Today our economics team shares on their latest outlook for Singapore. With the recent suspension of reciprocal travel bubbles with Malaysia, South Korea and Germany, how large an impact will this have on migrant workers as more than 30% of Singapore’s workforce is non resident. Lockdowns or not, Vietnam’s exports and manufacturing activity is humming. We explain the drivers behind this economic resilience and why we still think Vietnam’s stock market will go from strength to strength. ASEAN Banks have outperformed by 30% since 4Q last year. Despite this, our banks research team remains positive and shares their high conviction ideas for 2021.

As US Democrats push for US$1.9tn in stimulus, the prospects of easy monetary and fiscal policies continue to underpin ebullient conditions for global equity markets. Central banks in Malaysia and Indonesia left policy rates unchanged last week, we get a pulse check from Maybank’s economics team on the likelihood of further rate cuts and which Asian currencies are the most undervalued. On growth themes, is it premature to rotate out of Singapore and Malaysia’s semiconductor equipment sector? Finally, the Thai Healthcare sector has been hit as hard as the tourism industry. Has the sector’s risk reward improved for investors to accumulate select names?

As we ring in the new year, Maybank Kim Eng’s research team digs deep to sift through the best themes on our clients’ minds. Malaysia has just implemented movement control order 2.0 so we ask our strategists if the economic cost of MCO 2.0 will be greater than the last one. Commodity prices have also been in focus and like crude oil, palm oil prices have rallied since 3Q 2020. Will tight supplies keep CPO prices elevated and when will the cycle reverse? In the Philippines, it was one of the hardest hit economies last year but as fortunes reverse, we now see resilience and evaluate the value plays that will stand out this year. Lastly, our Thai utilities team shares on their top picks for renewables and ESG investing.

AC Health was established in 2015 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ayala Corp (AC PH). Although the entity contributes less than an estimated 5% of AC’s RNAV, AC Health is a hidden gem in AC’s portfolio as it is positioned in the fast growing healthcare sector with exposure in drugstores, medicine delivery, clinics, hospitals and tele-health services. In this episode of Captains Speak, Maybank Kim Eng hosts AC Health’s Chief Digital Officer Christian Besler and its Strategy & External Affairs associate, Dr Nikki Bautista, on the company’s business strategy.

For our first podcast of 2021, Maybank Kim Eng’s strategists will assess the drivers behind the current reflationary cycle and whether ASEAN central banks may be tempted to bring forward interest rate normalisation. As governments prepare to stockpile COVID-19 vaccines and execute on immunisation programs, COVID cases are back on the rise. How will these developments impact brittle economies like Thailand and its stock market? Will the strong Baht complicate its recovery? Lastly, given the steepening of the 10year treasury yield curve, do Singapore REITs still offer value? Tune in to find out.

In this final podcast episode for 2020, our strategists will share on their preferred markets and how you can position for 2021. Currencies is also an equally important criterion when investing in foreign markets, so find out how ASEAN currencies will benefit amidst a low USD environment, and firming commodity prices. ASEAN banks have been trending well of late as compared to the medical gloves sector. Will banks’ performance persist, and based on the latest 1QFY21 results of the gloves sector, is the best yet to come?

In today’s podcast, our conversations on the ASEAN capital markets will cover Fitch’s latest downgrade on Malaysia’s sovereign credit rating, Malaysia’s 3Q earnings season and our portfolio positioning strategy going into 2021. We will also go to Thailand and ask why our strategists have turned bullish on the Thai banking and property sectors despite student protests, slow tourism recovery and high household debt.

With Singapore’s manufacturing data still weak and the country being a proxy to global trade and demand, what does this say about the trajectory of recovery? Thailand’s export numbers are also similarly weak and the strength of the Thai Baht doesn’t help. This week, our equity and macro strategists will give their perspectives on these key developments, and what it means for different asset classes. We will also give a run down of Maybank Kim Eng's top calls for ASEAN banks as well as the Indonesian Property & Mining sectors.

Our specialists will speak on Malaysia’s 2021 Budget and how the construction sector is faring in this climate. We will also discuss about Bank Indonesia's latest rate cut and also why Maybank Kim Eng's technology analysts are overweight tech stocks in Singapore and Malaysia. Finally, we find out which countries are the biggest winners from the RCEP trade agreement and the implications for the FX market.

Welcome to the ASEAN Speaks’ podcast. This week, we will be speaking with Maybank Kim Eng’s Chief economist, Suhaimi Ilias, to get the lay-of-the land on key macro and policy trends. With our market strategists, Suhaimi will then assess if the positive market vibes over the last 1-2 weeks signal a silver lining in the skies for corporate earnings recovery in Malaysia, and how this sentiment may influence US treasury and ASEAN government bond yields.