The Tantallon Asia Impact Fund closed 0.91% lower in October with a healthy dose of Omicron panic and the mounting unease over further regulatory crackdowns and the unravelling of the heavily indebted property sector in China, aggravating markets caught on the back foot with US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signalling a more aggressive tapering schedule.
We expect markets to remain volatile over the next few months although Asia’s self-sustaining economic recovery and productivity dynamics are broad-based and have legs.
As vaccination rates pick up across Asia and “living with Covid” becomes the cornerstone for more policymakers, we are encouraged by the data on exports, private industrial capex, and recovering employment and consumption, which is comparable to the 2003– 2007 investment cycle in Asia.
