Emerging Markets Daily - February 2
Morgan Stanley Bullish on India, Bolsonaro Allies Win Congress, Samsung's Shopping List, Jack Ma "Ghosted" By China Establishment, And Second Wave Covid Hits Africa
The Top 5 Emerging Markets Stories - February 2, 2021
Morgan Stanley Bullish on India Stocks, Sets 55,000 Target for Sensex - Business Standard
“Buoyed by Budget proposals presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, the S&P BSE Sensex surged over 3,300 points in two sessions to reclaim the 50,000 mark. If analysts at Morgan Stanley are to be believed, the index is on course to hit 55,000 mark by December 2021 – an upside of around 10 per cent from the current levels.”
“Very gradual fiscal consolidation glide path with looser-than-expected fiscal policy; good quality spending mix and reasonable assumption on fiscal math; and focus on privatisation, asset monetisation and long-term funding for infrastructure investments, according to Morgan Stanley, are the three key themes from the Budget 2021.”
“‘We believe the overall approach of the fiscal policy is in line with the message from the Economic Survey, which made a case for active fiscal policy and the focus on growth for creating debt sustainability,’ analysts at the foreign research and brokerage wrote in a post Budget note,” Business Standard reports.
Bolsonaro Allies Win Control of Brazil Congress - Reuters
“Brazil’s Congress on Monday chose lawmakers endorsed by President Jair Bolsonaro as speakers of its two chambers, giving the far-right leader a base among center-right politicians with whom he had once vowed never to ally.”
“Senator Rodrigo Pacheco won the two-year term to head the upper chamber by a vote of 57-21. Another new Bolsonaro ally, Arthur Lira of the right-wing Progressive Party, later won the speakership of the lower house by 302 votes against 145 for his nearest rival.”
“Bolsonaro’s support for Pacheco and Lira underscores his embrace of a fragmented bloc of lawmakers known more for their horse-trading prowess than ideological commitments, called the ‘Centrão,’ or ‘Big Center.’”
“The president ran in 2018 on a pledge to clean up the capital and end decades of pay-to-play politics that culminated in a record-breaking corruption scandal known as Car Wash,” Reuters reports.
What’s on Samsung’s M & A Target List? - Korea Herald
“All eyes are on what companies would be on the shopping list of Samsung Electronics, after the tech giant’s announcement last week captured the attention among industry officials and market watchers.”
”Multiple chip-related companies have emerged as potential acquisition targets for the South Korean tech giant, according to market watchers.”
”Dominant speculation suggests that Samsung is likely to be looking for a company that is related to the automotive chip business, or one that is correlated with the foundry.”“In 2019, after Samsung announced its system-on-chip growth plan, three fabless firms were rumored to be on Samsung’s list: NXP, Xilinx and Infineon,” Korea Herald reports.
Jack Ma “Ghosted” By China Media on Tech Entrepreneurs List - Bloomberg
“Jack Ma was conspicuously absent from a list of China’s entrepreneurial greats published by state media Tuesday, underscoring how the iconic Alibaba co-founder has run afoul of Beijing.”
“Ma, lionized at home for creating some of his country’s largest corporations, didn’t make the cut in a Shanghai Securities News front-page commentary lauding the leading lights of technology. Instead, the official Chinese paper held up archrival Pony Ma as “rewriting the mobile age” with Tencent Holdings Ltd. Also on its list were BYD Co. Chairman Wang Chuanfu, Xiaomi Corp. co-founder Lei Jun and Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ren Zhengfei.”
“The brief editorial -- which ran the same day Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is slated to unveil earnings -- may help assuage fears Tencent could get caught up in a broader industry crackdown now focused on Ma’s Alibaba and Ant Group Co. Beijing has launched a campaign to curtail the growing power of private technology corporations in almost every facet of Chinese life, as exemplified by the ubiquity of Tencent’s WeChat messaging service. Shares in Tencent and Xiaomi rose more than 2% Tuesday,” Bloomberg reports.
Africa Hit Hard With Second Wave of Covid - African Business
“After an impressive early response to coronavirus, the situation is once again deteriorating across Africa. Africa’s coronavirus case fatality rate stood at 2.5% in late January, higher than the global level of 2.2%, according to John Nkengasong, head of Africa CDC.”
“Earlier in the pandemic, Africa’s death rate had been below the global average, but 21 African countries had recorded a death rate of above 3%, including Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan, which Nkengasong said was ‘very worrying and concerning for all of us.’”
“After an encouraging early response to the virus – including tough lockdowns – many countries had to ease off on restrictive measures in the second half of 2020 to preserve their fragile economies.”
“Unfortunately, as seen in the developed world, laxity allows the virus to return. The continent’s confirmed cases – probably significantly below the true figure – have risen to almost 3.5m. South Africa alone accounts for more than 1.4m confirmed cases and over 41,000 deaths, figures that are likely to represent the tip of the iceberg,” African Business reports.