ASEAN Speaks

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan breaks down the STI’s record-breaking 11-day rally—the longest in 20 years—and explores what could drive the next leg higher as MAS prepares to announce the first recipients of the EQDP fund.Hussaini initiates Sheng Siong on a BUY despite the 30% rally the stock has seen this year, and he also initiates on Thai Beverage, explaining why he is more neutral towards the stock. While on the Internet side, Hussain gives his preview of Grab maintaining his BUY on the stock.Jarick unveils his upgraded target for Frencken, which he now calls the top pick in Singapore tech. He also reiterates a BUY on CSE Global, highlighting strong order wins, margin expansion, and a compelling dividend story.Krishna initiates on Keppel DC REIT, riding the data centre wave. He breaks down what’s behind his bullish call and how global AI policy risks might affect the outlook.Edited by Lucia, Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our chief Economist, Hak Bin Chua talks about Trump tariffs, and what our region has in store in terms of economics for the second half of the year. Hussaini Saifee, our TMT analyst comes in to talk about recent developments regarding the recent restriction of AI chips exports and what it would mean for data centres in Malaysia and Thailand. Our analyst from Vietnam, Mi Nguyen, recently initiates on Masan Group (MSN VN) and she explains what the company does, what key drivers she expects to drive stock price higher and any risks that could effect the stock.Our host Thilan also goes through takeaways from the recent investment conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Invest ASEAN, where the management for 8 Singapore companies came along to share about their respective strategies. Thilan also goes through our 10 top picks for Singapore.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Abdullah, Bruce

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan paints the best-case scenario for ASEAN amidst all of Trump's uncertainties.Jarick our SMIDs analyst goes through his Opportunity+ Stock, ISOTeam and why he believes there is a lot of upside potential.Anand our regional head of research dials in, giving his input on how the six ASEAN markets will develop and what stocks investors should look out for.Thilan also goes through Singapore and Malaysia Banks after loan growth numbers have been announced for May and why we remain Neutral as well as a few preferred stocks for both sectors.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Abdullah, Bruce

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan discusses upgraded STI targets and why he believes the index will break through the 4000 barrier and what he believes are some of the stocks that are well positioned to benefit.Brian Lee, our economist joins us to look at how core inflation moderated from 0.7% to 0.6% and what he believes the inflation will be like for the rest of the year.Jarick has recently upgraded his target price for CSE Global and our host Thilan goes through why Jarick is mega bullish on this stock.Finally we have Syifa coming in from Malaysia to talk about IGB REIT and why it's recent acquisition of Mid Valley Southkey Mall led to her upgrading her earnings and dividends forecast.Edited by Xuan Hao, Bruce, Dion, Abdullah

In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, Singapore's Head of Research, Thilan Wickramasinghe gives us his take on his recent increase in target price for the SGX, given the current volatile market. Hussaini also comes on today to speak about his recent reports on Sea Limited, Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd as well as several takeaways while speaking to clients over the past week.All the way from Indonesia, Willy Goutama talks about his recent initiation on a Opportunity+ stock, Mulia Boga Raya (KEJU IJ) and why he remains bullish on his outlook for this stock despite macro volatilities.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce, Abdullah

In this week’s show our host Thilan discusses the MAS Equity Market Development Fund and the 18 screened stocks that we see benefits the most that have relatively strong corporate governance.Our analyst from Thailand, Boonyakorn recently upgraded Airports of Thailand to a BUY and he goes through why he sees more upside now.Hussaini also comes in to talk about his brand new survey on ASEAN Internet sellers and consumers and how that would reflect on both Grab and Sea and disucsses teh competitive landscape in Brazil, how that affects Sea and Grab’s recent convertible note issuance.We also go through why Jarick still highlights his buy on Frencken amidst announcements of their expanding Singapore capacity.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce, Abdullah

Diversify, diversify, diversify! That is the name of the game. In today's episode, our host, Thilan bring us his review on our Macro Team's highly recommended report. We will delve in deep to explore whether the softening of the US dollar is structural or temporary as it loses its domimamce as a world reserve currency.Next, we are joined by our Regional Strategist Anand Pathmakanthan as he brings us on an in-depth take through the ASEAN region where he believes many equity oppoportunities can be found as the US dollar softens. Find out which of the ASEAN countries feature the highest OVERWEIGHT recommendation along with Anand's top picksLast but not least, we will also look at our top stock pick of week, Capital A, Air Asia's parent company and why now is the best time to BUY.

In today's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan is joined by Krishna Guha our REITs analyst and Brian Lee our macroeconomist.Krishna goes through his recent conversations with many of the REITs management and with investors going through what his key observations of the REITs subsector is and how investors are positioned as well.Our host Thilan discusses on Singapore bank's loan growth data and how it's slowing growth is expected due to uncertainties reiterating his neutral view on the sector.Brian talks about Singapore's manufacturing and how it might impact his GDP forecasts, he also discusses his views on the moves MAS are making on the SGD.Thilan also summarises why our analyst in Malaysia, Natasha Ariza, is calling a big buy on one of Asia's largest private hospital groups, IHH Healthcare.Edited by Xuan Hao, Abdullah, Bruce

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan reviews Singapore's Q1 GDP outperformance and unpacks selected safe-haven stock picks.Economist Brian Lee joins us to discuss the driving factors behind Singapore's GDP growth and growth forecasts for subsequent quarters.Thilan discusses ISO team's outlook given the anticiapted influx of HDB tenders post General Election amongst other structural tailwinds.Eric Ong reviews LHN Ltd's H1 figures and whther the company will be able to sustain this momentum moving forwards.Finally, Hussaini discusses Singtel's strong quarter with a focus on management's plan to increase shareholder returns. He also speaks on the current competitive landscape for ASEAN internet stocks.Edited by Bruce, Dion, Abdullah, Xuan Hao

In this week’s episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan unpacks Moody’s downgrade of the US credit rating and the market implications of easing US-China tariffs.Economist Erica Tay joins us to explore what this shift means for China and ASEAN economies. We break down Sea Ltd’s stellar 1Q25 results and why we’ve raised our target price. SMID's Analyst, Jarick Seet is is optimistic about CSE Global Ltd in light of US policy changes and pessimistic on AEM despite increasing trade sentiment.Analyst, Samuel Yin weighs in on Genting Singapore’s outlook following its inline quarter.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce, Abdullah