The stark underperformance of the broader Asean market belies the meteoric gains in some individual names that count among the world’s hottest shares this year. Their weighting in the index, however, has been small. These include Malaysia’s Top Glove Corp, which has jumped more than 400%, and Philippines’ largest telecom firm PLDT Inc, which has risen 40%.
SINGAPORE: As markets around the world piggyback on technology shares to ride a startling rebound from their pandemic lows, stock investors in South-East Asia are proving to be mere spectators.
Laden with so-called old-economy stocks such as those in the finance and real estate sectors, the MSCI Asean Index is down 19% in 2020 even as similar gauges for Asia-Pacific and world equities have wiped out their year-to-date losses. The poor show has also put Asean shares on course for their worst annual performance relative to global peers since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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