"One positive issue in Hong Kong is that there's no shortage of money," said Stewart Aldcroft, who helps manage US$400 million at Investec Asset Management Asia Ltd. "The Bank of China (
Aldcroft forecasts a substantial rise in the value of his holdings in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, which include Samsung Electronics Co.
Even in Japan, where the Nikkei 225 is down 3 percent this year, there are signs that investors are coming home.
Yasuhiro Miyata, manager for investment planning at Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co, dropped his plan to buy more US stocks earlier this month to avoid losses from a drop in equities and the dollar, which slumped to a 17-month low of ?115.81 yesterday.
"We don't know when US stocks will stop falling," he said.
That's not to say investors don't expect declines in Asian stocks this week.
Sony Corp, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (台積電) and other electronics makers may delay forecasts for a recovery in demand as a global equity slump dents consumer confidence, investors said. The sales of Hyundai Motor Co and other Asian exporters may also be crimped because their dollar earnings will be worth less.
"With global markets tumbling, there will be more concern about job cuts and bankruptcies," said Ian Lui, who helps manage US$550 million at Allianz Asset Management Co in Singapore. "We're taking a defensive stand."
For investors in Asia, though, the constant drumbeat of accounting scandals is a distant one.
"I have developed an immunity," said R. Ann, a retiree who owns Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and other stocks listed in the city. "I am not going to go into panic selling. I am just going to hang in there and if possible, pick up some gems."
In Asia, progress is being made to improve the way companies are run after their inability to repay foreign debts caused currencies to tumble across the region in 1997.
"[South] Korean companies have been improving their corporate governance ever since the Asian crisis," says Taxi driver Kim.
He's looking on the bright side.
The drop in US stocks "may even make global fund managers decrease holdings in the US market and increase those in others."
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