Moody's Investors Service say that growing.....>

ASIA: Moody's Investors Service say that growing vulnerabilities will likely

test Asia's credit fundamentals this year as financing conditions tighten in

some markets, trade tensions persist and China's (A1 stable) economy cools.

"Even though our baseline expectation is for credit conditions to remain steady

across the region during 2019, vulnerabilities have increased in recent years",

says Michael Taylor, a Moody's Managing Director. "The region is now more

exposed to global portfolio shifts than a decade ago, while it still remains

dependent on export demand from the rest of the world." "These vulnerabilities

are off-set by several mitigating factors", says George Xu, a Moody's Analyst.

"Intra-Asian capital flows have also increased mainly driven by foreign direct

investment, which is more stable, therefore partially lessening concerns of

sharp swings in capital flows from outside Asia." "China has emerged as a major

source of this investment and is playing an increasingly important role as a

destination for the region's exports," says Xu.