Moody's: Asian Liquidity Stress Indicator improves in January to lowest level since July 2015

The US-based ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service said in its latest report that its Asian Liquidity Stress Indicator (Asian LSI) improved for the third consecutive month to 24.7% in January 2018 from 26.2% in December 2017, strengthening to the lowest level since July 2015.

Key Points:

The Asian LSI measures the percentage of high-yield companies with Moody's weakest speculative-grade liquidity score of SGL-4 as a proportion of high-yield corporate family ratings. The indicator increases when speculative-grade liquidity deteriorates.

Brian Grieser, a Moody's Vice President, and Senior Credit Officer, noted: "The reading for January 2018 fell to the lowest level since July 2015, and is below its trailing 12-month average of 26.5%, benefitting from strong refinancing activity over the past 12 months. But the Asian LSI remains slightly above the indicator's long-term average of 23.1%, showing that weak liquidity remains an issue for some companies in Asia."