ASEAN Speaks

In today's episode of ASEAN Speaks, we dive deeper into the REITs sector which we believe is our best defensive pick in the ASEAN market. As well as our economist Brian Lee going across Singapore's export numbers and why his forecasts for Singapore's GDP has remained the same.Krishna, our REITs analyst, maintains a POSITIVE view on S-REITs and goes through why after stress testing he believes the sector is our main defensive pick as well as highlights some of his top picks. On the other side of the causeway our analyst in KL highlights Malaysia REITs, sharing her views on several catalysts and risks as well as her top 3 picks in that sector.Hussaini once again comes back, reiterating his belief on Singtel as a top pick even in this period of tariff uncertainty. Highlighting why it has outperformed ASEAN peers and the STI year-to-date.

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan is joined by our Economist, Brian Lee to give us new insights on MAS’s policy easing and Singapore’s GDP forecast downgrade and Senior Analyst Eric Ong shares why ComfortDelGro could be a safe haven.Thilan unpacks the downgrade of Singapore banks to Neutral and takes a deep dive into the uncertainty of the markets.On Behalf of Senior Analyst Jarick Seet, our host, Thilan unpacks the risk facing Venture Corpotation and also highlights our call on Grab Holdings.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce.

In this week's episode of ASEAN SPEAKS, our host Thilan is joined by our Regional Equity Strategist, Anand Pathmakanthan, to unpack the equity implications of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, especially for ASEAN markets like Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.Our Co-Head of Macro Research, Dr Chua Hak Bin, shares his views on the economic impact, including ASEAN growth downgrades and how China’s retaliatory measures could shape the road ahead.Zooming in on Singapore, Thilan discusses why the STI’s sharp drop could still present buying opportunities, and highlights key names in our Trump Tariff Winners portfolio.Our Head of Sustainability Research, Jigar Shah, introduces our latest ESG portfolio for Singapore, explaining how companies with strong sustainability practices are proving more resilient amid market volatility.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan invites our economist Chua Hak Bin to talk about the US's Liberation Day and how that would impact the ASEAN market.Our SMIDs analyst, Jarick Seet goes through why he is upgrading ISOTeam's target price amidst its CEO buying ISOTeam shares.With increased rumours of Grab merging with GoTo, our analyst from Indonesia, Etta Rusdiana Putra, goes through why believes even if the merger does not fall through GoTo has great upside potential.Our Industrials analyst, Krishna Guha, discusses some highlights from ST Engineering's recent Investor Day and goes through some upside risks the company may have.While looking at Data Centres and amidst Thailand's fluctuating market, Thilan briefly goes through what Hussaini Saifee, our TMT analyst, is thinking about the new data centre capacity approval in BangkokEdited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

In this episode, our host goes through an ASEAN Equity Overview of the ASEAN-6 (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines) done by Anand Pathmakanthan, Head of Regional Equity Research. Our SMIDs analyst, Jarick Seet, also goes through why he is confident on rating Frencken as a BUY despite the recent slowing down of the semi-conductor space in Singapore, expecting a recovery soon.Jarick also reiterates his expectance of special dividends for SingPost given the recent announcement of consolidation of SingPost's operation freeing up space at the SingPost Centre.Samuel Yin is dialing in from Malaysia to talk about Genting Berhad and why he is confident in upgrading the stock to a BUY, all the while giving his two cents on Genting Singapore.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

In this episode of ASEAN Speaks, we are joined by 3 of our analysts will be talking about three key stocks that they believe will perform well in the future as earnings season comes to a close as well as our China Economist.Hussaini, our TMT analyst talks about Sea Limited's blowout 4th Quarter performance and the key prospects he is forecasting for this year.Jarick Seet, our SMIDs analyst, talk about SingPost's potential upcoming special dividend in May despite it's weak performance the past 3 months.Erica, our China Economist talks about what the latest National People's Congress announcements and the ongoing trade war have for China's future.Finally, Eric our Healthcare and Transports analyst talk about our Opportunity+ Stock, LHN and why he believes now is the perfect time to BUY.Edited by Xuan Hao/Dion/Bruce

In this episode of ASEAN Speaks, we feature three of our analysts who give their opinions on some rating changes as earnings season is coming to a close.Jarick Seet, our SMIDs analyst, talks about the tech manufacturing sector outlook, going into detail on whether the previous murky forecasts has given way to more positive prospects.Thilan Wickramasinghe, our Head of Research, goes in depth into OCBC's performance and why he still prefers UOB after all three banks have reported their results.Finally, we have Krishna Guha, our REITs and Industrials analyst, who explains why he has upgraded ST Engineering to a fresh BUY given the increase in defense spending.Edited by Xuan Hao/Dion/Bruce

In today's episode of ASEAN Speaks our host Seng Yeow briefly discusses on the shifts in the US market highlighting Alibaba's upcoming advantage with the recovery of the Chinese Tech Market.Our head of research, Thilan Wickaramasinghe goes through the MAS' first set of recommendations to revive Singapore's stock market which includes a S$5 billion initiative, a Market Development Fund focusing on the domestic market.Our TMT analyst, Hussaini Saifee also discusses Grab and SingTel's earnings results talking about potential mergers between Grab and GoTo as well as SingTel's strong quarterly earnings.Edited by Bruce/Dion/Xuan Hao

In this week's edition of ASEAN Speaks we have Thilan Wickramasinghe discussing DBS's strong performance in results and loan growth in 2025.Brian Lee, our Economist discusses the expectations for SG Budget 2025 and the impacts on GDP expectations for 2025E.Jarick Seet, our Head of SMIDs also discusses his new initiation in painting contractor ISOTeam and updates his coverage on SingPost.Edited by Bruce/Dion/Xuan Hao

In this week's edition of ASEAN Speaks we have Thilan Wickramasinghe discussing SGX's strong performance the past quarter and potential benefits from an upcoming MAS review.Hussaini Saifee, our TMT analyst discusses a potential Grab-Gojek merger that could potentially go through and how that would affect both companies.Krishna Guha, our REITs analyst also covers his outlook for CICT after the earnings call last week, explaining why its portfolio is stabilizing.Edited by Bruce/Dion/Xuan Hao