In our podcast, Jamie Perrett, Director of Index Research for FTSE Group, identifies the countries and sectors driving performance in Asia.
Click the audio player below to listen to the full episode.
Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes to get each of the episodes in this series delivered directly to your computer. Visit our Insight page in future weeks to see our upcoming podcasts about asset allocations in the post-recession economy.
Access the latest research on the Asian markets and statistics on performance in the FTSE Asian Sector index series.
Some highlights from our episode:
- The story of developed versus emerging markets is a salient one in Asia. Emerging markets are performing very strongly globally, which boosts Asia's performance overall.
- Examine the outlying countries that overperformed by 20% during the economic crisis and you will see countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia. You can easily contrast this with developed markets such as Italy and Greece, who underperformed by more than 20%.
- We're seeing not only growth coming out of mainland China, but other important positive trends for the region. These include the recent increase in renminbi-denominated bonds. We're also seeing interest in increasing exposure into China via ETFs and funds focused on local Chinese companies.
- The best performing sector YTD, according to the FTSE Asia Sectors, is Chemicals. Contrast this with the worst: Basic Resources. What's most interesting is that last year Basic Resources was a top performer. Despite this sector's underperformance, it's clear that resources will be an extremely important area for Asian growth moving forward.
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