SINGAPORE may overtake China as Asia's fastest-growing economy
this year, increasing the attractiveness of the city state's stocks
and putting pressure on policy makers to check inflation with a
stronger currency, reported Bloomberg News.
Gross domestic product of Singapore will rise 10.8 per cent in
2010, according to the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News
survey before the July 14 second- quarter GDP report.
By comparison, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, BNP Paribas and
Macquarie Group Ltd have cut estimates for China to at most 10.1
per cent in recent weeks.
An acceleration in pharmaceutical output and the opening of two
casino resorts boosted growth in the first half, the result of
Singapore's efforts to diversify sources of expansion beyond
electronics exports. The push to bolster services may sustain the
economy and support investment that spurred the island's benchmark
stock index to outperform counterparts in China, Taiwan, Japan and
Australia this year.
'Singapore has unique growth characteristics of its own as a
function of having some new areas of growth,' said Manraj Sekhon,
the London-based head of international equities at Henderson Global
Investors Ltd., whose firm oversees about $94 billion in assets,
including shares in Singapore companies.
Stock Performance Henderson has 'meaningful positions' in
Singapore-based companies such as Wilmar International Ltd., the
world's largest palm-oil trader, and Keppel Corp., the biggest
maker of shallow- water rigs, he told Bloomberg news. Its holdings
of Singaporean stocks, also including CapitaLand Ltd. and casino
operator Genting Singapore Plc, are 'close to the highest positions
we've had,' he said.
Singapore's benchmark stock index has climbed 28 per cent in the
past year, more than Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Taiwan's Taiex,
while the Shanghai benchmark has fallen 22 per cent.
