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NetEase (NTES) shares plunged almost 10% in New York trading on Thursday after the Chinese online gaming giant missed analyst expectations on the bottom line. The negative reaction to NetEase’s mixed June quarter earnings was likely to have been exacerbated by a weak U.S. stock market as investors jettisoned risk amid escalating U.S.-North Korea tensions. The Nasdaq logged its worst session… → Read More
The pace of upward earnings revisions for Asia-Pacific stocks has started to slow in the second half of the year. Analyst earnings estimates rose 0.4% in July and 1.1% during the period of May to July, compared to 1.5% in March and 3.3% during the period of January to March. Goldman Sachs strategist Richard Tang notes India car sales, China excavator sales and Korea semi exports are among… → Read More
Nintendo’s (7974.JP) mobile gaming business has been playing second fiddle to Switch in recent months as the hit console powered shares of the Japanese gaming company to their highest level since 2008. But Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal urges investors to pay close attention to mobile gaming as Nintendo is doubling down on the business and making prudent changes to its mobile game plan: >… → Read More
The wait is finally over! MSCI has announced that it will include mainland China’s A-shares into its emerging markets in two stages with a total weight of 0.73%. So what does that mean for the Chinese yuan as passive funds start to flow into A-shares? HSBC’s head of emerging market foreign exchange research Paul Mackel sees three levels of implications: the immediate of the announcement, the… → Read More
Oil has slipped into its first bear market since August after West Texas Intermediate crude slumped to almost $43 a barrel overnight, more than 20% below its recent peak in February. Iron ore, coal and copper haven’t been faring well either. While falling commodity prices tend to be a red flag for emerging market investors, PIMCO’s global strategist Gene Frieda argues this time is different. He… → Read More
Chinese yuan bears have been caught short as the currency strengthened about 1.9% against the U.S. dollar since the end of last year. Expectations for where the offshore Chinese yuan – or CNH – will be in a year’s time against the greenback have also been revised upwards to reflect a stronger yuan after Beijing introduced a counter-cyclical adjustment factor to its fixing mechanism for the daily… → Read More
Artificial intelligence has been touted as the greatest thing since e-commerce for the tech sector. And software maker iFlytek (002230.CN) is seen as a promising contender for winning in the AI game. Jefferies analyst Rex Wu had a look at iFlytek’s competitive advantages over Chinese internet giants Baidu (BIDU), Alibaba (BABA) and Tencent (700.HK). > Although internet companies are heavily… → Read More
While day one of Alibaba’s analyst meeting fueled a 13% surge in its share price, day two saw founder Jack Ma take the stage to outline his ambitious vision for the e-commerce giant. Ma certainly didn’t leave investors in doubt about his big plans for the company: he sees Alibaba as a global giant of the 21st century powered by data. Ma sees Alibaba not as a company but as an economy. Helping… → Read More
Wipro (507685.IN) has been an outperformer among Indian IT stocks this year, having rallied 18% to surpass gains by its rivals, as well as the BSE Sensex index. At 16 times forward earnings, Wipro is now the second most expensive large cap IT outsourcing company in India, behind only Tata Consultancy Services (532540.IN). Jefferies analyst Vaibhav Dhasmana argues the costly price tag is… → Read More
The FTSE Straits Times index has gained 12% this year to send Singapore stocks to their highest level since 2015. Stronger exports and a weak Singapore dollar have helped to fuel the rally. Here’s Jefferies strategist Sean Darby with more details: > Singapore is passing through an ‘old school’ export recovery coupled with an easing in US dollar liquidity conditions. In turn, money supply has… → Read More
Chinese bank stocks delivered a solid performance in May, rallying 3.5% to outperform the MSCI Asia-Pacific index by 0.9 percentage points. China Merchants Bank (3968.HK) was the best performer among Chinese lenders, while Agricultural Bank of China (1288.HK) led China’s big four banks. Bernstein analyst Wei Hou notes: > In May, mid-sized banks, as a group, outperformed big-4 banks by a large… → Read More
Asian stocks have generally enjoyed generous earnings upgrades from analysts in recent months following a strong March quarter reporting season. But the pace of upgrades appears to have slowed although earnings estimates are still rising. Will analysts continue to take an upbeat view on the earning power of Asian companies? Goldman Sachs strategist Richard Tang doesn’t think so: > Our model… → Read More
The Chinese yuan has hit a fresh six-month high against the U.S. dollar this week after the People’s Bank of China’s revamp of its fixing mechanism for the yuan’s daily reference exchange rate against the greenback. The yuan's strength saw it trade around CNY6.78 against the dollar on Thursday before it pared some of its gains on Friday ahead of the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls data. Pictet… → Read More
Where is the world’s second largest economy headed? Challenges abound as China looks to liberalize its financial markets, rein in its mountainous debt and reform bloated state-owned enterprises. Richard Clarida, Andrew Balls and Daniel Ivascyn from Pimco had a peek at the crystal ball and the baseline scenario didn’t look too bad. The trio expects an orderly crawling depreciation of the Chinese… → Read More
JD.com (JD) has added another 6% to its share price since the Chinese e-commerce giant’s announcement of its first-ever non-GAAP net profit earlier this month. Analysts have on average lifted their earnings estimates for JD.com by 62% for fiscal 2017 and 138% for fiscal 2018. Target prices have risen too. The average target price on JD.com shares is now $42.99 a share compared to $$35.63 a share… → Read More
Asian markets have made one of their best starts to the year as foreign institutional funds poured back into the region. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 17% this year, while India’s Sensex is up 14%. Goldman Sachs strategist Sunil Koul notes foreign institutional investors have bought $28 billion in emerging market Asian equities so far this year, compared to $12 billion of outflows in the… → Read More
May is shaping up to be a positive month for Asian stocks, with most markets posting net gains so far this month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 3% this month, while Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times has gained 1.5%. So is the old adage of sell in May and go away just a myth? In appears so in Asia. Robin Parbrook and King Fuei Lee from the Asian equities team at Schroders had look at historical… → Read More
Shares of China Merchants Bank (3968.HK) have gained 28% this year and trade at a premium to those of China’s big four state-owned banks. But one analyst sees a lot more upside for the stock. Jefferies analyst Victor Wang, who rates CMB a buy, has a HKD38.5 a share target price on the mid-tier lender, which implies a towering 80% upside. Wang argues: > We believe a business deserves high… → Read More
Thailand – the top performer among Asian stock markets in 2016 – has lagged its neighbors this year as it suffered from tremendous investor apathy. The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index has gained only a mere 1% this year, making it one of the worst performers among Asian stock markets. Nomura strategist Mixo Das notes not only have foreign investors deserted the market but also retail investors… → Read More
Brent crude has spiked 12% this month after Russia and Saudi Arabia – the world’s top oil producers – indicated that they would extend supply cuts into 2018. And there could be more upside for the oil price this year. Nomura analyst Gordon Kwan forecasts a rise in the price of Brent crude to $60 a barrel this year and $70 a barrel in 2018. Kwan argues there is a high chance of oil inventories… → Read More