Moody's Asian Liquidity Stress Index worsened to 21.1% in August

It broke 3-month improvement.

In a report, Moody's Investors Service says that its Asian Liquidity Stress Index (Asian LSI) worsened in August, after three consecutive months of improvements.

The index, which rises when speculative-grade liquidity appears to decrease, measured 21.1% in August from 20.2% in July.

"The increase in the Asian LSI reflects the addition of one company to our list of firms with lowest or weakest speculative-grade liquidity scores of SGL-4," says Laura Acres, a Moody's Senior Vice President.

"While the index remains below the recent high of 29.1% recorded in October last year, and the record high of 37% reached in the fourth quarter of 2008, amid the global financial crisis, it is still elevated relative to historic levels," adds Acres.

Acres was speaking on the release of Moody's latest "Asian Liquidity Stress Index" report. Moody's report says the liquidity sub-index for Chinese speculative-grade companies was unchanged in August, at 25.4%, as both the number of rated Chinese high-yield corporates (59) and the number of those with SG-4 scores (15) were unchanged. China's high-yield property index (26.5%) and the Indonesian sub-index (3.8%) were also flat.