Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Quantitative Analysis

<div><p>The Asia Short Interest weekly looks at moves in market wide short interest and highlights movements in stock specific short interest across Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan using the last available data published by the relevant authorities.</p></div><div><p>Hong Kong saw shorts rise on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ping-an-insurance-grp-co-of-china-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12880:1" rel="noopener">Ping An Insurance (H) (2318 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28434:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (9988 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/haier-electronics-group-co" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4877:1" rel="noopener">Haier Electronics Group Co (1169 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ping-an-healthcare-and-technology-company-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27008:1" rel="noopener">Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited (1833 HK)</a> while there was short covering on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan-dianping" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sunny-optical-tech" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13363:1" rel="noopener">Sunny Optical (2382 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aia-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14895:1" rel="noopener">AIA Group Ltd (1299 HK)</a>. Shorts increased in Financials and Health Care stocks, and decreased on Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Communication Services, Information Technology and Real Estate names.</p></div><div><p>In Japan, stocks that saw the most shorts were <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/itochu-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18448:1" rel="noopener">Itochu Corp (8001 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nippon-building-fund-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1900:1" rel="noopener">Nippon Building Fund (8951 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mercari-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27149:1" rel="noopener">Mercari Inc (4385 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/miura-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20185:1" rel="noopener">Miura Co Ltd (6005 JP)</a> while shorts decreased on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toshiba-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:637:1" rel="noopener">Toshiba Corp (6502 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuji-corp-aichi" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12942:1" rel="noopener">Fuji Machine Mfg (6134 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/casio-computer-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18338:1" rel="noopener">Casio Computer (6952 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ricoh-company-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15359:1" rel="noopener">Ricoh Company Ltd (7752 JP)</a>. Sectorally, shorts increased on Consumer Discretionary, Real Estate and Financials, while shorts were covered on Consumer Staples.</p></div><div><p>In Korea, the biggest increase in shorts were seen on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hyundai-motor-co" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:155:1" rel="noopener">Hyundai Motor Co (005380 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hyundai-heavy-industries" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10155:1" rel="noopener">Hyundai Heavy Industries (009540 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-sdi-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:503:1" rel="noopener">Samsung SDI (006400 KS)</a> while shorts were covered on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/amorepacific-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20854:1" rel="noopener">Amorepacific Corp (090430 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sk-chemicals-co-ltd-new" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26190:1" rel="noopener">Sk Chemicals Co Ltd/New (285130 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/s-oil-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1667:1" rel="noopener">S Oil Corp (010950 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hmm-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13494:1" rel="noopener">HMM Co., Ltd. (011200 KS)</a>. </p></div><div><p>Stocks in Taiwan that saw the highest increase in shorts were <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/asustek-computer-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13002:1" rel="noopener">Asustek Computer (2357 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wiwynn-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27838:1" rel="noopener">Wiwynn Corp (6669 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/acer-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15726:1" rel="noopener">Acer Inc (2353 TT)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/largan-precision-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9126:1" rel="noopener">Largan Precision (3008 TT)</a> while shorts were covered on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/unimicron-technology-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18778:1" rel="noopener">Unimicron Technology (3037 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/century-iron-steel-indus" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8853:1" rel="noopener">Century Iron &amp; Steel Indus (9958 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/yageo-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13212:1" rel="noopener">Yageo Corporation (2327 TT)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/formosa-petrochemical-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20875:1" rel="noopener">Formosa Petrochemical (6505 TT)</a>. </p></div>

The Asia Short Interest weekly looks at moves in market wide short interest and highlights movements in stock specific short interest across Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan using the last available data published by the relevant authorities.Hong Kong saw shorts rise on Ping An Insurance (H) (2318 HK), Alibaba Group (9988 HK), Haier Electronics Group Co (1169 HK) and Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited (1833 HK) while there was short covering on Meituan (3690 HK), Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sunny Optical (2382 HK) and AIA Group Ltd (1299 HK). Shorts increased in Financials and Health Care stocks, and decreased on Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Communication Services, Information Technology and Real Estate names.In Japan, stocks that saw the most shorts were Itochu Corp (8001 JP), Nippon Building Fund (8951 JP), Mercari Inc (4385 JP) and Miura Co Ltd (6005 JP) while shorts decreased on Toshiba Corp (6502 JP), Fuji Machine Mfg (6134 JP), Casio Computer (6952 JP) and Ricoh Company Ltd (7752 JP). Sectorally, shorts increased on Consumer Discretionary, Real Estate and Financials, while shorts were covered on Consumer Staples.In Korea, the biggest increase in shorts were seen on Hyundai Motor Co (005380 KS), Hyundai Heavy Industries (009540 KS) and Samsung SDI (006400 KS) while shorts were covered on Amorepacific Corp (090430 KS), Sk Chemicals Co Ltd/New (285130 KS), S Oil Corp (010950 KS) and HMM Co., Ltd. (011200 KS). Stocks in Taiwan that saw the highest increase in shorts were Asustek Computer (2357 TT), Wiwynn Corp (6669 TT), Acer Inc (2353 TT) and Largan Precision (3008 TT) while shorts were covered on Unimicron Technology (3037 TT), Century Iron &amp; Steel Indus (9958 TT), Yageo Corporation (2327 TT) and Formosa Petrochemical (6505 TT). 

Asia Short Interest Weekly: Haier, Sunny Optical, Itochu, Mercari, Toshiba, HMM, Asustek, Acer

Independent Asian Credit Research, Bondcritic

Warut Promboon

Independent Asian Credit Research

Asian Fixed Income/Frontier Market Research

Bondcritic

Bondcritic, established in 2009, is designed to be an independent credit research voice that helps investors gain insights and unbiased analyses on Asian fixed income market. Our mission is to discover deep-value Asian high-yield and distressed bonds with a bottom-up approach, together with the help of our proprietary ESG (Environmental, Social Development, and Governance) model. At the same time, we focus on bringing investment cases of unrated and unloved issuers to the general public.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p style="text-align: justify;">In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and incentive data related to the board of directors, management, and employees across major economies in Asia and picked top 10 companies of each country in terms of market capitalization. We chose to exclude major companies listed in exchanges of other economies such as Tencent and Alibaba to limit our sample size.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Then we devised diversity and incentive scores to assign to those companies and compare those scores against a 5-year trend of their return on shareholders’ equity (ROE) ratios and 1-year stock performance from 1-July-19 to 30-June-20 over its corresponding exchange indices.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The report covers diversity vs. incentives in Asia, diversity score vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, incentives vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, diversity + incentives scores vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, companies with top and bottom diversity + incentive scores, countries with top and bottom average diversity + incentive scores, and incentive score vs. staffing cost trend. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The results show that companies with high diversity scores do perform well. A high diversity score also has a positive impact on the ROE trend, based on our regression analysis at 95% confidence level. We found that employee incentives are not significant as staff diversity but they can still have an influence on company performances at a lower 90% confidence level.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We note that this study is at the preliminary stage and stock performance is a function of many factors, not only the diversity scores that we concluded. Needless to say, our diversity and incentive scores also reflect the level of disclosures by selected companies, not necessarily the actual practice within each company. Our diversity and incentive scores are also not a credit rating or ranking with peers and, hence, do not reflect default probability of selected companies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We caution that in Asia, many diversity trends in the West may not apply. The fact that many Asian business communities may remain less sensitive to equal opportunities for females, disabled persons, or LGBTQ communities could make returns of Asian companies less correlated to diversity than in the West. Likewise, additional incentives in some countries in Asia may not be necessary as employees’ strong performance (i.e. in Japan) is a norm, according to the prevalent work culture.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Bondcritic is developing a scoring model, which includes environment, social development, and corporate governance; the last of which cover diversity and incentives. This report is the first of the series to uncover shenanigans in the Asian corporate sector.</p>

In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and incentive data related to the board of directors, management, and employees across major economies in Asia and picked top 10 companies of each country in terms of market capitalization. We chose to exclude major companies listed in exchanges of other economies such as Tencent and Alibaba to limit our sample size.
Then we devised diversity and incentive scores to assign to those companies and compare those scores against a 5-year trend of their return on shareholders’ equity (ROE) ratios and 1-year stock performance from 1-July-19 to 30-June-20 over its corresponding exchange indices.
The report covers diversity vs. incentives in Asia, diversity score vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, incentives vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, diversity + incentives scores vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, companies with top and bottom diversity + incentive scores, countries with top and bottom average diversity + incentive scores, and incentive score vs. staffing cost trend. 
The results show that companies with high diversity scores do perform well. A high diversity score also has a positive impact on the ROE trend, based on our regression analysis at 95% confidence level. We found that employee incentives are not significant as staff diversity but they can still have an influence on company performances at a lower 90% confidence level.
We note that this study is at the preliminary stage and stock performance is a function of many factors, not only the diversity scores that we concluded. Needless to say, our diversity and incentive scores also reflect the level of disclosures by selected companies, not necessarily the actual practice within each company. Our diversity and incentive scores are also not a credit rating or ranking with peers and, hence, do not reflect default probability of selected companies.
We caution that in Asia, many diversity trends in the West may not apply. The fact that many Asian business communities may remain less sensitive to equal opportunities for females, disabled persons, or LGBTQ communities could make returns of Asian companies less correlated to diversity than in the West. Likewise, additional incentives in some countries in Asia may not be necessary as employees’ strong performance (i.e. in Japan) is a norm, according to the prevalent work culture.
Bondcritic is developing a scoring model, which includes environment, social development, and corporate governance; the last of which cover diversity and incentives. This report is the first of the series to uncover shenanigans in the Asian corporate sector.

Asian Governance: Diversity & Incentives Through the Cultural Lens

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul><li>Many stocks in the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index are largely avoided by active investors.  To screen for unloved stocks, we filter our aggregated stock holdings data as follows:</li></ul><ol>
<li>Average Active Fund Weight &lt; I-Shares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Weight (i.e net underweight)</li>
<li>Percentage of Funds Held &lt; 3% (i.e less than 3% of funds hold each stock).</li>
</ol><ul>
<li>The list is headed by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiaomi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24409:1" rel="noopener">Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK)</a>, a stock owned by just 2.71% of active GEM funds at a net underweight of -0.25%.</li>
<li>In total, 458 out of the 1215 stocks in the index meet this criteria and 225 of those are China A-Shares. The combined underweight for the unloved stocks comes to -8.89%.</li>
<li>Does it pay to avoid unloved stocks?  We have backtested a portfolio of EM Unloved stocks based on the screening criteria above, rebalanced monthly going back to 2008 and capped at 50 stocks. The performance suggests that Unloved stocks are best avoided, with consistent underperformance vs the I-Shares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF since 2008. </li>
</ul>

Many stocks in the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index are largely avoided by active investors.  To screen for unloved stocks, we filter our aggregated stock holdings data as follows:
Average Active Fund Weight &lt; I-Shares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Weight (i.e net underweight)
Percentage of Funds Held &lt; 3% (i.e less than 3% of funds hold each stock).

The list is headed by Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK), a stock owned by just 2.71% of active GEM funds at a net underweight of -0.25%.
In total, 458 out of the 1215 stocks in the index meet this criteria and 225 of those are China A-Shares. The combined underweight for the unloved stocks comes to -8.89%.
Does it pay to avoid unloved stocks?  We have backtested a portfolio of EM Unloved stocks based on the screening criteria above, rebalanced monthly going back to 2008 and capped at 50 stocks. The performance suggests that Unloved stocks are best avoided, with consistent underperformance vs the I-Shares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF since 2008. 


Global Emerging Markets:  Unloved Stocks

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<p>On July 10th this year, three and a half years after rumors of talks of a US$4bn buyout of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/108" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:108:1">Showa Shell Sekiyu Kk (5002 JP)</a> showed up in the press (mid-Dec 2014), and three years after the MOU was signed between <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/109" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:109:1">Idemitsu Kosan (5019 JP)</a> and Royal Dutch Shell for Idemitsu to buy a ~32% stake in Showa Shell, we saw a new agreement to sign an agreement to merge to be voted by year end. </p><p>After 3yrs of noise and objection by the scion of the Idemitsu family, an equity offering designed to lower the Idemitsu family's stake, and finally reportedly an intervention by Yoshiaki Murakami to help the two sides (Idemitsu family and Idemitsu management) reach an agreement to shelve their differences, the two companies announced the execution of a "Business Integration Agreement" with a plan to merge the two companies on 1 April 2019. The companies plan to execute a definitive <em>Share Exchange Agreement</em> by October 2018 (i.e. decide the merger ratio) and hold Extraordinary General Meetings for shareholders to approve the merger in December 2018.</p><p>This was discussed in July in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/idemitsu-and-showa-agree-to-merge-interesting-side-agreements-own-the-i-ss-ratio" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:22057">Idemitsu and Showa Agree To Merge - Interesting Side Agreements, Own the I/SS Ratio</a>. </p><div class="content-highlight"><p>It is now October 2018. Earnings for both companies come on the 14th of November, but <em>"a definitive Share Exchange Agreement"</em> is due <em>this</em> month. </p></div>

On July 10th this year, three and a half years after rumors of talks of a US$4bn buyout of Showa Shell Sekiyu Kk (5002 JP) showed up in the press (mid-Dec 2014), and three years after the MOU was signed between Idemitsu Kosan (5019 JP) and Royal Dutch Shell for Idemitsu to buy a ~32% stake in Showa Shell, we saw a new agreement to sign an agreement to merge to be voted by year end. After 3yrs of noise and objection by the scion of the Idemitsu family, an equity offering designed to lower the Idemitsu family's stake, and finally reportedly an intervention by Yoshiaki Murakami to help the two sides (Idemitsu family and Idemitsu management) reach an agreement to shelve their differences, the two companies announced the execution of a "Business Integration Agreement" with a plan to merge the two companies on 1 April 2019. The companies plan to execute a definitive Share Exchange Agreement by October 2018 (i.e. decide the merger ratio) and hold Extraordinary General Meetings for shareholders to approve the merger in December 2018.This was discussed in July in Idemitsu and Showa Agree To Merge - Interesting Side Agreements, Own the I/SS Ratio. It is now October 2018. Earnings for both companies come on the 14th of November, but "a definitive Share Exchange Agreement" is due this month. 

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

MSCI Emerging Markets Index / Technical Analysis

<p>The MSCI EM index has recovered over the last couple of weeks and is now approaching a logical resistance level. We reiterate: avoid broad EM exposure and be selective.  India’s <strong>S&amp;P BSE SENSEX </strong>is our top country-specific EM index recommendation, overweight India. We also provide an update on Brazil’s <strong>Bovespa</strong>, which has surged over the last month following a steep selloff. We are skeptical that the index will be able to continue its unabated advance.  Today’s report also includes a wide variety of bottom-up recommendations spanning most sectors and all market capitalizations.</p>

The MSCI EM index has recovered over the last couple of weeks and is now approaching a logical resistance level. We reiterate: avoid broad EM exposure and be selective.  India’s S&amp;P BSE SENSEX is our top country-specific EM index recommendation, overweight India. We also provide an update on Brazil’s Bovespa, which has surged over the last month following a steep selloff. We are skeptical that the index will be able to continue its unabated advance.  Today’s report also includes a wide variety of bottom-up recommendations spanning most sectors and all market capitalizations.

EM Strategy: MSCI EM Approaching Resistance; India Breaking Out to New Highs -- Add Exposure

Taiwan

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. refines crude oil and markets petroleum and petrochemical products.  The Company operates refineries and naphtha cracking plants that provide products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, naphtha, ethylene, and liquefied petroleum gas.  FPCC also owns three utility centers and generates electricity.

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Formosa Petrochemical (6505 TT)

Asia Short Interest Weekly: Haier, Sunny Optical, Itochu, Mercari, Toshiba, HMM, Asustek, Acer

This Insight looks at short interest movements in stocks across Asian markets and highlights stocks that have seen large increase/ decrease in...

Brian Freitas

Asian Governance: Diversity & Incentives Through the Cultural Lens

In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and...

Bondcritic

Global Emerging Markets: Unloved Stocks

Many stocks in the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index are largely avoided by active investors. To screen for unloved stocks, we filter our...

Steven Holden

Last Chance For Your Idemitsu/Showa Bet

On July 10th this year, three and a half years after rumors of talks of a US$4bn buyout of Showa Shell Sekiyu Kk (5002 JP) showed up in the press...

Travis Lundy

EM Strategy: MSCI EM Approaching Resistance; India Breaking Out to New Highs -- Add Exposure

The MSCI EM index has recovered over the last couple of weeks and is now approaching a logical resistance level. We reiterate: avoid broad EM...

Vermilion Research

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