Brokers' take

Emerging Asia | Not rated Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Dec 16

On external buffers, most of emerging market (EM) Asia is in better shape than during the 2013 taper tantrum: For potentially vulnerable countries, the external short-term debt to GDP ratio (or short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves) or the size of current account deficits (or both) has fallen. In particular, India and Indonesia - two countries of the "fragile five" during the taper tantrum - are currently running smaller current account deficits and have smaller external financing needs. Commodity-importing markets (for example, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan), enjoy large current account surplus, thanks to cheap oil and commodity prices.

Compared with June 2004 (the beginning of the last Fed tightening cycle) and May 2013 (the starting of the taper tantrum), most emerging market (EM) Asian economies have been struggling to maintain growth momentum amid weak global growth and sluggish world trade.