By Carolyn Koo
Asia has lost a bit of its luster lately, primarily owing to a slowdown in China – that country’s real gross domestic product growth slid from 8.1 percent in the first quarter to 7.6 percent in the second, the slowest annual pace in three years – but the region still outshines most of the rest of the world as far as investors are concerned. Political and economic uncertainty in the West, with little indication of a forthcoming return to stability, has driven many portfolio managers out of those equity markets.
“Over the medium term Europe and the United States will remain in their deleveraging cycle, resulting in weak growth, but inflation may remain elevated as a result of the ultraloose monetary policy adopted by central bankers,” explains Louis So, co-chief investment officer of Hong Kong”“based Value Partners, Asia’s largest single-manager hedge fund firm (see “Surviving the...