Thailand's beverage producer Thai Beverage PCL came in as SGX's strongest Straits Times Index stock for the first seven months of 2019, generating a total return of 40 per cent and net interest income of S$139 million.DESPITE challenging economic conditions amid the United States-China trade war, Asean continues to see resilient growth on the back of manufacturing diversification, trade diversion and favourable demographics, said analysts.
Analysts also favoured local banks given their high involvement in trade-related activities. In a note by Maybank KimEng on July 1, it said Singapore banks reported trade-related sectors seeing rising credit demand to benefit from the trade war. Head of research at KGI Securities Joel Ng said tech manufacturing firms with facilities in South-east Asia are likely to benefit. Some of his stock picks include Fu Yu, Innotek, Venture Corp, Hi-P and Frencken.
"I think Fu Yu would be a good proxy for a rise in intra-Asean trade as besides China, they have factories in Singapore and Malaysia. They will likely benefit from the increase in volume or customers if more of them switch their supply chain to South-east Asia," he said. On the other hand, DBS' Ms Goh said they favour industrial property developers and owners in the region.