ASEAN markets 'shrugging off' soaring oil price

Equity markets in South East Asia are trading at a one-year high, despite rising commodity prices and oil hitting $120 a barrel, said SooHai Lim at Barings.

The manager of the $303m ASEAN Frontier fund said Thailand's stock market is trading at a year high, with the stock exchange up 8% in US dollar terms since the beginning of this year, compared with the 4% for the MSCI World US $ index. SooHai added the broader MSCI South East Asia US $ index is up 6% since the start of the year. He said: "In our view, higher oil prices are unlikely to dampen the expansion of the Thai economy given the offset from strong agricultural prices and consequent gains in farm income. "Government controls and fuel subsidies, designed to hold down prices, ha...