Cheap currencies and labour made exports to the West boom in the early 2000s, but since 2008 companies have found customers closer to home.
Although banks remain integral to regional indices, technology is bigger and other consumer stocks a close third. In the 2000s, growth in Asia depended on the fortunes of western brands: for Walmart, Nike, Apple and General Motors, read Alibaba, Anta, Samsung and Geely.
Clever commodities have replaced T-shirts and plastic flowers, but it is Asian customers dominating, not those from western nations.
Twenty years on and developed nations, with high debt and political turmoil, still label Asia as a ‘satellite’ for portfolio construction. Perhaps its time to reconsider.
Sally Macdonald is head of Asian equities at Marlborough Fund Managers
