Monday morning links

Alibaba, Softbank, CITIC, Malaysian Smelting Corporation

Over the past week, I wrote an introduction to Asia’s fertiliser industry: what fertilisers are, how the industry operates and the listed universe of fertiliser stocks.

I also wrote the fifth instalment in my reports describing Asia-focused fund managers' portfolios. The funds discussed include Santa Lucia Asset Management’s CIM Dividend Fund, PineBridge’s Asia Ex-Japan small-cap fund, Thai private investor Niwes Hemvachiravarakorn, Vietnam-focused PYN Elite Fund and the Vitruvius Asian Equity Fund.

I highly recommend listening to Bill Bishop’s and Victor Shih’s discussion of the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress on 16 October. In short: Xi’s control of the country is rock-solid, and the zero-COVID policy isn’t going away, though it may be modified.

---

• Kexin Xu at Interconnected asks himself whether Alibaba (BABA US－ US$219 billion) has become a mature company.

• The Generalist discussing Japan’s Softbank (9984 JP－ US$65 billion)

• Investors Insights Asia with an introduction to Chinese conglomerate CITIC (267 HK－ US$28 billion)

• The Profit Hunting blog on tin miner Malaysian Smelting Corporation (SMELT MK－ US$130 million)

---

(estimated reading time) ($ = behind a paywall)

• My introduction to Asia’s fertiliser industry (22 mins) ($)

• I wrote another instalment in my series about the key holdings of Asia-focused funds, now part 5 (23 mins) ($)

• Bridgewater: The Fed has to keep tightening until things get worse (4 mins)

• Peter Tasker thinks the Japanese yen is massively mispriced (6 mins)

• Flo Crivello argues that having cofounders is a net negative (9 mins)

• Chris Leithner: ESG is fatally flawed (26 mins)

• JP Morgan’s 4Q2022 Guide to the Markets (71 slides)

---

(listening time)

• Bill Bishop & Victor Shih with their takes on the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress on 16 October (1:01 hours)

• Bill Ackman argues that it’s an excellent time to buy stocks (7 mins)

• Russell Clark: Is it time to buy the yen? (10 mins)

• Jeff Gundlach is starting to see value in bonds (29 mins)

• British investment manager Anna Macdonald on the bear market in Chinese equities (21 mins)

• Josh Chin & Liza Lin on the PRC’s surveillance technology (44 mins)

• International affairs professor Chris Miller on the Chinese government’s ambitions within the semiconductor industry (54 mins)

• Journalist Murray Hunter on what he thinks ails Malaysian politics (1:00 hour)

• HSBC’s Paul Bloxham on RBA’s and RBNZ’s divergent policy moves (19 mins)

• Asianometry on how Thailand became an auto export powerhouse (18 mins)

---

BofA’s fund manager survey suggests that few of the respondents are overweight equities. Source: Bank of America

---

Thank you for reading!

Sign up for over 20 deep-dive reports on Asian value stocks per year and full disclosure of my personal portfolio:

---

Disclaimer: Asian Century Stocks uses information sources believed to be reliable, but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The information contained in this publication is not intended to constitute individual investment advice and is not designed to meet your personal financial situation. The opinions expressed in such publications are those of the publisher and are subject to change without notice. You are advised to discuss your investment options with your financial advisers, including whether any investment is suitable for your specific needs. From time to time, I may have positions in the securities covered in the articles on this website.