ASIA 100

摘要

We're in the right place at the right time," says Lau Wing Tat, chief investment officer of DBS Asset Management in Singapore, which reports 10.3 billion Singapore dollars ($6.3 billion) in Asian assets. "We have every confidence that asset management in Asia has enormous potential." Like Wing Tat, most Asian money managers are a remarkably confident and cheerful bunch these days, buoyed by the region's generally growing economies, strong stock markets and steady asset inflows. With the exception of Taiwan, all Asian equity markets are up this year in local-currency terms. South Korea and India posted gains through late August of 21.2 percent and 13.0 percent, respectively. The MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index was up 9.7 percent, versus a 0.19 percent loss for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Analysts expect this to be the fifth consecutive year that the index outperforms the S&P 500. As for Japan, the Nikkei 225 index hit a four-year high on August 24.