Research from Barclays Wealth has claimed the Asian markets are relatively inexpensive and represent good medium-term value relative to the Standard & Poor's 500.

Of the individual markets in the region, China and India stood out as the most expensive markets - but are still cheap relative to the US market - with Singapore and Hong Kong attractively valued, and the Thailand and Indonesian markets appearing more like high beta investments regionally.

However, it is still recommending a defensive stance in the near-term due to macroeconomic overhangs.

Manpreet Gill, Asia strategist at Barclays Wealth, said: "In a way, this is consistent with our view of Asian equities as a leveraged play on global equities.

"In risk-averse environments like this, one would expect them to be trading at a discount to lower risk us equities. However, what this also means is that as and when risk appetite does recover, higher growth expectations in the Asia Pacific ex-Japan region mean that Asian equities should ideally trade at higher multiples to average global equities. For investors, this represents an opportunity for higher investment returns."

The bank said one of the key themes for 2009 was the differentiation between those larger economies which have considerable internal markets to cushion against a global demand slowdown - such as China and India - and the small, open economies like Singapore and Hong Kong that are much more at the mercy of global demand.

To demonstrate this it pointed out that on a price-earnings (P/E) basis, both trailing and estimated, Chinese and Indian equities are trading at higher multiples, while the Hong Kong and Singapore equities are trading at lower multiples.

Gill said: "Intuitively, this makes sense because in today's environment of weak global demand and lack of visibility of a recovery, these markets would most likely be the hardest hit. Conversely, however, when there is greater visibility of the growth trough and equities begin to recover; these markets could see the largest gains."