We examine Warren Buffett’s favourite market valuation metric – Market Value divided by Gross National Product – in an Asian context. Buffett believes this metric indicates whether stocks in general are over-valued relative to economic conditions. According to him, around 80% would be a fair value figure.
I would think that the current value of the indicator would be around the same level as in March, indicating that stocks are currently expensive, in general. Do the same rules govern this indicator when applied to markets which we are more familiar with?
Taking things at face value, Singapore’s Total Market Value to GNP stands at 258.3% at end 2013 versus the historical mean of 262.3%. I would surmise that this figure is slightly higher now. Overall, this indicates that the Singapore market is fairly valued currently but I think the key insight we should draw here is that Buffett’s ......