Losers all round
NOW THERE are losers all round. The tigers are unbounced. They will find money harder to get and will have to pay for it, and the spring will go out of their stride. As for their Western backers, they have lost twice over, on currencies and on markets. In Malaysia (for example) share prices have fallen by one third this year and the exchange rate by 15 per cent on top of that. As Wall Street led the world's major mar- kets up and yields fell, investors ranged fur- ther and further afield in search of attrac- tive returns and, in tiger country, found them. Now they have discovered the risks that went with them. From now on they will think more about risk and less about returns. They will stick closer to quality and liquidity and cash. That is not the frame of mind that will send our own markets soar- ing further into the unknown. Some of the bounce will come out of them, too, and in that sense the smile will be on the face of the tiger.
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