Morning Brief

Following a slow start at the beginning of 2024, industrial metals like copper have recently been hitting new highs. The rally is also seen in precious metals like gold and silver. Michelle Leung, Head of Asia Metals & Mining at Bloomberg Intelligence helps us understand what is behind this rally in metals' prices and is this sustainable.

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The situation in Gaza has deteriorated into a humanitarian catastrophe over the course of 7 months. The recent advancement of the Israeli Defence Forces into Rafah and the closure of the border crossing to Egypt has meant that civilians and international aid workers are trapped, including a team of Malaysian doctors under Mercy Malaysia. We speak to Dato’ Dr. Faizal Mohd Perdaus, President of Mercy Malaysia for updates from the ground.

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In a Special Address, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim reminded the nation that the government fiscal reforms are on track, starting with the targeted subsidy plan. We get Dr. Geoffrey Williams views on the messaging, level of ambition and the likely schedule of rolling out the rationalization.

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Yesterday, it was confirmed that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi had died in a helicopter crash.  Maryam Ismail, analyst at ISIS Malaysia goes through his legacy and possible successors. We also ask her that with the death  of both the President and the Foreign Minister how might this impact Iran’s foreign policy during a time of heightened regional tensions.

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Singapore's three major banks - DBS, UOB and OCBC - have all reported their first quarter earnings. Sarah Jane Mahmud, a senior financial services research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, reflects on what was announced and the implications for Singapore's banking sector as well as Malaysia's going forward.

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The Eurozone remains vulnerable to global supply shocks, including through rising food prices resulting from climate change and extreme weather patterns. How should the European Central Bank (ECB) navigate these headwinds? Economist Tomas Dvorak of Oxford Economics weighs in. 

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The sudden notice by the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court last week that the e-Jamin online bail system would be phased out and replaced with the previously used manual process caused an uproar in the legal fraternity, who decried the inefficiency of the move. The Prime Minister's Department has since reversed the initial decision and announced that e-Jamin would remain in use. But why was the decision? made in the first place? We discuss the issue with criminal lawyer Goh Cia Yee.

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It has been a distressing week after violent storms uprooted trees in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, resulting in the death of one person whose car was crushed. As a result, DBKL have been directed to establish a task force to closely monitor and maintain these shade trees. Hashim Gombri, a landscape architect consultant, talks about the challenges in preserving old trees in urban environments.

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Typically small cap investing is not without its risk as these companies tend to have less publicly available information with lower trading volumes. But  Lee Meng Horng, Head of Small Cap Research at RHB Investment Bank helps us navigate this on the back of their recently published  Top 20 Small Cap Jewels book.

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Australia tabled its Budget with a second consecutive surplus of A$9.3 billion, quickly followed by a projected deficit of A$28.3 billion in 2024-25. James McIntyre, Economist at Bloomberg Intelligence helps us makes sense of the numbers and also new policies like the "Future Made in Australia" program and the Energy bill relief package.

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