ASEAN Speaks

In this week’s episode, Seng Yeow hosts, joined by Erica and Hussaini. Seng Yeow opens the discussion with the week’s key geopolitical and macro developments — including renewed Israel–Hamas tensions and the U.S. plan to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese imports by November 1 — framing them as signs of growing strain in global markets. He notes that “markets don’t die of altitude — they die of exhaustion,” reflecting the cautious investor sentiment seen lately. Erica shares insights on China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, highlighting the country’s push for long-term self-sufficiency and structural reforms. Hussaini wraps up with a defensive view, reiterating a BUY rating on Sheng Siong for its resilient fundamentals and steady performance amid uncertainty.

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, Hussaini Saifee, our TMT analyst, introduces the emerging concept of Agentic Commerce — what it means for the future of online shopping, how it compares to existing e-commerce platforms, and the implications for key regional players such as Sea Ltd.We then turn to Malaysia, where our host, Thilan, breaks down the state of digital banks. With five new licensees, competition is heating up, but profitability remains a distant goal. Jarick Seet shares insights from his recent roadshow with Sanli Management, outlining key growth drivers and the rationale behind his strong BUY call on the company.Finally, Krishna Guha discusses his upgrade on Lendlease Global Commercial Trust, highlighting company-specific drivers, the impact of falling benchmark rates, and his quick take on the overall REIT sector outlook.

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, Singapore takes center stage with a construction boom that could reshape the economy. Our Macro Team forecasts the sector to grow at more than 5% annually between 2025 and 2030—well above GDP. Hak Bin shares how this compares with past cycles, what’s fueling the surge, the potential spillover to the broader economy, and the key risks to watch.We then move to the Telco and Internet space. Hussaini breaks down Optus’ latest outage just as a Singtel delegation meets Australian regulators, plus what Simba’s latest results mean for Singtel and StarHub. He also covers Grab’s launch of self-driving services in Punggol and what it could mean for earnings and valuations. And with Wilmar’s cooking oil case overturned by Indonesia’s Supreme Court, Hussaini explains the implications for the stock.Tune in for these insights and more to help you navigate the week’s market moves.Edited by Xuan Hao, Wanzhen

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, out host Thilan unpacks the bullish momentum in Singapore's markets and the launch of SGX's new Next 50 indxed, as well as what they mean for small- and mid-cap investors.Sheryl takes us through Eric's deep dive on ComfortDelGro's underperformance versus the STI, and how earnings from Copenhagen could provide a boost. Finally, Xuan Hao shares fresh insights on Food Empire, highlighting strong earnings momentum in Vietnam, the brand's positioning in a competitive market, and how management is navigating headwinds in Russia.

In this week’s ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan kicks off with the latest tailwinds driving Southeast Asia’s internet and telecom sectors.Hussaini, our TMT analyst, breaks down Sea Limited’s Shopee momentum and AI-driven gaming push, then explains why he’s bullish on Singapore Telecommunications and Indosat.Finally, Seng Yeow from our Quant team reviews Malaysia’s 2Q earnings season, highlighting positive market sentiment and key portfolio rebalancing signals.Edited by Shaina and Sheryl

In this week’s ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan looks at why Singapore continues to attract safe haven flows amidst regional uncertainty.Hussaini, our TMT analyst, shares why he thinks the telco sector still has more upside, with a new BUY on StarHub and higher target price on Singtel.Next, our transport analyst, Eric highlights ComfortDelGro’s latest CityCab deal, explaining why this could close the performance gap with other midcaps.Across the Causeway, Desmond wraps up 1H results for Malaysian banks and explains why “no bad news is good news” for the sector heading into 2H.Edited by Wanzhen & Shaina

In this week's ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan goes through the many tailwinds boosting Singapore's market.Brian comes in to talk about Singapore's recent jump in manaufacturing numbers and why the economics team is forecasting a potentially higher GDP growth for Singapore.Hussaini, our TMT analyst talks about Singtel's recent investor day and the key takeaways that he believes supports his reiteration of a BUY on Singtel.Focusing on Indonesia, Etta goes through why he believes GoTo share price is likely to double after GoTo posts their 1H numbers amidst the chaos happening in Indonesia currently.Jarick also comes on to highlight ISOTeam's FY25 earnings, their future prospects and expected rebound as well as on Marco Polo Marine's interest on listing in Taiwan.Edited by Bruce

In this week's episode Jarick Seet is stepping in for Thilan as today's host. Jarick opens today's episode by talking about how markets are currently fatigued from Trump's tariffs reflecting in investors' actions over the past week. Krishna comes on to talk about ST Engineering and why he believed fundamentally the stock looks weak explaining his downgrade to a HOLD.Jarick also explains his downgrade to a HOLD of Singapore Post where he believes management lacks the long-term strategy as a non-essential asset is being held on to. Jarick also goes through Marco Polo Marine and why he believes this quarter's earnings warrants the company another chance as the storm seems to have passed.Edited by Xuan Hao, Bruce

In this week's episode, Thilan highlights several stock picks amidst earnings seasons and a lot of tariff uncertainties as well as geopolitical issues. Jarick comes on to talk about his recent initiation Sanli Environmental which he believes will benefit largely from potential government contracts. Jarick also briefly goes through CSE Global's results and explains why it was inline with expectations.Hussaini comes on to the show to talk about Singtel and StarHub results and how the market consolidation post M1 acquisition by Simba will benefit the two main players in Singapore's telco space. He also goes through why he remains bullish on Sea Limited amidst another quarter of earnings beat and raise.Thilan goes through plantations and explains why despite less coverage, investors should not ignore the great set of results the sector has been seeing. He goes through First Resources, Bumitama Agri and Wilmar International.Edited by Xuan Hao, Lucia, Bruce

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan kicks off with Jarick, who shares his take on Venture and how changes in the tech sector drives his upgrade to a BUY call. The conversation then moves to Singapore’s three big banks — DBS, UOB and OCBC — where Thilan looks at the differences in their results, the pressures on net interest margins, and what might be ahead for capital returns and loan growth. Krishna joins to discuss Sembcorp’s latest numbers and the key factors to watch going forward considering his downgrade to a HOLD.Thilan also covers SGX’s 1H25 results, he discusses why he remains bullish on SGX and why its valuation is justified when considering growth as compared to other exchanges.We then hear from Xuan Hao who is covering for Samuel Yin on Genting Singapore, with insights into what is driving Samuel's BUY call. Hussaini breaks down Simba’s plan to acquire M1’s telecom business for SGD 1.4 billion and the implications it has for the telco market which has been facing aggressive competition for the past few quarters.Edited by Xuan Hao, Lucia, Bruce