Far East ex-Japan bucks slowdown

By Benoit Descourtieux, a fund manager at Lombard Odier In 2001 only one major region ended the year in positive territory, Far East ex-Japan. In comparison, the Nasdaq was down just short of 17% in dollar terms and the MSCI Japan index only managed -26%. Looking back over last year, it seems that third quarter was the bottom. The rate of decline in exports looked to have hit the bottom in August/September. Singapore, Korea and Malaysia's economic growth statistics were less weak than anticipated and output in India had started to recover. This year sees most brokers upgrading...