In today’s briefing:
- The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma – Grab Expands, Alfamart, and Mapletree Mega-Merger
- Industrial Demand Recovery Remains Sluggish in December
- Not All Winners Are Equal: 2021 EM FX Outliers and Implications for 2022
The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma – Grab Expands, Alfamart, and Mapletree Mega-Merger
- The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma is filled with an eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive, and actionable insights, macro and equity bottom-up, from across South East Asia.
- The past week has seen Insights on Grab (GRAB US), Sumber Alfaria Trijaya (AMRT IJ), Semen Indonesia (Gresik) (SMGR IJ), and the Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT SP) deal.
- We also explored online groceries in South-East Asia as we see increasing interest in the space plus Nicolas Van Broekhoven also lays out his top picks for 2022 performance.
Industrial Demand Recovery Remains Sluggish in December
- December official manufacturing PMI came in at 50.3, beating expectations of 50.0 and 20bps faster than the previous month.
- China’s factory activity had returned to expansion but recovery remains sluggish
- We expect industrial demand to improve over Q1 this year
Not All Winners Are Equal: 2021 EM FX Outliers and Implications for 2022
- I explore the 2021 winners and losers among EM currencies, leading into the discussion on which of these performances were appropriate and which currencies may offer opportunities this year.
- The currencies to track this year for opportunities to buy are Chilean peso and Peruvian sol, and to sell are Colombian peso and South African rand.
- Among currencies that already look appealing to buy are the Indian rupee and the Thai baht, while the Chinese yuan and the Czech koruna appear expensive.
Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
