How Asian Market Changes Affect Your Investments

Our global economy operates across borders and continents, so now more than ever that you can see your investments fluctuate as a result of political and social activity in far-off regions of the world. In this short article, you’ll learn how changes in the Asian markets – including those in India and China, two of the world’s fastest-growing economies – might affect your investments, whether they’re made at home or abroad. Read on to discover some key ways in which you can protect your investments in the months and years to come.

Conflict

When there’s conflict, markets tend to scare very quickly. This is both a result of fears over critical infrastructure, and the maintenance of normal working operations, and a result of fears concerning the capital that’s invested in the protagonists in the conflict. In the Asian markets, we see few conflicts – but when they occur, markets take a hit.

Hong Kong’s ongoing protests are an example of this, with the index in Hong Kong yet to recover from the situation in the city. Likewise, some of the world’s longest-standing stand-offs, including India with Pakistan and North Korea with South Korea, can change markets should they change their balance of power. However, change is happening. For example, Iran has now put in place measures to enhance trade with Central Asia. You can read information provided by policy experts from irandiplomacy to find out more on these key issues.

Import and Export

Asian markets are seen as some of the biggest and wealthiest producers in the world. India and China may lead in the race to produce the world’s consumer goods, but there’s also Taiwan, Bangladesh and Vietnam rattling out products faster than many developed Western economies. In light of these large shifts in global exports and imports, the Asian markets are particularly strong when it comes to production.

What might change all this, though, are news stories that circulate about any production line that’s seen as operating in a way that breaches ethical codes. This is one example of where you may see shifts in markets, and a reaction in trading against certain companies and groups of companies that may be divested from in the weeks and months ahead.

Technology

Finally, it’s important to note that Silicon Valley is now only one of many ‘Silicon’ centers around the world – with several occurring in the Asian markets. These can be found extensively in China, and in major cities across India, Thailand and Malaysia. What you’re looking out for here are innovations that might lead to profound changes in the global market.

As China becomes more and more equipped to distribute and create its own technology, you’d expect the monopolized power of the US tech companies to slowly wane, as China exports their own products to the world – usually at an undercut price. It’s at this point that we may see changes at the very top of the market, with some of the titans of the tech revolution falling to the might of Asian markets.

These three factors concerning Asian markets are key when considering how and where to place your assets in coming weeks and months.