The Fed shifted from hiking to easing as it appeared to tolerate 3% inflation as the new target and prioritized labour market conditions. The 10-year Treasury yield remained above 4% amid concerns over deteriorating US fiscal health and elevated inflation. Meanwhile, markets grew increasingly alert to vulnerabilities in US private credit, with rapid growth in AI-related investments and high margin debt cited as potential pressure points. Meanwhile, Asia’s USD credit market closed out the year on a high note, with tight spreads and strong returns driven by solid fundamentals and technicals, while Saudi government sukuk also delivered modest gains last year. In this article, we discuss how Asia ex-Japan investment grade bonds and Saudi government sukuk continue to stand out as compelling alternatives, as the trend toward diversifying away from the US is likely to persist in 2026.

Jan 13, 2026

The risk profiles of Emerging Market (EM) investment grade (IG) vs their developed market (DM) peers are converging. In fact, amidst spending/borrowing excesses in the DM, rising long-term government bond yields, and recent cyclical lows in US corporate credit spreads, volatility for DM bonds has risen substantially since 2020, prompting the expression the “EM’ification of DM debt”. Meanwhile EM IG bonds have been relatively stable, and the search by asset allocators for alternatives to DM bonds will likely continue the pivot to EM IG bonds. Beneath the surface of the short-term volatilities and possibly a longer-term repricing of multiple assets, Asian IG bonds and Saudi government sukuks may just be the sweet spots for attractive, uncorrelated and resilient returns regardless which side one is at on the debasement debate. In this article, our Senior Advisor Say Boon Lim discusses how the asset allocators are increasingly turning to EM IG bonds as compelling alternatives to DM bonds, for which our Premia JP Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF (3411/9411 HK) and Premia BOCHK Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF (3478/ 9478 HK) would be useful allocation tools in this pivot.

Nov 10, 2025

China's biopharmaceutical industry is undergoing a landmark transformation, emerging from a period of profound recalibration to establish itself as a global powerhouse. Propelled by its talent, patient access, cost-efficient infrastructure, and catalysed by comprehensive government policies aimed at supporting the innovative drug value chain, the sector is experiencing a broad-based resurgence, with results beginning to show in earnings and valuations in the first half of the year. The journey, however, is just beginning, fueled by the impending global patent cliff and its strong value proposition: delivering high-quality, innovative medicines at an accelerated pace. This capability ensures China's biopharma sector an indispensable player in the global market, even in the face of possible geopolitical headwinds. In this article, we discuss about the leading innovators in the homegrown biotech landscape—companies well-represented in our Premia China New Economy ETF (3173/9173 HK) and Premia China STAR50 ETF (3151/9151/83151 HK), which have outperformed multiple benchmarks year-to-date and will continue to drive alpha returns for global investors, propelled by a revaluation trend driven by domestic policy tailwinds, strong external partnerships and a rising market value.

Oct 03, 2025

Vietnam stands out as Asia’s best-performing equity market in 2025, fueled by earnings recovery, policy support, and surging public investment. More importantly, Resolution 68 marks the country’s boldest reform agenda since Doi Moi—streamlining bureaucracy, empowering the private sector, and deepening capital markets—creating structural upside beyond cyclical drivers. With infrastructure projects worth over 10% of GDP, robust FDI inflows, and the potential MSCI/FTSE upgrade unlocking sizable foreign flows, Vietnam offers a rare blend of near-term catalysts and long-term growth. In this article, our Partner & Co-CIO David Lai discusses how Premia Vietnam ETF offers investors a diversified, transparent, and cost-effective vehicle that has consistently outperformed active peers—positioning portfolios to capture one of the most compelling reform-driven growth stories in emerging Asia.

Sep 12, 2025

China’s A-share market is turning the corner, as investors looking past weak data and piling back into growth. Signs of rotation by domestic investors from bank deposits and safe haven assets to equity market increasingly validate investor confidence is back. Policy momentum, attractive valuations, and light foreign positioning are fueling a durable rally, echoing the 2016 supply-side reform. Leadership is shifting decisively to innovation-driven sectors — from biotech and healthcare to solar, AI, and robotics — where structural growth and global relevance are accelerating, and are expected to be important focus in China’s upcoming 15th Five Year Plan. In this article, our Partner & Co-CIO David Lai and Portfolio Manager Alex Chu discuss why, with sentiment improving and risk appetite returning, the best way to play China’s new growth cycle is through high-conviction exposure via Premia’s STAR50 ETF and CSI Caixin New Economy ETF.

Aug 26, 2025

China's STAR Market appears poised for a major growth surge, fueled by a wave of innovative robotics companies set to launch their initial public offerings. Leading industry players, including Unitree, Zhiyuan Robot, Jaka Robotics, Fine Motion Tech, and Sichuan Tianlian Robot, are all in the IPO pipeline. In this article, we will introduce these firms that are at the forefront of technological innovation in humanoid and industrial robotics, whose momentum is expected to accelerate, driven by ongoing industry innovation and the favorable policy tailwinds of China's upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan.

Aug 25, 2025

Even for the prepared and informed, at the recent World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2025), China has still taken the world by surprise with the debutante of its fleet of over 150 AI-powered humanoid robots. Indeed 2025 marks the beginning of commercialization and production of these futuristic robots, now made reality. While humanoid robots have captured the imagination of the popular media, there has been a more important revolution in the broader robotics industry, where China has emerged, as the global powerhouse, just as it did in renewable energy and electric vehicles. In this article, we discuss how humanoid industrial robots have quickly been integrated in China’s production lines, filling the productivity void from the country’s aging population, while further driving down the manufacturing production costs with high degree of automation with these embodied AI applications.

Aug 06, 2025

Equities around the world rebounded from early-April “Liberation Day” lows, as markets increasingly reckoned the White House’s tariff bark may be worse than its bite, leading stocks in China—one of America’s biggest trading partners, and an economy viewed to be in the crosshairs of Trump 2.0 trade policy—to rise in Q2. In this article, Dr. Phillip Wool, Global Head of Research of Rayliant Global Advisors, discusses the presently muted impact of tariffs on China’s exports and explain what might be needed to ensure a sustained A-share rally.

Jul 31, 2025

Asia USD Investment Grade Credits and Saudi Government Sukuk have outperformed in a global fixed income market that has been shaken by fiscal profligacy, geopolitical tensions, tariff uncertainties, and even oil market volatility. The Premia J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF and Premia BOCHK Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF have emerged from this stress-test as effective alternatives in portfolios – delivering stable income, and uncorrelated returns, while still trading at a spread over US Treasuries with further room for spread compression. Indeed, their higher yields of 4.8%-4.9% (4.8% for the Premia Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond and 4.9% for the Premia Saudi Government Sukuk) are outstanding, considering their lower corporate and government leverage, and comparable or superior credit ratings versus global peers.

Jul 24, 2025