Nov 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks saw a rise in valuations in
October as equities surged on signs that Washington and Beijing
were nearing a truce in their 16-month-long trade war amid
upbeat third-quarter earnings by heavyweights.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-pacific shares .MIAP00000PUS
rose more than 4% in October, pushing its 12-month forward
price-to-earnings ratio to a 20-month high of 13.6 times by
October-end. The ratio stood at 13.1 at the end of September.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a "Phase 1" trade
agreement on October 11, and has said he hoped to sign the deal
with China's President Xi Jinping in November at a summit in
Chile.
A better-than-expected earnings performance for Asian firms
also boosted the regional shares last month. Asian companies
topped the average earnings estimates by about 5.5% in the third
quarter, as per Refinitiv.
Due to the rise in the P/Es, regional shares are catching
up with the valuations of their global peers, Refinitiv data
showed.
India and Malaysia were the most expensive in the region,
with ratios of 17.22 and 15.95, respectively.
Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and South Korea were the
lowest-cost shares in the region, with P/E multiples of about
9.55, 11.17 and 11.3, respectively.
In October, Japan .N225 , Taiwan .TWII and Singapore
.STI shares rose 5.4%, 4.9% and 3.5%, respectively.
Losses in the region were led by Thailand .SETI and New
Zealand .NZ50 , which dropped 2.2% and 1.3% respectively.
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Valuation of Asian equities https://tmsnrt.rs/33hxShl
MSCI Asia and World forward PE https://tmsnrt.rs/33jsl9R
Asia Pacific monthly price change - Oct 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2JAEm39
Asia Pacific equities performance in 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ww3s8h
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