Malaysia leads mobile wallet usage in Southeast Asia KUALA LUMPUR (June 23): Malaysia leads other countries in Southeast Asia in the usage of mobile/digital wallets at 40%, ahead of the Philippines (36%), Thailand (27%) and Singapore (26%), according to a Mastercard Impact Study 2020. As the Malaysia market edition results showed, Covid-19, which led to wide movement restrictions, had driven momentum in Southeast Asia towards the digital economy by necessitating rapid adoption of e-commerce, digital payments and preference for online activities. The report indicated that even as countries in the region start to ease the restrictions and prepare for a ‘new normal’, some of the trends and habits formed in response to the pandemic would likely remain. The inputs were gathered from 10,000 consumers and/or business professionals across 10 markets in the Asia Pacific region. Nearly half of the consumers surveyed in Malaysia reported an increase in online shopping during the period. Other online activities also saw heightened interest, such as surfing the Internet for news and entertainment (75%), online video streaming (57%), social networking (55%) and home delivery of food or groceries (50%). Additionally, about 64% of Malaysians said they will conduct online shopping in the same frequency as currently or before the pandemic, even after restrictions are lifted. Similarly, consumers expect to continue home deliveries (54%) and working from home (45%). Malaysian consumers also shifted to other payment methods other than mobile/digital wallet, such as contactless debit cards (26%) and contactless credit cards (22%), while cash usage declined 64% since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand also reduced their cash usage by 67%, 64% and 59% respectively, with a similar uptick seen in use among all contactless payment methods. Malaysia’s digital activities especially online shopping and usage of digital payments, were also higher in comparison to other markets in Southeast Asia. In April, consumers in Malaysia were doing 18% more cashless payments including mobile and QR payments, as compared to 16% in the Philippines, 15% in Singapore, and 15% in Thailand. On the contactless cards (both debit and credit), Malaysia tied with Singapore with approximately 24% of consumers in both markets saying they were using contactless payments more. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia Emerging Markets, Mastercard division president Safdar Khan said the company was committed to using the power of data to enable businesses of all sizes to adapt and evolve alongside consumers’ changing needs, preferences and behaviours through e-commerce tools, increasing contact less payment limits, and spearheading the shift to contactless across the region. "By putting consumer sentiment and concerns at the core of all decisions, businesses and governments will be able to move with greater confidence from this current situation, and mitigate the adverse impact of future crises,” he said.
Compare valuation against regional peers then you find Arbb as super undervalued. Check out Yeahka.HK (China), AMS:Adyen (EU), NYSE:SQ (USA), NASDAQ:PYPL (USA), NASDAQ:STNE (Brazil)
Hang Seng Debuts New Index of Benchmark-Beating Tech Stocks
A new index focused on China’s technology giants is set to give investors greater access to their growing dominance in Hong Kong’s market.
The Hang Seng Tech Index, which launched Monday with backdated prices, tracks the 30 largest tech companies listed in the city, including Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Meituan Dianping and Xiaomi Corp. Tracking the gauge this year would have returned 47% for investors, versus a loss of 12% for the Hang Seng Index. The tech measure rose 0.8% Monday.
“All the conditions are now ready for large China tech stocks whether in China or already listed elsewhere,” Vincent Kwan, chief executive officer of index compiler Hang Seng Indexes Co., said on Bloomberg Television Monday.
The move comes at a time when further listings of Chinese technology firms are in the pipeline, such as Jack Ma’s Ant Group, following those of NetEase Inc. and JD.com Inc. Listing closer to home has become more attractive as tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten to curtail Chinese companies’ access to U.S. capital markets.
The compiler of the Hang Seng Index has already embraced change through moves such as scrapping a weighting limit for dual-class shares on some of its gauges. The tech index is seen helping investors bridge a gap between a Hong Kong benchmark overstuffed with old economy banks and insurers, and the technology companies that have emerged as big winners in the city’s beaten-down market.
“There are too many laggards in the Hang Seng Index,” said Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International Hong Kong. “With overseas-listed Chinese firms deciding to list closer-to-home, the Hong Kong market falls short in terms of having a representative index for these stocks. This new index serves to fill this gap and drive capital flows.”
Citi analysts led by Pierre Lau wrote in a recent note that the index will attract investors to other Hong Kong tech stocks, facilitate the issuance of index-linked funds and derivatives as well as boost turnover at Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. That stock is up 42% this year, most in the Hang Seng Index.
Supported by strong mainland inflows through stock connect links, Chinese technology shares have emerged as big winners in Hong Kong this year. Tencent has surged 41% while Meituan is up 87%.
The Hang Seng Index, on the other hand, has underperformed. It’s fallen 12% this year, with half of its members down at least 20%.
Morgan Stanley sees the new technology gauge providing a bigger sentiment boost near-term to the MSCI China Index than the Hang Seng, which has few components that will also be in the tech index. “The direct stock-level positives cannot translate into a meaningful index-level boost,” analysts led by Laura Wang wrote.
Tech expects the assembly and packaging equipment segment to grow 10% to US$3.2 billion in 2020 and 8% to US$3.4 billion in 2021, driven by advanced packaging capacity build-up
Robust spending in China in the foundry and memory sectors is expected to vault the region to the top in total semiconductor equipment spending in 2020 and 2021
Guys, Iot face reco machines orders have been full until the end of the year, and the plant utilisation rate has also reached close to the highest peak.
Arb Fundamentals and profit margin is good. It is all about trading v investment. At the moment all the liquidity is skewed towards rubbers. Things will change but no worry guys
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
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