Our favorite stock markets–emerging Asia–rose overnight with the exception of Hong Kong and Malaysia.
- ICICI Bank led India’s markets, rising more than 9% after it reported a five-fold increase in profits in Q1.
- Globe Telecom (up 3.8% was the strongest former in the Philippine market, followed by the conglomerate SM Investments.
- KOSPI was up nearly 1% led by transports, chemicals and machinery.
- Thailand’s SET index rose on an 18% surge of Thai Airlines (the cause for which remains mysterious, like many things in Thailand).
- The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell mainly due to profit-taking in Tencent, whose stock price has risen from HK 160 a year to HK 244 at present.
All in all, the pattern in Asian equity returns ex-China and ex-Japan is that companies that are broadly representative of the overall economy have led price gains. That’s an encouraging sign.