Daily Brief Energy/Materials: Energy Absolute, ABM Investama, Eastman Chemical Co, Trigon Metals and more

• EV adoption in the ASEAN is very low compared to developed markets including the US, the Europe and China due to higher ASPs and lack of logistics, maintenance and repair.
• However, there has been a rapid growth in EV related investment in the region recently, focusing on developing domestic EV markets to make them more affordable while conserving the environment.
• The governments have put forward several incentives such as government funding, tax incentives to buy EVs, while introducing measures to discourage the use of ICE vehicles.

The Asia Monthly focuses on providing updates on recent events, information on new issues and spread movements, as well as summarising our top picks. The Asia Monthly is intended to broaden investors’ understanding of the Asian USD high-yield market.

• Eastman delivered a mixed result in the recent quarter, with revenues below market expectations, but it managed to surpass the analyst consensus in terms of earnings.
• The company made improvements in the Fiber business due to increased prices and operational performance.
• Supply-side factors, such as capacity reduction and effective capacity loss, have created tight markets and a focus on the security of supply.

• What you need to know: • The precious metals markets were down slightly in the month of June, however, we view this as a healthy consolidation period following significant price increases since November 2022.
• Sentiment Update June was similar to May for the gold price, posting a modest 2.2% decline to $1,919.1/oz, while silver fell 3.1% to $22.8/oz, and copper increased 2.8% to $3.7/lb.
• We believe the last two months of consolidation for precious metals and other commodities is healthy considering the significant increase in prices since November 2022.