David Bulteel

“Equities have continued to be volatile amid concerns about bad debts arising from the US housing market. Worries stemming from the credit markets, which had led to a virtual seizing up in overnight lending ­markets, have abated, but credit is harder to come by and more expensive. The eventual cost of bad debts for the ­financial sector remains unclear and the valuation of some complex debt securitisation instruments also remains opaque. So, sentiment remains fragile in the Western ­markets while in Emerging/Asian regions, markets and underlying funds have been buoyant on the basis that they might be more resilient to a US slowdown.”