* Foreigners sell $11.2 bln of shares in 7 regional markets
* Taiwan, India, South Korea had biggest outflows
* Asian shares start Sept up on hopes for US-China trade
talks
By Patturaja Murugaboopathy and Gaurav Dogra
Sept 6 (Reuters) - Foreigners turned net sellers of Asian
equities in August as sentiment worsened with the United States
and China, after a brief truce, announcing new tariffs on each
other.
Overseas investors sold about $11.2 billion worth of
regional equities last month, the biggest monthly net sales
since October 2018, data from stock exchanges in South Korea,
Taiwan, India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam
showed.
The U.S.-China trade war, which intensified in August,
stoked fears that the global economy would tip into recession,
undermining riskier assets such as Asian
equities.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares,
.MIAP00000PUS fell 3.4% last month, its biggest decline since
May.
Apart from an escalation of the U.S-China trade war, turmoil
in Hong Kong and the risk of a hard Brexit added to the jitters
within the market, prompting foreign outflows from riskier Asia,
said Jingyi Pan, a Singapore-based market strategist with
financial services firm IG.
Taiwan and South Korea - which form a major part of supply
chain to China's exports - had foreign outflows of $3.87 billion
and $2.49 billion, respectively.
India suffered an outflow of $2.5 billion in the face of
worries over declining economic growth, steep share valuations
and a prolonged slowdown in its auto sector.
The Indian economy, the third largest in Asia, expanded just
5% on-year in the three months ended June - the lowest pace
since March 2013, official data showed on Friday, far below the
5.7% forecast in a Reuters poll.
Indonesia and Philippines saw outflows of $652 million and
$226 million, respectively.
Regional shares were also let down by lacklustre earnings
performance by Asian firms in the second quarter. Refinitiv data
showed that 55% of Asian firms missed their consensus earnings'
estimates in the April-June quarter.
However, Asian shares are up this month on hopes the talks
between the United States and China early in October would help
de-escalate their trade dispute, bringing some relief to
regional economies.
"The sustainability of the rosier mood remains a question
that could keep investors cautious into year-end," said IG's
Pan.
"Despite the rosier valuations, the uncertainty across the
range of geopolitical issues continues to suggest that there may
be greater volatility ahead."
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Foreign investments in Asian equities https://tmsnrt.rs/2PHPMYm
Asian companies Q2 earnings miss https://tmsnrt.rs/2zNvZMb
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