This is a sponsored article from PineBridge.
Authors: Arthur Lau, Head of Asia ex-Japan Fixed Income, and Emily Lam, Client Portfolio Manager of PineBridge Investments
20 April 2022
As rising inflation and rates, and geopolitical risks cast a shadow over global fixed income markets, Asia corporate credit spreads have widened in tandem with the global risk-off sentiment, but are still in line with other markets.
However, Asia bonds — both the investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) segments — have a differentiated risk profile compared to their peers, offering a relatively stable and attractive source of yield and diversification for investors at a time of great uncertainty.
Attractive yields with shorter duration
In this rising-rate environment, Asia bonds offer the advantage of having shorter duration than their US and Global Aggregate peers, both in the IG and HY segments. For example, Asia IG has approximately three years shorter duration than US IG, but offers higher yield. Similarly, a comparison of US HY and Asia HY highlights the latter’s shorter duration, but with nearly double the yield.
This higher yield/shorter duration combination helps portfolios absorb the impact of interest rate changes. Active duration management at the portfolio and security level should minimise the risk of erosion in bond values and potentially enhance returns.
Advantage Asia: Shorter Duration With Better Yield
Source: Bloomberg, PineBridge Investments as of 31 March 2022. For illustrative purposes only. We are not soliciting nor recommending any action based on this material.
Low correlation to US Treasuries
Over the medium to long term, we believe the rising rate cycle will have a moderate impact on Asia credit. Over the past 10 years, the sensitivity of Asia investment grade bonds to interest rates stood at 0.5 R2, which indicates moderate correlation. Within the Asia high yield segment, the sensitivity is negligible at 0.0003. This suggests that holding Asia bonds should be more favourable than US bonds, particularly at the beginning a rate hike cycle.
Historical Correlations Between Asia Bonds and US Treasuries
Source: PineBridge Investments, as of 4 April 2022. For illustrative purposes only. We are not soliciting or recommending any action based on this material.
Credit spreads for the high yield sector continue to trade at historically wide levels due to ongoing concerns within the China property sector. But with ultra-low correlation to US Treasuries, the wider credit spreads within the segment should provide a buffer to offset the rise in interest rates.
Stable credit fundamentals
Key credit metrics for Asia corporates are steady or improving, and fundamentals are expected to remain strong as Southeast Asia and South Korea emerge from COVID-19. We believe this environment will support a spread tightening bias against US bonds.
Asia Corporate Credit Metrics Remain Healthy
Source: Bloomberg, J.P. Morgan as of 31 January 2022. For illustrative purposes only. We are not soliciting nor recommending any action based on this material.
Although China is a major component of the Asia bond universe, the market offers a diversity of issuers with different credit profiles and from different markets. The US dollar-denominated Asia IG market has grown to nearly US$1 trillion1 in market capitalisation and encompasses high-quality issuers from emerging markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as developed economies such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The significant presence of quasi-sovereigns is a key characteristic of the Asia IG market, unlike its global peers. Asia IG fallen angel risk also remains low compared to peers and potential credit events are isolated to certain sovereigns and COVID-19 affected sectors such as gaming.
Similarly, Asia HY has gone through some rapid expansion in the last few years; although recent negative headlines, particularly from the Chinese property sector, have put pressure on the market and its market cap has declined in recent quarters. That said, we believe the sector has been oversold of late and higher quality issuers with stable fundamentals and no financing pressures offer attractive risk/return profiles. While risks to Chinese growth have increased in recent months, policy easing is now expected to ramp up more aggressively over the remainder of the year. This backdrop has created greater pricing dispersion and unveiled opportunities in our view, particularly in higher quality names, which we believe will be greater beneficiaries of this policy shift. The HY market is sufficiently diversified, offering credit selectors variety beyond large Chinese property issuers.
Limited impact from geopolitical concerns
Amid the market volatility set off by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we do not expect a direct impact on Asian economies and Asia bonds, since trade between the two countries and Asia is relatively small. However, the Asia fixed income market may see short-term risk aversion and fund outflows. In our view, Asia IG and non-China HY bonds will remain resilient and face no liquidity issue. Select commodities and energy-related assets could see enhanced demand due to supply disruption, and this could be favourable for some industries in Asia. For example, high coal prices could benefit Indonesia’s coal sector. Meanwhile, markets such as India, which is a net oil-importing economy, may see a larger impact on its public finance and economic activities from the surge in oil prices. We will actively monitor the continuing impact of commodity prices at the sovereign and corporate credit levels. In view of the prevailing uncertainty, we believe it is time investors consider allocations beyond global benchmarks. With flexibility and discipline, active management should allow investors to expand into new markets and uncover exploitable gaps between fundamentals and prices in overlooked segments, while potentially protecting portfolios from volatility. With highly competitive yield, low rate sensitivity, and strong fundamentals, a highly select portfolio of Asia bonds should offer investors a robust solution for the challenges at hand.
For more on PineBridge Investments’ Asia bond solutions, please visit www.pinebridge.com.
1Source: J.P. Morgan as of 25 February 2022
Disclaimer
All investments involve risk, including the loss of principal amount invested. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Any views express represent the opinion of the manager and are subject to change. We are not soliciting or recommending any action based on this material. In Hong Kong, this document is issued by PineBridge Investments Asia Limited. This document has not been reviewed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Investors should note that the website www.pinebridge.com and any other website referred to in this document have not been reviewed by the SFC and may contain information of funds not authorised by the SFC. In Singapore, this document is issued by PineBridge Investments Singapore Limited (Company Reg. No. 199602054E), licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This advertisement or publication has not been reviewed by the MAS. Investors should note that the website www.pinebridge.com and any other website (including any contents therein) referred to in this document have not been reviewed or endorsed by the MAS.
This is a sponsored article from Pinebridge.
