General

It’s that time of the year where we take stock of our year and our successes and failures as well as what worked and what didn’t work and invest all these reflective lessons into the year ahead, 2023. No one better than Jeevan Sahadevan, the founder of Leverage Lab to do this with us like he does every year! Take some time out and do these questions alone or with your partners or team and get an incredible review of your year done and finish strong!

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For children, sometimes their best companions are their fluffy soft toys. Michelle Lim and Chan Chi Leong founded Abbie & Friends because they couldn't find good quality soft toys. They have been bringing Jellycat soft toys from the UK into the Malaysian market and have grown to be one of the premium soft toy providers in Malaysia. 

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With Malaysia’s new cabinet officially clocking in this week, what reforms and policy action are needed to strengthen media independence and integrity as well as safe guard freedom of expression? We explore some of the suggestions from civil society for the new cabinet.

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The FBM KLCI's performance in November was pretty stellar, rising by nearly 4% for the month. The recently concluded results season was pretty mixed. Among the large cap sectors, banks' earnings clearly delivered stronger profits lifted by the series of OPR rate hikes this year. Now that a cabinet is in place, the direction of the market in December and moving in 2023 will also hinge on the tabling of a new Budget, addressing of subsidies and other fiscal reforms. How should investors be thinking about their portfolios moving into the final month of 2022 and 2023? For answers, we speak to Alexander Chia, Regional Head of Research, RHB Investment Bank.

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Malaysia will be launching the long-awaited Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) Exchange on December 9 to drive the nation's environmental change and sustainable goals. How will the VCM be structured, how successful will it be and what will the take up be like?

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In the end, 28 ministers were announced with some surprises, in particular Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also double hatting as Finance Minister. We evaluate the hits and misses whilst diving into the priorities of this cabinet with Pankaj Kumar, Business Commentator and Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, Deputy Managing Director, BowerGroupAsia.

Much of the analysis post-GE15 has been focused on the changing support base of Malay-based parties. However the elections have also seen detrimental outcomes for two major Chinese-based parties, namely MCA and Gerakan. Gerakan, which had aligned itself with Perikatan Nasional, lost in all 20 seats it contested, while MCA fared slightly better, winning two out of 44 seats contested. What does this election outcome mean for the future of MCA and Gerakan moving forward? Political analyst Dr. Oh Ei Sun weighs in.

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A few weeks ago, Chinese authorities unveiled their most comprehensive rescue package to-date in a bid to salvage the ailing property sector. But the sector is still seeing a persistent slump in home sales as well as home prices. In November, the 100 biggest real estate developers witnessed a 26% y-o-y drop in new home sales, while new home prices fell 1.6% y-o-y, its biggest slump since 2015. What is the outlook for the property market in China and Hong Kong, and what could revive the embattled industry? For insights, we speak to Christine Li, Head of Research, Asia Pacific, Knight Frank.

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Over the weekend, there was a raft of relaxation measures announced in China over its Covid policies. What does this mean for Asian markets and the economy? Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer at Jevons Global tells us whilst giving us the potential winners of this news.

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Patrick Teoh takes you on another foot-stomping, hand-clapping ride down memory lane as he blows dust off his vinyl collection to bring you a selection of hits from the 60s to 80s.