Winners and losers: A review of the Asian stock markets in 2015

Asia Sentinel

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Winners and losers: A review of the Asian stock markets in 2015

EPA

Not far behind Malaysia and Thailand as underperformers has been Indonesia, with the market and currency both down 12%

The end of 2015 is near and as investors look, as ever, to better things in 2016 it is worth looking at where the best and worst places have been in Asia since January 1 this year, and where the markets go in 2016.

Are the year’s worst performers poised for a rebound? Or will we just see more of the same with the whole region putting in a sorry performance?

Given what has happened in China since mid-June, the Shanghai index still leads the pack with a gain of 21% and a currency decline of just 3% against the US dollar. But anyone who got their timing wrong, given Beijing’s ham-handed attempts to manipulate the market, could be sitting on some big losses given the per cent decline from the June peak.

With government-related accounts now sitting on huge portfolios acquired to prop up the market, and with a host of IPOs in the wings, even a rebound in the economy and pricing power may do no more than stabilize the market in 2016.

Hong Kong has only partly mirrored China, having remained skeptical of the Shanghai boom and bust and also facing concerns about its own property market. An 8% fall since January may yet be insufficient given the impact of a strong dollar, to which its currency is pegged, and weakening economy.

Malaysia the problem child

At the other end of the 2015 league table sits Malaysia, with a stock loss of a modest 4% but a currency off 22%. Just how much of the currency fall, by far the region’s largest, has been due to weak commodity prices and how much to the scandals surrounding the Prime Minister and the state-backed 1Malaysia Development Bhd is hard to estimate.

It has also shown how even a current account surplus cannot shield a currency from lack of trust by Malaysians, let alone foreigners. But there is a case that the currency collapse has been overdone. But equally it is arguable that the stock market is not conspicuously cheap.

Politics has clearly been at work in Thailand, which has performed as poorly as Malaysia despite a more balanced, less commodity-dependent trade position. Falls of 18% for the market and 9% for the currency are not just outcomes of weak exports and problems for the tourist industry caused by declines in Russian and other currencies against the baht.

The military government inspires neither hope that it can stimulate productive investment nor hope that its reign will be short-lived.

Indonesia also a laggard

Not far behind Malaysia and Thailand as underperformers has been Indonesia, with the market and currency both down 12%. That is not surprising given its dependence on commodity exports such as coal, copper and palm oil.

There seems scant prospect of any commodity-driven rebound in 2016 and policy issues continue to deter some investment. However, the economy as a whole and the current account in particular have responded to the commodity collapse thanks to the cumulative 40% decline in the currency since 2013.

Australia is similarly commodity dependent but lingering belief in its safe haven status and ability to run massive external deficits ad infinitum kept its currency decline to 12% and stocks decline to just 4%.

Stocks are supported by good dividend yields and the services sector, but another 10% fall in the currency remains more than a possibility. – Rappler.com

Read the rest of the article on Asia Sentinel.

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