Best ROE fundamentals in six years. We suggested in our 2 December 2017 Outlook that we were facing the best ROE fundamentals in six years. We are excited to see more confirmation of this. One, Figure 1 highlights that Asia Pacific ex-Japan ROE which has been declining for six years finally appears to be bottoming. ROE appears to have edged higher to 10.2% currently from a low of 10% last November. Two, our reporting season scorecard with two-thirds of companies having reported highlights a 3.3% upgrade to 2017E consensus EPS since 31 December. Three, this upgrade pushes 2017E consensus EPS growth up to 15.1%, the strongest since 2010. See Figure 6.
■ Korea, Australia, Japan, MSCI China, Taiwan, MSCI Hong Kong associated with EPS upgrades. So far this reporting season, we are seeing upgrades to 2017E consensus EPS of 7.8% for Korea, 5.1% for Australia, 3.7% for Japan, 3.5% for MSCI China, 2.9% for Taiwan and 1.5% for MSCI Hong Kong. The breadth of the upgrades provides comfort on the sustainability of the upgrades. See Figures 2-5.
■ We have reached our MXASJ YE target of 580. We are reviewing our MSCI Asia ex-Japan YE target of 580 as we have just passed it. We continue to suggest buying the dips.