Market Focus Daily: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
The yen strengthens past 140 per dollar for the first time since September; Rupiah to extend losses as Bank Indonesia battles volatility; US imposes new duties on solar imports from South-east Asia.
Synopsis: Market Focus Daily is a closing bell roundup by The Business Times that looks at the day's market movements and news from Singapore and the region.
Written and hosted by: Emily Liu (emilyliu@sph.com.sg)
Produced and edited by: Chai Pei Chieh & Claressa Monteiro
Produced by: BT Podcasts, The Business Times, SPH Media
---
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
Follow BT Market Focus and rate us on:
Channel: bt.sg/btmktfocus
Amazon: bt.sg/mfam
Apple Podcasts: bt.sg/mfap
Spotify: bt.sg/mfsp
YouTube Music: bt.sg/mfyt
Website: bt.sg/mktfocus
Feedback to: btpodcasts@sph.com.sg
Do note: This podcast is meant to provide general information only. SPH Media accepts no liability for loss arising from any reliance on the podcast or use of third party's products and services. Please consult professional advisors for independent advice.
Discover more BT podcast series:
BT Money Hacks at: bt.sg/btmoneyhacks
BT Correspondents: bt.sg/btcobt
BT Podcasts: bt.sg/pcOM
BT Branded Podcasts: bt.sg/btbrpod
BT Lens On: bt.sg/btlenson
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
BT boss Kirkby expects AI to deepen job cuts, FT reports
BT Group chief executive Allison Kirkby said advances in artificial intelligence (AI) could deepen significant job cuts under way at the British telecoms company, the Financial Times reported on Sunday (Jun 15). Kirkby told the newspaper that BT's plans to cull more than 40,000 jobs and strip out £3 billion (S$5.2 billion) of costs by the end of the decade 'did not reflect the full potential of AI'. 'Depending on what we learn from AI . . . there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade,' the FT quoted her as saying. Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider had said in 2023 that it would cut as many as 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030. Its CEO at the time, Philip Jansen, said the company would rely on a much smaller workforce and significantly reduced cost base by the end of the 2020s. Kirkby, who took over from Jansen a year ago, has also opened the door to a possible future spin-off of Openreach, the company's network infrastructure business, the FT said. She said she did not feel the value of Openreach was reflected in the company's share price and if that persisted, BT 'would absolutely have to look at options'. In an e-mailed response to Reuters, BT said that Openreach is not something the company is actively looking at right now. It did not provide further comment on Kirkby's FT interview. BT said last month that strong demand for fibre broadband and more than £900 million of cost savings had helped to shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow. Resilience at Openreach offset declines in revenue and profit at its business and consumer units, where legacy voice services continued to wane and handset sales fell. REUTERS
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
Port of LA imports drop 19% in May as tariffs hit US businesses
Import volumes through the busiest trade hub in the US fell 19 per cent from the month before, a fallout from President Donald Trump's tariffs. 'It's very slow here seasonally,' Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka told reporters last Friday (Jun 13). Seroka warned that US businesses are facing high tariffs and uncertainty during what is typically the start of the peak season, and the consequences are likely to show up on store shelves in a few months. 'We've already blown past summer fashion and looking forward now to back to school and Halloween before the all important year-end holidays,' Seroka said. 'Cargo for those micro seasons needs to be here on the ground right now. I don't necessarily see that in inventory levels.' The drop in port activity came as importers and retailers – especially those with business in China – grappled with the uncertainty of Trump's trade war. Tariffs on goods from China were as high as 145 per cent in April, when many of the goods arriving in Southern California in May would have left Asian ports. In May, cargo handlers at the Port of Los Angeles processed a total of about 717,000 equivalent units, or TEUs. About 356,000 of those were imports, a 19 per cent drop compared to a month ago and 9 per cent lower than May 2024, Seroka said. Exports through Los Angeles fell to just over 120,000 containers, marking the sixth straight month of year-on-year declines as other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs, particularly for US agricultural goods, Seroka said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up While import flows may pick up again as importers rush to bring goods in during a temporary agreement between the US and China to lower the highest of the tariffs, import levies on goods from China remain prohibitively high for many businesses. 'When all is said and done, buying products out of China right now still costs one and a half times more than it did earlier this year, making products of all types extremely expensive,' Seroka said. Despite the cancelled and delayed orders, importers still paid a record US$23 billion in customs duties in May, US Treasury data released last week showed. That translates to an average effective tariff rate of roughly 7.5-8 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent at the beginning of the year, according to Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at Yale University's Budget Lab and a former Biden administration official. And there's still a ways to go before all of the tariffs announced by the Trump administration are implemented, Tedeschi said at the Port of Los Angeles briefing. 'We estimate that current policy is equivalent to a 15.5 per cent average effective tariff rate, including the new announcements for 2025 and the levels prior to them.' BLOOMBERG
Business Times
2 days ago
- Business Times
China didn't just survive decoupling, it turned it into strategy
WHEN the first Trump administration pushed for decoupling from China, it was framed as a geopolitical warning shot. Decoupling was meant to be a chokehold – a way to cut China off from capital, consumers, and core technologies. However, Beijing did not panic, it treated the move as a strategic signal. Rather than resist, China began quietly reconfiguring its global economic footprint. Washington thought it was cornering China. US President Donald Trump thought he held the cards, controlled the chips and set the rules. But he missed one inconvenient truth: Most of those cards were printed, packed, and shipped from factories in China. No grand speeches. No drama. Just deliberate moves: Diversifying supply chains, investing abroad, and pushing local tech to close the gap. While American legislators staged hearings, Chinese firms inked deals. While one side debated restrictions, the other redrew its map. The result? A calibrated diversification of supply chains, not as an act of retreat, but of repositioning. Supply chains with Chinese characteristics Over the past five years, Chinese firms have accelerated investments across South-east Asia, particularly in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. These moves weren't just about evading tariffs; they reflected something deeper – the private sector's instinct to escape the involution of domestic competition. Rather than grind through China's crowded and laser-thin margin markets where capital quickly pile into the same trends, many entrepreneurs sought arbitrage abroad. Lower labour costs, less stiff competition and higher margins. In other words: less involution, more unfair advantage (over the local players in the overseas markets) . BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up But this wasn't a solo act. Beijing provided the scaffolding – through bilateral free trade agreements, infrastructure lending and sometimes diplomatic cover. It's market-driven, but state-supported. A relay race between private initiative and public policy. The numbers are telling. China's foreign direct investment into Asean nearly tripled, from around US$9 billion in 2016 to over US$25 billion in 2023. Bilateral trade with Asean grew from US$486 billion to nearly US$700 billion over the same period. And critically, much of this new value chain – from intellectual property (IP) to logistics to upstream components – remains under Chinese control. What's emerging is not just offshoring, it is a China-centric supply chain, just not physically in China. Washington turns inward, Beijing looks outward While China was expanding outward, the US focused inward. Rather than competing through innovation or strengthening ties, Washington's toolkit leaned heavily on bans and restrictions – cue TikTok, Huawei, WeChat, DJI. Legislative energy went into hearings and symbolic gestures. Meanwhile, Chinese companies opened factories, expanded exports, and deepened market ties. Firms like Midea acquired global assets such as Germany's robotics maker KUKA and Spanish appliance manufacturer Teka Group. BYD set up electric vehicle (EV) plants in Hungary and Brazil, while Wuling manufactured their mini EVs in Indonesia. Consumer names such as Mixue, Luckin Coffee and Chagee have also become household names across South-east Asia in recent years. Industrial giants such as the likes of CATL, Trina Solar, and Sungrow now dominate global energy supply chains. Technological independence under pressure Despite export bans and semiconductor restrictions, China has made visible progress in core technologies. Domestic players have achieved 7nanometre (nm) chip production and are pushing into DUV (deep ultraviolet) and potentially EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography. AI chips are now a top priority for firms like Huawei and SMIC. In aviation, Comac's C919 took flight, further reducing dependency on Airbus and Boeing. In rare earths, China has not only consolidated upstream and midstream operations but also introduced tighter controls and oversight. This has significantly strengthened Beijing's ability to enforce export restrictions and wield rare earths as a strategic bargaining chip in ongoing trade negotiations. Early signs of strategic payoff Recent trade data shows that China's preparations since Trump's first term are bearing fruit. In May 2025, despite a sharp 35 per cent drop in exports to the US, overall exports rose 4.8 per cent year on year. This plunge in exports to the US was somewhat cushioned by strong performance in Asean (15 per cent), the European Union (12 per cent), and Africa (33 per cent). Germany and Vietnam both saw a 22 per cent jump in imports from China. Over the past month, the US now accounts for just 10 per cent of China's total exports. From being China's largest trading partner, it is gradually becoming just one of many customers and, arguably, not a very reliable one. The decoupling irony The more ironical part of all this is that by seeking to isolate China, the US may have isolated itself. Supply chains rerouted. Markets matured. Chinese firms globalised. The geopolitical chessboard shifted, without much fanfare, but with deliberate execution. For foreign investors and policymakers, the lesson is clear. While one side drew lines, the other built bridges. One end of the world conducted a bi-partisan witch-hunt while the other silently reinvent themselves. And in doing so, China has turned decoupling from a defensive stance into a strategic advantage. The ship hasn't just sailed – it's already halfway to its next destination. The writer, a seasoned economist, adviser and entrepreneur, is an affiliate lecturer at Singapore Management University