05-17-2022, 07:14 PM
![[Image: ae9bc27e-09a0-4b71-8a0e-03ad88b5d6d3.jpeg]](https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2022/2022-05-04/ae9bc27e-09a0-4b71-8a0e-03ad88b5d6d3.jpeg)
With the US kicking off a drastic tightening cycle by raising its benchmark interest rate, Southeast Asian countries appear to have again faced a new wave of economic turbulence that is sweeping through their economies, stock markets and currencies.
As of Monday's close, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Index plunged nearly 20 percent in May, while Indonesia's Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index fell by more than 9 percent, with the Indonesian rupiah's exchange rate against the US dollar hovering around its April 2021 low. Other Southeast Asian markets have also fared poorly in recent days.
While there is no major negative news about their economies in the market and it was not long ago that Southeast Asian markets were considered as a new promised land for global capital investment due to the region's rise in manufacturing strength, investors' appetite seems to have changed dramatically.
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