In today’s briefing:
- 2025 Regime Update: How Does the Opening Scene of 2025 Look?
- Surging Share Buybacks in Korea in 2024
- Asia Ex-Japan Funds: Stock Positioning Update
- The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma – Erajaya’s Strong Finish, Grab +ve, and Alfamart’s On-Target
- US Rig Count Steady for Third Straight Week as Number of Oil and Gas Rigs Remain Flat
- Greek Economy – December 15, 2024
- Commodity Analysis – Silver Futures – November 25, 2024

2025 Regime Update: How Does the Opening Scene of 2025 Look?
- Hello everyone—we hope you enjoyed the holiday season and had a wonderful Christmas.
- The festive season has been relatively quiet macro-wise, with only a few comments from the PBoC and BoJ.
- However, markets seem unwilling to move until there is news on the USD front, which has been driving almost all assets since December.
Surging Share Buybacks in Korea in 2024
- Capitalizing on the lower share prices combined with the government’s pressure for Corporate Value up improvements, the share buybacks surged in Korea in 2024.
- As of 27 December 2024, the total treasury shares planned acquisition amount by Korean companies increased by 215% YoY to 11.83 trillion won in 2024.
- There have been some mixed share price performances among the companies announcing meaningful share buyback/cancellation announcements this year.
Asia Ex-Japan Funds: Stock Positioning Update
- Top holdings remain unchanged: TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Tencent are almost universally owned. TSMC hits record weights but active funds sell into strength as benchmark weights surpass 10%
- Hon Hai, Hyundai Motor, and Singtel lead recoveries from prolonged declines. Baidu Inc. and Kweichow Moutai see sharp ownership drops.
- Momentum leaders include Accton Technology, CATL, and KE Holdings. By contrast, Axis Bank, PDD, and Reliance face stalling ownership.
The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma – Erajaya’s Strong Finish, Grab +ve, and Alfamart’s On-Target
- The past week saw insights on Erajaya Swasembada (ERAA IJ), Grab Holdings (GRAB US), GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GOTO IJ), Sumber Alfaria Trijaya (AMRT IJ), and Cisarua Mountain Dairy (CMRY IJ).
- There were also insights on Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB MK), Vale Indonesia Tbk (INCO IJ) and Malaysian Rubber Production.
- The Week That Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma is filled with an eclectic mix of differentiated substantive, and actionable insights, macro and equity bottom, from across Southeast Asia.
US Rig Count Steady for Third Straight Week as Number of Oil and Gas Rigs Remain Flat
- The US oil and gas rig count remained unchanged for the third straight week at 589 for the week ending on 27/Dec.
- For the week ending 20/Dec, US oil production moderately fell to 13.59m bpd from 13.6m bpd the week prior.
- The number of active US oil and gas rigs remained steady at 483 and 102, respectively. US producers added one rig in North Dakota and cut one in Texas.
Greek Economy – December 15, 2024
- The 2024 real GDP forecasts for Greece, indicate a growth rate of 2.24%, bringing Real GDP above the €200 billion, which continues the positive trends after the pandemic.
- The OECD, IMF and European Commission also project a 2.14% growth rate in 2025.
- The Public debt is expected to fall from €369.099 billion in 2023 to €362.182 billion in 2024, and the Debt to GDP will reach 156.1%, while the downward trend is expected to continue in 2025.
Commodity Analysis – Silver Futures – November 25, 2024
- According to Graph 1, during the period October 28th, 2024 – November 25th, 2024, a bearish trend was reflected in the price of silver futures.
- During this timeframe, there was a significant decrease in the price of the commodity from above $34 to below $31.
- The MA-10 line was recorded to perform remarkably higher than MA-20 line in the beginning of the period under consideration, until November 8th when it crossed below it, indicating a downward momentum.