Strong backdrop for Asian economic growth to continue

Asian stock markets have performed strongly since the latter half of 2005 but questions remain whether they can continue to outperform, according to Stuart Parks, head of Asian equities at Invesco Perpetual. He says from an economic perspective, Asia is doing well, despite a lull in exports post-Hurricane Katrina in the US. Parks explains: "Chinese exports at the back end of last year were only growing at around 18% per annum. However, we have seen a re-acceleration with 28% growth year-on-year in January. "The other interesting point about the export slowdown in the last quarter ...