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From Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

The markets fell again in February, with the developed U.S. and European markets in much worse shape than emerging markets, according to Singapore-based consulting firm GFIA’s February report entitled: “Research Insights.”

The report said the MSCI World showed a loss of 8.5% as of February 24, while the MSCI Asia Pacific slightly worse at -10.6%, though the ex-Japan equivalent fared much better at -5.6%. The MSCI Emerging Markets index was down 5.1%, though it masked the biggest losing regions: Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS. The current fear is that the Eastern European and CIS (ex-Russia) countries are going to implode the way Asia did in 1998. This fear is reflected in the performance of the index, with the MSCI EFM Europe +CIS ex-Russia index down 13.8% and falling.

Japan in deep recession but M&A activity still taking place The Japanese market declined significantly over the past three years. The latest export figures show a 45% drop in January, but nothing sends the message home more than the highly regarded multi-national companies announcing losses, starting with Toyota.

Despite the gloomy market and economic environment, there is some corporate activity taking place as companies seek to acquire or merge at cheap valuations. Some of the M&A activity announced recently covers the insurance, electronics, industrials and F&B sectors.

Weak cu......................

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