post-Financial Crisis past, she said.

Stock-Market Summary

  • MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 0.5%
  • Japan’s Topix index down 0.8%; Nikkei 225 down 0.7%
  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index down 0.9%; Hang Seng China Enterprises down 1.1%; Shanghai Composite up 0.1%; CSI 300 down 1%
  • Taiwan’s Taiex index down 0.4%
  • South Korea’s Kospi index down 0.5%; Kospi 200 down 0.4%
  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 up 0.3%; New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 up 0.2%
  • India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index up 0.3%; NSE Nifty 50 up 0.1%
  • Singapore’s Straits Times Index little changed; Malaysia’s KLCI little changed; Philippine Stock Exchange Index up 0.8%; Thailand’s SET up 0.4%; Vietnam’s VN Index little changed. Indonesia is closed for a holiday.
  • S&P 500 e-mini futures down 0.2% after index closed down 0.7% in last session

To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Lam in Hong Kong at elam87@bloomberg.net;Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Divya Balji, Cecile Vannucci

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