INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
And at some point, it just gets to be too much -- strategists from Goldman Sachs Group Inc
and China, a Fed rate hike, the inconclusive Singapore summit between Trump and Kim, and even a series of hacks at South Korean crypto
exchanges buffeting digital currencies.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks resumed its slide Thursday, extending a string of losses over
the key markets in the region as investors and analysts inch closer to waving the white flag on 2018.
Asia PacificGoldman Sachs is starting
to back off its long-time bullish call on Asian stocks, paring its 12-month target for the MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan index Thursday
to 625 from 640.
U.S.-China trade tensions have escalated against an unfavorable macro backdrop, with global growth slowing amid tighter U.S
bail out completely, however -- its target implies gains of about 14 percent from current levels.
Meanwhile, strategists at UBS Group AG see
Asian stock markets pricing in a one-in-five chance of a more serious trade war causing an earnings recession
Hong Kong stocks any time soon either, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley, who slashed their 12-month target for the Hang Seng Index
by about 10 percent this week
in a note Wednesday.
Hong Kong is especially vulnerable to volatility in the U.S
and China given that its currency is pegged to the dollar and therefore tied to U.S
monetary policy, while many of its companies depend on China for their earnings.
ChinaThe outlook is no better in China, where the Morgan
Stanley strategists now forecast the CSI 300 Index to fall into a bear market that will last for the next year
Alongside the standard emerging-market and trade-war pessimism, deteriorating liquidity conditions in China and a weaker yuan will also
weigh on stocks, they said.
CICC, meanwhile, slashed its year-end estimate for the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index to 14,000 from 16,000
as company multiples are unlikely to expand as much as previously thought due to tighter liquidity conditions both at home and
more selling in Malaysia, with stocks plunging for a ninth straight day.
Investors adjusting to a new prime minister seeking to shore up the
investment-banking arm of Maybank said at its Invest Asia U.K
