Monday morning links
Monday morning links
Singapore border re-opening, weaker Yen, T.Hasegawa, PAX Global
Singapore is going to ease its COVID-19 restrictions this week. The borders will open up almost entirely for vaccinated travellers. Expect a surge in cross-border tourism. Travel and hospitality companies such as SATS, Frasers Hospitality Trust and Genting Singapore could benefit from the border re-opening.
The Japanese Yen has depreciated significantly against the US Dollar after the Bank of Japan’s Kuroda said it would not raise interest rates. The JPY/USD exchange rate has risen from 115 a month ago to 123 today. A weaker Yen should be positive for low-margin Japanese exporters.
I wrote a report on Japanese flavours & fragrances specialist T. Hasegawa. It’s a direct peer to Givaudan and IFF, yet it trades at only half their valuation multiples. British shareholder activist AVI has taken a position and is pushing the company to reform.
($ = behind a paywall)
I wrote a report on Japanese flavours & fragrances developer T. Hasegawa (4958 JP — US$906 million) ($)
Patches AKF Substack on controversial POS terminal producer PAX Global (327 HK — US$850 million)
(estimated reading time) ($ = behind a paywall)
I wrote a March 2022 portfolio update (13 mins) ($)
A report on AVI Japan Opportunity Trust’s portfolio (17 mins)
Massif Capital: The advantages of real assets (17 mins)
David Hay thinks we should pay attention to technical breakouts (6 mins)
Fabricated Knowledge on the 1980s semiconductor cycle (13 mins)
Bilahari Kausikan (formerly at Singapore’s foreign ministry): China’s strategic dilemmas (20 mins)
Macro Ops on the theories behind currency movements (20 mins)
The Japanese phenomenon of company gifts to shareholders (“Yuutai”) (6 mins)
(listening time)
Historian Yuval Noah Harari on the war in Ukraine (36 mins)
Jim Leitner is bullish on commodities (59 mins)
Russell Clark on the risks from higher food inflation (1 hour)
Professor Chen Gang on China’s 20th Party Congress (29 mins)
Expedia’s Lavinia Rajaram on Singapore’s travel recovery (13 mins)
(Largest new programs as % of the market cap; min market cap: US$50m)
Daiho (52.9%) (1822 JP — US$647 million)
Hwasung Industrial (21.8%) (002460 KS — US$340 million)
Shui On Land (5.3%) (272 HK — US$1.2 billion)
Access Bio (4.7%) (950130 KS — US$528 million)
Yamaha Motor (3.1%) (7272 JP — US$7.7 billion)
(Largest over past 7 days; min market cap: US$50m)
Roda Vivatex: US$18.2 million (RDTX IJ — US$129 million)
BTS Group: US$7.1 million (BTS TB — US$3.6 billion)
Bank Central Asia: US$2.6 million (BBCA IJ — US$68 billion)
Jaymart: US$0.8 million (JMART TB — US$2.3 billion)
Raffles Medical: US$0.4 million (RFMD SP — US$1.6 billion)
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