1970-01-01 08:33:28
Investors should favor shares in Thailand, South Korea, Indon?esia and the Hong Kong market because they are the cheapest in Asia, Credit Suisse Group said yesterday.
China's mainland and India were the "most overvalued," analysts including Sakthi Siva, wrote in a report. "While the consensus favors domestic defensives, we favor the cheapest four markets."
Siva, who is based in Singapore, was voted Asia's No. 2 equity strategist in Asiamoney's 2007 broker poll. She advises investors to buy shares of companies that rely on exports even amid concerns that the US economy is slowing, because shares of Asian companies that rely on local demand are trading at "large premiums" to the region.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, a measure of 991 stocks in the region, is down 4.9 percent this year, compared with a 6.2-percent decline in the US Standard & Poor's Index. Concerns of mounting credit losses in a slowing US economy have dragged on stock markets globally this year.
China's mainland CSI 300 Index, valued at 20 times analysts' estimates for this year's profit, is Asia's most expensive national benchmark, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Thailand's SET Index, at 11 times profit, has the lowest valuation in Asia.
Source:Shanghai Daily