Asian markets taking a breather: Schroders Private Clients

On answering a query on the outlook for Asian markets for the near to short-term Leslie Phang, Head of Investments at Schroders Private Clients told CNBC-TV18 the markets had a strong rally after the Bear Sterns bail out but now they seem like taking a breather. He says within the next couple of months the markets may trend to move higher.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Leslie Phang:

Q Very quite all across Asia and in particular markets like Hang Seng, which are taking sharp knocks, what’s your short-term and near-term outlook for the entire Asian pack then?

A: I think on the short-term market is actually looking to take little bit of profit of the table. We have seen very strong rallies in the last four months ever since the Bear Stearns bail out, so this is perhaps the market which is looking to take a breather.
 
One of the things that have been noticed is that the market seems to be rather resilient mostly driven at the back of the US and the data that is coming out of US is surprisingly good. So I think this may be a period of time to take some money off the table but within the next couple of months I think the market may still continue to trend higher, it almost wants to do that.

Q: Which sectors are you bullish on and which are you bearish on?

A: Everybody is watching the financials now and we are seeing some disappointments, so we are looking for the rather controversial ones, the banks that have been most aggressive in writing off, notably some of the European names and even specific US names.

On the other hand I think we will stick over to the regular plays, those that will be catering to the consumption market in terms of the consumption booms.