HSBC: Foreign investors bought more than $12 billion of Asian shares last month

After months of volatility, confidence is returning to Asian stocks.

According to a note by analysts at HSBC, foreign investors bought more than $12.3 billion (£9 billion) of Asian stocks in March.

It's the strongest inflow since September 2013, according to the HSBC analysts led by Herald van der Linde.

But, it might be a bit early to start celebrating in China, the epicentre of stock market volatility for the past 12 months, as most of the flows went to other Asian countries.

Here's HSBC (emphasis ours):

Most of the inflow went to Taiwan ($4.9 billion), India ($3.4 billion) and Korea ($2.9 billion). ASEAN markets also received a fair share of the equity flows. As a result of this, for the first time in 2016, year-to-date flows into Asian markets were positive, with the region receiving $6.6 billion.

Despite the surge, concerns over Asia's economic prospects remain.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) last month lowered its GDP forecast for developing Asian nations in 2016 citing a weak recovery in major industrial economies and softer growth prospects for China.

The bank said it expects growth of 5.7% in both 2016 and 2017, below the 5.9% level achieved in 2015. Previously it saw growth of 6.0% this year.