Equity markets around the world on aggregate posted gains over the week ended November 20, 2015, with the MSCI AC World index increasing 0.15 per cent.
For the developed markets, US equity appeared to be the only bright spot, with the S&P 500 index posted a 0.5 per cent increase over the week.
On the other hand, European equities, represented by the Stoxx 600 index, registered a 0.17 per cent loss over the week, while the Japanese equity market saw heavier losses, with the Nikkei 225 index recording a 1.2 per cent decrease.
Asian and emerging markets, as represented by the MSCI Asia ex Japan index and the MSCI Emerging Markets index, mostly followed the European and Japanese counterparts, decreasing 1.22 and 0.04 per cent respectively over the week.
East Asian equity markets like South Korea and Taiwan posted losses of 0.44 and 0.08 per cent over the week, while the offshore Chinese equity market, represented by the HSML 100 index, saw a 1.24 per cent decrease.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index decreased 1.11 per cent over the week. Over in Southeast Asia, the Malaysian and Indonesian equity markets recorded gains, increasing 0.18 and 0.15 per cent respectively.
Thailand and Singapore however, was in the red, with the SET Index and STI index declining 1.36 and 2.26 per cent.
In other emerging markets, India’s equity market down by 1.74 per cent over the week, while the Brazilian equity market (represented by the Bovespa index) rallied 3.83 per cent.
Russia was the top performer among the markets under our coverage this time round, with its benchmark RTSI$ index surging 6.08 per cent over the week.
Economic Calendar: US released a somewhat disappointing existing home sales data for the month of October, with the latest figure stood at 5.36m, missed a 5.40m expectation and lower than a prior 5.55m reading.
Concurrently, the existing home sales month-on-month growth took a dive to the negative territory, which recorded a lower than expected 3.4 per cent month-on-month decline in Oct, down from a previous 4.7 per cent month-on-month growth. Markets would be monitoring a range of economic data released from the Eurozone region, including Germany’s IFO survey readings for November and UK’s preliminary 3Q15 GDP data. Investors would also be keeping an eye on Thailand’s customs exports data for the month of October.
Thailand: 3q15 GDP better-than-expected
Over in Southeast Asia, data released from Thailand indicates that the Thai economy expanded by 2.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in 3Q15.
The latest data came in higher than the 2.8 per cent y-o-y growth in the previous quarter as well as the consensus forecasts for a 2.5 per cent y-o-y growth.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, 3Q15 GDP expanded by one per cent, up from a prior downward-revised 0.3 per cent expansion and above consensus estimates of a 0.6 per cent expansion. The better than expected result was partly due to the 2.4 per cent decline in imports growth, which has provided a technical support for the GDP growth in 3Q 15.
Government consumption saw a deceleration in growth (one per cent versus 3.8 per cent in 2Q15) while investment growth took a dive to the negative territory (1.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent in 2Q15). Its biggest GDP component-private consumption (comprised around 50 per cent of the GDP) improved slightly from 1.6 to 1.7 per cent in 3Q15 on the back of a stronger service consumption.
Despite a bounce in GDP growth, lingering political uncertainty, persistent weakness in commodities exports and waning consumer sentiment continues to weigh on economic growth moving forward.
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