Respondents to our web poll last week tipped Hong Kong's stockmarket to outperform its biggest regional rivals in the second half of 2010.
Pitched against Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo, our readers came out strongly in favour of Hong Kong. Analysts agree that the city's main Hang Seng Index will perform well during the coming six months. Citi is forecasting it to rise to 23,300 by year-end, which is a 16% gain from yesterday's close.
Forecasts for Australia's main index are even more bullish, however. Citi predicts the ASX 200 will reach 5,500 by the end of December, up 26% from yesterday's level. The Nikkei and the Kospi are both predicted to post much more modest returns during the rest of the year, with most forecasts suggesting that Tokyo stock prices will continue to fall.
In total, 59% of our voters picked Hong Kong, while 18% followed the analysts' consensus and went for Australia. Seoul attracted 15% of the vote and an optimistic 8% chose Tokyo.
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