Investment Insights

The market expects more rate cuts from the Fed, giving Asian central banks room to lower rates, which is very supportive for domestic growth. Meanwhile, with more China stimulus measures anticipated, we see asset allocation into Chinese equities picking up pace and lift the entire market.

Japan’s long history of undercompensating equity investors, a legacy of deflation, is coming to an end with its risk premium now achieving parity with that of the US. This historic shift is being driven by rising dividend payouts ratios, strong earnings and reasonable valuation of underlying equities.

The start of the Fed’s rate cut cycle has created room for monetary easing across Asia. We expect Asian government bond yields, particularly high yielders like those of India, Indonesia and the Philippines, to trend lower.

This month we assess views in the market that the BOJ may have taken a dovish turn at its September policy meeting; we also point to further signs of a steady rise in wages and how that paves the way for a recovery in consumption and, ultimately, higher stocks.

Nikko AM NZ released its first annual “climate statement” under New Zealand’s new climate-related disclosures regime in July. The framework requires approximately 200 organisations, including large publicly listed companies, to release reports on how their activities may impact the climate and the effect of the climate on their businesses.

The raft of stimuli recently unveiled in China is the most coordinated policy since the start of the country’s economic downturn. This, along with the start of the Fed’s monetary policy easing, represents key fundamental changes. However, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details.

We perceive heightened risk to both growth (two-way) and inflation (upside) compared to our previous guidance. Nevertheless, our central near-term scenario remains for slowing but positive growth in the US, alongside slowly moderating prices.

As global equity investors, we are often asked how we have successfully navigated an evolving market landscape since the strategy’s inception in 2014. The truth can ultimately be attributed to three key factors: humility, collaboration with people who share the same core team values and a robust investment philosophy.

Perhaps there may be disappointment at the lack of money-spinning applications pertaining to AI which may cause investor sentiment to cool. Nevertheless, the improvements in earnings and cash flow appear sustainable so far and are certainly much more attractive than those being produced by many other parts of the economy.

For August we maintained our overweight growth position and a neutral position on defensives. Several factors continue to support our optimism towards growth assets, including the first rate cut from the Fed, earnings surprises remaining above their historic average, US economic growth beating expectations, and large fiscal spending globally.

The Federal Reserve’s 50 bps rate cut demonstrated the power of financial markets at present. As the markets had already priced in a significant probability of a 50 bps reduction, the Fed could have viewed such conditions as a good time to “buy insurance” and implement a half a percentage point cut while the markets were likely to absorb it well.

There is one major thing to keep in mind going into Japan’s upcoming leadership contest for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—the country’s looming general election. The ruling party’s chief concern is to select a candidate who can prevail at this election. This makes the candidacy of an incipient LDP leader more of a marathon than a sprint.

We believe that the biggest fundamental change for Asian markets in the medium term is a shift in the interest rates regime, notably that of the US.

In a positive bond market environment driven by global monetary easing expectations, we favour government bonds from India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where higher yields remain attractive to investors.

This month we assess why the market is unfazed by Japan’s upcoming leadership change; we also explain how a bid for a prominent Japanese convenience store operator has highlighted how affordable domestic firms now look in the eyes of their foreign counterparts.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s rate cut in August appears to constitute a slight easing of the brakes rather than a large change. With the Official Cash Rate at 5.25%, conditions are still restrictive. The first signs of recovery are likely to be seen in improvements in business and consumer confidence, but it will take some time for the impact to filter through to borrowers.

In August the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered interest rates, marking the first change in the Official Cash Rate since May 2023. We expect New Zealand equities to be supported if the central bank maintains an accommodative approach.

The Global Equity Team answers the following questions related to the key trends they see emerging: 1)does the AI investment theme still offer significant long-term potential? 2) will the market leadership broaden beyond technology names into other sectors? and 3) what are the main risks and challenges equity investors may face in the remainder of 2024?

As the November 2024 US presidential elections draw ever closer, we explore the global trade, economic and geopolitical implications from an Asian equity perspective, focusing on the uncertainties and opportunities that could arise if Donald Trump secures a second term in office.

For August we reduced our overweight on growth assets amid volatility in the markets and maintained a neutral position on defensives. We expect volatility to be quelled, given that the markets have factored in the Fed cutting interest rates in September and with more easing anticipated over the following 12 months.

On 13 August, the Global Investment Committee held an extraordinary session to review the impact of recent volatile market movements. We maintain our central scenario for positive GDP growth in most major economies, although we see heightened downside risks to our US GDP growth outlook.

India remains the long-term growth story in Asia and continues to attract fresh investment flows. China, on the other hand, has become the value play waiting for positive catalysts to turnaround sentiment.

We expect the broader trend of easing global yields, prompted by expectations for the Fed to begin lowering interest rates, to support a downward bias in Asian bond yields. We continue to favour Indian and Philippine government bonds over their regional peers.

The weak yen has played a key role in Japan’s economic recovery by boosting its corporate profits, gross national income and current account surplus. However, it may be time to consider ways Japan can retain its recovery without help from a weak yen should the financial markets eventually change direction. The need for portfolio diversification and Japan’s structural reforms are some of the factors that could incentivise investors to trim their exposure abroad and reinvest domestically.

July was a remarkably strong month for New Zealand equities, with the strength of the market partly reflecting the dovish turn taken by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.