Traders dump Asean stocks on Omicron fears

The gauge of South-East Asian stocks slumped almost 7% in the two months after the Delta variant was officially named at the end of May.

SINGAPORE: Emerging-market traders are taking the once-bitten, twice-shy approach with South-East Asia and Omicron, dumping shares from the region that was most impacted when the Delta variant arrived.

The MSCI AC Asean Index has fallen more than 4% since US Thanksgiving – when Omicron first made its presence known in markets – underperforming the 2% decline in Latin American shares and a tiny gain in Eastern European equities.