Carlos Casanova

SGX Group derivatives trading hit a new record of 3.24 million contracts in equities, FX, and commodities—surpassing the previous high of 2.96 million in April 2022. 🙌 📰 In an exclusive interview, our Director of Commodities and Dealing, Benjamin Yeo, shed light on the factors driving this surge. Key highlights include: - Macroeconomic & Geopolitical Factors: Increased volatility, central bank actions, and geopolitical uncertainties are major contributors. - Growing Market Participation: Institutional investors, proprietary trading firms, and retail traders are leveraging derivatives to hedge against risks and optimise portfolios. - Education for Retail Investors: Futures contracts provide powerful tools for managing exposure to market risks, and at Phillip Nova, we remain committed to empowering our clients with knowledge and resources. Now is a prime opportunity for investors to leverage these powerful tools for managing market risks. For investors holding stocks, derivatives such as equity index futures can be highly effective in hedging against market downturns. As Benjamin Yeo illustrated in the article, for example, to protect a Singapore stock portfolio from a potential decline, investors can sell SiMSCI futures contracts. By doing so, any losses in the stock portfolio can be offset by gains from the futures contracts, offering a safeguard against a drop in market value. At Phillip Nova, we’re seeing increased trading activity across institutional investors, proprietary trading firms, and even retail traders. Now is the time to explore how derivatives can be a key part of your investment strategy. 🔗 Read more about this milestone and insights from Benjamin Yeo in Lianhe Zaobao 联合早报’s full article here https://lnkd.in/gZVYNZk9 #Derivatives #SGX #PhillipNova #Trading #RiskManagement #MarketInsights #FX #Commodities #Equities

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MPF Ratings released Q1 2024 MPF Asset Class Fund Flow Summary by highlighting that US equities received over $9bn of MPF’s net inflows in Q1 2024, by far the largest quarterly MPF net inflows into US equities ever recorded, and a concerning trend which Mr Chung attributes to a confluence of new fund launches, disappointing local equity results and MPF members trying to capitalize on the strong momentum of the US market. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eRJmq4ne #mpfratings #MPFRIntelligence #MPFRConsistentPerformers #MPFFastMover #MarketInsights #MPFMarketShare #MPFFundFlows #MPFNetReturns #MPFIndustry #pensionschemes #assetmanagement #investmentmanagement #mpf #investment #empf

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"Investor reactions to briefing from China's finance ministry on stimulus" The weekend announcement is unfortunately inline with expectation. No third bazooka or more missiles planned. A re-affirmation of the commitment (1) to take all the steps to maintain a 5% GDP growth, (2) to stabilize the real estate sector, and (3) to revive confidence to drive domestic consumption and corporate investment. But, "how and when" remain vague. Again, unsurprising, given that exact fiscal bills are hard to bed down...certainly not two weeks after Beijing's initial surprise announcement of print and spend. Committing to print to spend is easy. Quantifying how much to print is easy. But quantifying exactly what to spend on and when to spend to maximize the effects from print and spend---that takes a lot more planning to get exactly right. We will see come Monday how investors like the announcement.

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Yen Going to ¥170/$?   Some notable experts see ¥170/$ on the horizon. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management’s lead portfolio manager recently stated that, while intervention could interrupt the process, “in the long term, the yen will continue to weaken toward 170.” Others, like Mizuho Bank, project ¥170 as a possibility, rather than a forecast. That doesn’t mean they are right. After all, at the beginning of the year, the consensus forecast was in the ¥130s. However, as of mid-June, a record-high share of trades was betting on a weaker yen.              It’s no longer just the gap between American and Japanese interest rates that is sending the yen downward. Until December, the rate gap was an extremely accurate predictor. Since then, however, the yen has steadily weakened even though the rate gap is no bigger than it was back then,              One theory is that this is just a speculative frenzy. If that were the whole story, Tokyo’s currency intervention would have had a bigger impact for longer. A more persuasive theory is that several shifts in economic fundamentals are weakening the yen. One is the new tax advantages on NISA investment accounts that came into effect this January. Barclays Securities recently estimated that an enormous ¥12 trillion ($74 billion) in NISA money could be invested overseas this year. If true, that would offset half of the entire current account surplus. The latter surplus—the trade surplus in goods and services plus income from overseas investments—is the main source of net demand for the yen. A new development erasing half of that demand could explain much of this year’s ratchet. But NISA is just one of several shifts in fundamentals.              For details, see https://lnkd.in/eFMX7x_e   #Japan #yen #yendepreciation #interestrate #NISA #Currentaccountsurplus #digitaldeficit #reinvestedoverseasprofits 

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The Politburo said in a July 30 meeting that China’s current economic issues are consequences of development and transformation. They include more adverse impacts from changes in the external environment, insufficient effective domestic demand, and risks in key areas, reported Caixin. The macro policy for the second half of the year will focus on maintaining momentum and strengthening intensity, according to the meeting. The Politburo pledged to take “countercyclical” measures to boost growth in H2 and focus on boosting consumer spending. Policies will include fiscal stimulus through ultra-long special treasury bonds, possible further monetary easing, and reform measures to boost market confidence. As we wrote in a recent Enodo Economics report, the Chinese leadership is talking up consumer stimulus but failing to do the right thing. The Politburo’s pledges do not change our expectation that Chinese equities will underperform for the remainder of the year. Both liquidity and money supply growth augur badly for A-shares. At the recent Plenum, the Party-state chose not to provide a short-term stimulus to the equity market but focused on long-term reforms, thus failing to unleash pent-up liquidity. #China #ChinaEconomy #ChineseConsumer #ChineseEquities #Growth

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🌍 ACI sharing at ReThink HK 2024!    A big thank you to #ReThink and #ERM for hosting a fantastic panel discussion on Finance – “Facilitating or Failing the Energy Transition?” Our William Chan, Founding Officer, was honoured to participate. ACI, among other panellists, shared their views with key insights on:   🔹 Funding pace fast enough to cover investment in zero-carbon technologies for the Paris Agreement goals? 🔹 Half of the 2050 GHG reduction targets will rely on innovations still in development, how does the finance market and carbon credits market supporting the energy transition? 🔹 ACI as an Asian based standard can help to customise methodologies and to ditigalise process to ensure effective carbon management across Asia, especially in Hong Kong   We are excited to continue driving impactful climate action and partnerships in the region. Stay tuned for more updates!   #Sustainability #EnergyTransition #ESG #ReThinkHK2024 #CarbonReduction #AsiaCarbonInstitute #ClimateFinance #CarbonCredit 

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𝐀 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒&𝐏 500 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐱 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐊 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 Hang Seng Investment teamed up with S&P Dow Jones Indices to produce a video that highlights key aspects of the S&P 500 Index. The index covers 80% of the US stock market, spans across most industry sectors and its constituents include many companies that are part of our everyday lives. Its iconic status as a leading economic bellwether is widely recognised, with over US$11.4 trillion in assets^ currently indexed or benchmarked to the Index. With about 30% of constituent revenue coming from outside the US^, the S&P500 Index has a global relevance that reflects the interconnectedness of markets around the world. Follow the link to watch the video and learn more about the global importance and reach of the index! #HangSengInvestment #SPDowJonesIndices #SP500 #ETF #Investment #AssetManagement #USIndex #US500 ^ Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC., FactSet, as of 31 Dec 2023 * Investments involve risks. Investors should seek independent advice. This content has not been reviewed by the Securities and Futures Commission and is intended for Hong Kong investors only.

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Private equity firm MBK Partners & South Korea conglomerate Young Poong Group raise buyout offer by 13.6% to $11.6 billion to buy world’s largest zinc smelter Korea Zinc in hostile takeover.  Young Poong Group is currently Korea Zinc largest shareholder, and minority shareholders include Trafigura Group, Hanwha & LG Chem.  Korea Zinc produces 5% of global refined zinc.  Private equity firm MBK Partners has around $30 billion AUM. Read - https://lnkd.in/gHEM4kz9 follow Caproasia | Driving the future of Asia Private equity firm MBK Partners & South Korea conglomerate Young Poong Group raise buyout offer by 13.6% to $11.6 billion to buy world’s largest zinc smelter Korea Zinc in hostile takeover.  Young Poong Group is currently Korea Zinc largest shareholder, and minority shareholders include Trafigura Group, Hanwha & LG Chem.  Korea Zinc produces 5% of global refined zinc.  Private equity firm MBK Partners has around $30 billion AUM. Korea Zinc Outside Directors: “Greetings shareholders and stakeholders of Korea Zinc. We are the outside directors of the Company, namely Yong-Rak Sung, Do-Hyun Kim, Bo-Young Kim, Min-Ho Lee, Dae-Won Seo, Soon-Beom Kwon, and Deok-Nam Hwang.  As outside directors of Korea Zinc, we are proudly committed to serving the interests of, and enhancing value for, all shareholders of Korea Zinc, not just certain major shareholders, based on our expertise spanning the public sector, legal field, and academia. Furthermore, we can attest that Company management has hitherto maintained sound operations under the diligent oversight and monitoring of outside directors. Upon the unanticipated tender offer of Young Poong, a shareholder of the Company, together with a private equity fund, we rigorously deliberated on the offer from the standpoint of shareholder interests. Our conclusion is that we unanimously and emphatically object to the uninvited offer. The offer threatens to undermine the value of Korea Zinc as a private equity fund’s hostile takeover attempt.”

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