According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL = Yonhap News) Nomura, a financial services group and global investment bank, forecast that Asian markets may not face a large-scale economic meltdown in 2014. However, it said polarization between emerging nations is likely to be accelerated, and it considered Korea and Taiwan to be two of the markets in the region with high prospects.

A February 6 report by Nomura suggests four reasons Asia is unlikely to suffer another economic crisis.

It projected that, unlike during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Asian markets are showing a relatively stable sell-off trend and going through a gradual adjustment period.

The bank also stated in the report that investors started to have faith in the macroeconomic policies of emerging nations, and there is no evidence to support the claim that Asian economies are in their worst situation.

Based on its evidence, Nomura argued that polarization between emerging nations is being accelerated and listed Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan as prospective markets with favorable economic growth rates, market fundamentals and government policies.

Thailand, Indonesia and China were classified as the least favorable markets, while the markets of Hong Kong, Singapore and India were regarded as neutral.

The economic recovery of and reduction of quantitative easing by the United States are expected to have a varied impact on the foreign exchange rates of nations. The bank predicted that Korea, India and the Philippines will outperform Thailand and Indonesia in the foreign exchange market over the next three to six months.

Nomura also saw the recent sell-off trend in emerging markets as a buying opportunity in more stable markets, citing the Korean, Taiwanese and Indian stock markets as ideal investment destinations in the medium term.