SINGAPORE -- Asia's traditional trade and commodity stocks made strong gains in the first half of this year as big global economies began to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a Chinese container shipping company leading the way.
Asian stocks overall, however, underperformed. MSCI's Asia Pacific price index rose 5% while the world index gained 12% in the nearly six months through last Friday. The discrepancy is due to hopscotching COVID resurgences, tighter tech regulations, higher U.S. Treasury yields and other factors that analysts say could also loom in the second half of the year.
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