Asia Economics Update Korea: fall in inflation opens the door to October cut Inflation in Korea fell back sharply last month, supporting our view that the central bank will cut interest rates at its next meeting in October. 3rd September 2024 · 2 mins read
FX Markets Update We think Asian currencies’ rallies will slow, not stop We expect most Asian currencies to make further gains against the US dollar over time, even if their biggest rallies may now be behind them. 27th August 2024 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Taiwan defies dovish shift among Asia’s central banks The common theme across the three central bank meetings in Asia this week was that inflation concerns are fading, partly due to a rebound in currencies, and policymakers appear a bit more concerned... 23rd August 2024 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Update BoK set to loosen policy by more than most expect The Bank of Korea left rates on hold again today but sounded very dovish. With policymakers now more confident about achieving their inflation target and domestic demand set to remain weak, we think... 22nd August 2024 · 3 mins read
Asia Rapid Response Korea Policy Rate (August 2024) The decision by the Bank of Korea to leave interest rates unchanged (at 3.5%) today came as no surprise, but of more interest will be the tone of Governor Rhee’s press conference and the central bank... 22nd August 2024 · 1 min read
Asset Allocation Update East Asian equities could outperform again before long Equity markets in East Asia suffered very sharp declines earlier this week, but have generally recovered since. We think the rebound has scope to go a lot further as recession fears in the US prove... 9th August 2024 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea growth worries, new Taiwan GDP forecast The latest batch of data from Korea underline how much the economy has struggled in recent months. Despite the weak economy, the jump in inflation last month has dashed any hopes of a rate cut at the... 2nd August 2024 · 7 mins read
Asia Rapid Response Manufacturing PMIs, Korea Trade (July) The July PMIs from Emerging Asia nudged down slightly from the previous month but remained close to their two-year highs. However, the PMI data have been a poor guide to the hard activity data over... 1st August 2024 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korean weakness, CBSL rate cut, Vietnam uncertainty The Korean GDP data published earlier this week highlighted how unbalanced the economy has been since the pandemic. Exports have been very strong, but domestic demand has struggled. Meanwhile, Sri... 26th July 2024 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea: contraction in Q2, weak H2 Second quarter GDP figures for Korea, due to be published next week, are likely to show the economy contracted last quarter. Growth in the second half of the year is also likely to struggle, with weak... 19th July 2024 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea: assessing the impact of the strike at Samsung Even if the strike by workers at Samsung Electronics is brought to an end soon, it has served to highlight once again the inflexibility of Korea’s labour market and the poor state of industrial... 12th July 2024 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Update Dovish hold from the Bank of Korea, cuts coming soon The Bank of Korea left its policy rate unchanged today at 3.5%, but dropped clear hints that interest rate cuts would be coming soon. With growth set to struggle and inflation likely to fall further... 11th July 2024 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update La Niña poses downside risks to inflation in SE Asia A La Niña could bring with it favourable growing conditions for crops in South East Asia, and help to put downward pressure on food prices across the region. It adds to the reasons to think the... 8th July 2024 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Weak Korean activity data, dovish BSP, hawkish BoT The latest monthly activity data for Korea suggest that the economy weakened again last month and that GDP will have contracted in the second quarter of the year. In addition, while the central bank... 28th June 2024 · 7 mins read
