Policymakers not yet encouraged to alter any monetary initiatives

Global economies are showing tentative signs of improvement, but not sufficient yet to encourage policymakers to materially alter their highly accommodative monetary and fiscal initiatives.

Within Asia corporate profits are rebounding, liquidity is plentiful, and equity valuations are still reasonable. Economic data continues to improve, particularly in Australia, Korea and Sri Lanka, where expansionary fiscal measures have helped to lift domestic output. Among the best performing markets in September were Taiwan and Thailand, whereas Japan and the Philippines lagged. In politics, Korean president Lee Myung-Bakre shuffled his cabinet ahead of parliamentary by-elections in October, while Taiwan replaced key ministers who had resigned over their mishandling of typhoon Morakot...