Capital markets activity expected to be strong next year

CAPITAL markets activity - both equity and debt - will be strong next year as investor confidence is growing along with a bullish outlook, OCBC bankers said yesterday.

"Overall the macro economy is good, everybody is looking at improving corporate earnings," said Tay Toh Sin, OCBC Bank head of corporate finance.

According to Morgan Stanley Research, global growth in 2014 is expected to rise to 3.4 per cent from 2.9 per cent this year. The Asean four - Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - are forecast to grow an average 4.6 per cent, similar to this year.

"So the equity market outlook is good as people like to buy into growing companies," she said.

Even banks have been indicating that their…