Capital

Heidi Mo of UOB Kay Hian, citing end demand from AI-related activities, has raised her target price for rubber glove maker Riverstone Holdings from 71 cents to 98 cents.

The cleanroom segment, according to Mo in her Oct 8 note, remains the Malaysia-based company's key earnings driver, contributing around 40% of revenue but nearly 70% of gross profit.

Riverstone, led by executive chairman Wong Teek Soon, expects 10% q-o-q volume growth in 3QFY25, supported by stronger demand from the semiconductor and AI-driven data-storage industries.

During the week, I had a long conversation with Mexico’s ambassador, Cespedes, and his head of economic affairs, Rivera Becerra. The discussion had more relevance to our business concerns around China trade than I had expected.

The headlines suggest that China is trying to evade Trump’s tariffs by sneaking in cars via Mexico to the US In the usual style of US trade officials, this is very simplistic. The real situation is much more complex and it’s a web that has impacts on every business relationship that includes the US and China.

Followers of Tong’s Absolute Returns Portfolio would recall that we recently pared our exposure to US stocks. As we have written previously, even as US inflation rates declined from the 2021/22 highs, they will not return to pre-pandemic lows but will stay higher for longer with the reshuffling of global supply chains and accelerating deglobalisation. This means that interest rates too will not return to the lows of the past decade.

Sasseur REIT is a real estate investment trust (REIT) listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange S68 since March 28, 2018. It is the first outlet REIT listed in Asia, with four outlets in China in its initial portfolio. Sasseur REIT’s investment mandate is to invest, directly or indirectly, in a diversified portfolio of income-producing real estate which is used primarily for retail outlet mall purposes, with an initial focus on Asia.

Kenneth Tang, senior portfolio manager of Asian equity, and Lai Yeu Huan, joint head of Asian equity at Nikko Asset Management, believe they can best meet the challenge of President Donald Trump’s volatile behaviour by remaining unabashedly pro-Singapore equities from an investment point of view.

Lai points out that fund managers have lived through the Asian Financial Crisis, 9/11, the Sars epidemic, the Global Financial Crisis, the European debt crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and now Trump’s tariff tantrums.

Whilst Singapore is constrained in the diversity of renewable energy sources, the country has established a plan to tap the abundant sunlight and has started importing low-carbon electricity through regional electricity grids. Singapore has set out a target to deploy at least two gigawatt-peak of solar energy by 2030, enough to power around 350,000 households a year, and aims to import around six gigawatts of low-carbon electricity by 2035.

A series of diplomatic milestones has marked recent weeks: the US and China advancing a trade agreement, a temporary truce between India and Pakistan, and the UK securing a deal with the US. Meanwhile, developments in Ukraine and the Middle East show tentative signs of progress. Amid this shifting landscape, the evolving US-China relationship remains the most critical. This piece analyses what it means for the two economic superpowers — and global investors.

The markets rarely offer gifts, but May 12’s surprise US-China trade agreement felt close to one. When Washington and Beijing announced a 90-day tariff suspension, reducing levies from crushing 145% to a more manageable 30%, investors stampeded back into Chinese equities with the enthusiasm of bargain hunters at a flash sale.

About four years ago, the Chinese government clamped down on the private tutoring industry, which banned the provision of for-profit tutoring for subjects taught in school curricula.

Like others, we had written extensively on US President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) goals on at least four occasions in the past three months alone (scan the QR codes below to read three of the articles). This article is another, but with a major twist.