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Asian markets enjoy a strong start to the year, but risks continue to loom

Michelle Zhu Published on Thu, Feb 16, 2017 / 3:43 PM GMT+8

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SINGAPORE (Feb 16): Nine out of 12 countries in Asia showed positive purchasing manager indices (PMIs) in January this year – particularly Singapore, Taiwan and Japan – suggesting that it is possible for Asian growth to recover from 2015-2016 lows, according to the wealth management division of Deutsche Bank.

Asia ex-Japan equities, too, saw a strong start to the year with improving commodity prices and increasing global demand for technology exports.

Better economic data in the US has also encouraged the Atlanta FedGDPNow model to forecast US gross domestic product (GDP) to rise by 2.7% quarter-on-quarter in 1Q17.