There is a fairly strong case for being in Asian equities now. The region's economies are recovering, earnings growth is fairly good in most markets and because of the recent corrections, you can find good value. Of course, investors should have a diversified portfolio. In these volatile times, it is always good to have a small portion of your holdings in cash or bonds, rather than putting all the eggs in the equity basket. But Asian markets did not react positively when the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady on June 28.
Asian markets are generally very reactive rather than anticipatory.
They generally don't get ahead of themselves. They'd wait for a rate cut before taking off and they'd wait for a rate hike before they get concerned. We like recovering economies, markets that are gaining most from the ongoing recovery and corporate restructuring, and companies taking advantage of the technology boom. Our top picks are Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Next would be Singapore.