Asian marts in limelight: S'pore aide

Asian marts in limelight: S'pore aide

SINGAPORE (Reuter): The search for alternatives to mature
markets in developed countries is boosting the newer markets of
Southeast Asia, a senior Singapore economic official said on
Saturday.

Lee Ek Tieng, managing director of the Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS), told a foreign-exchange forum, "The search for
alternatives has pushed the emerging Southeast Asian economies
into the limelight."

Diversification and high returns relative to mature markets
are among factors favoring the newer markets, he said.

In Singapore, for example, over the past two years the number
of treasury-product strategists has doubled, financial
specialists gone up close to four times, and economists almost
five-fold, Lee said.

He said that as markets grow, opportunities in the region will
develop that creative traders can make use of, due to such
factors as differences in countries' economic cycles and how
investors rate individual corporate issuers.

Among markets with potential is regional cross-currency
trading, Lee said. "We should seize the reins and decide for
ourselves how we wish the market to evolve, rather than let the
trading be located halfway around the world in a foreign center."

More complex and diversified markets and the impact from the
international flow of funds mean changes for central bankers and
regulators as well, Lee said.

Central banks and official institutions will have to respond
to the new environment, and often do so quickly, "thinking on
their feet in coming up with a calculated response."

Lee also said market liberalization must not come at the
expense of stability. "It is in everybody's interest to have
markets that endure," he said.