Asian markets recovering from Sars

One sneeze brought the house down in Asian markets. The discharge that triggered the spread of Sars in March 2003 was enough to upset five years of company restructuring and de-leveraging. Before the hysteria caused by the virus, valuations in the region were cheap. An emerging domestic credit cycle and domestic consumption were driving growth - on top of the impact of demand from China. The outbreak marked a low point for sentiment, particularly in Hong Kong and China. But the early containment of Sars and improving economic data from the US have contributed to rising confidence and, co...