By SIOW LI SEN

MARKETS have recovered - and along with them, Temasek's performance. But it was a subdued team that announced the Singapore investment company's latest results.

It's not quite the time to pop champagne corks. The market value record of $186 billion squeaks past the previous high by just $1 billion, and even this could have been eroded by volatile stockmarkets since April.

What else can be keeping the Temasek folks awake at night?

There are lots of pitfalls ahead, as the recovery in the United States and Europe seems to be stalling, with consequent increasing volatility in go-go Asia.

There are also worrying signs of overheating in China which is Temasek's second largest market, with 20-25 per cent share, after Singapore's 32 per cent.

Temasek makes no apologies for anchoring itself even more firmly in Asia, and will remain so given the global environment.

On paper, it said, the asset allocation is 78 per cent Asia, which includes 32 per cent Singapore. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) takes up 20 per and 2 per cent goes to the rest of the world. But the 20 per cent OECD is actually in Australia, through Temasek-linked companies SingTel, Singapore Power and CapitaLand.

Temasek may have been badly stung by its Western misadventures, but to have 98 per cent allocation in Asian/Singapore companies looks like going a tad overboard. It is a global investment company, after all.