Foreigners sold Asian equities in Oct on worries over trade, slowing growth
Nov 12 (Reuters) - Foreign investors sold Asian equitiesheavily in October on concerns over slowing earnings, higherU.S. interest rates and trade tensions between the United Statesand China.
Data from regional stock exchanges showed foreigners sold anet total of $14.54 billion in Taiwan, South Korea, India,Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam equities in thelast month.
The total was the highest in at least 7 years, the datashowed.
The outflows were led by Taiwan, South Korea and Indianequities, with each market seeing net sales of about $4 billionor more in the last month.
"It is a run for the doors as risk sentiment was heightenedon the backdrop of aggravated concerns over both trade tensionsand tightening monetary conditions," said Jingyi Pan, aSingapore-based market strategist at trading and investmentsprovider IG.
The region's growth worries were highlighted by theInternational Monetary Fund in the last month, which cut itsprojection for next year, citing trade wars and monetarytightening in some economies.
At the start of this month, the U.S. President Donald Trumpsaid that he will likely make a deal with China on trade, butwarned that he still may impose more tariffs on Chinese goods. Refinitiv data showed 54 percent of Asian companies havemissed consensus earning forecasts for the third quarter so far,underscoring a lacklustre earnings performance and worries aboutthe impact from the U.S.-China trade war.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed more than 10 percent in October to extendits 2018 losses to 17 percent. However, the index is up 2.6percent so far this month.
"The sell-off had rendered Asian equities cheaper andcertainly boosted the attractiveness of the region, but theoutlook remain overcast with the uncertainties of US-China tradeties among others that could continue curbing the return offoreign flows" Pan added.
(Reporting By Patturaja Murugaboopathy and Gaurav Dogra;Editing by Kim Coghill)
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