What next for the MSCI EM Asia Index?

Net foreign purchases of equities are published on a daily basis in five of the eight countries in the MSCI Emerging Markets Asia Index – India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. In aggregate, it looks as if such purchases will be much smaller in May than in any other month so far this year. Still, the waning appetite of foreign investors has not had much effect on the prices of equities in these countries. Indeed, in four out of five cases, the MSCI stock market index has risen in the month to date.