4 Insights with Topic: Sukuk
The Fed shifted from hiking to easing as it appeared to tolerate 3% inflation as the new target and prioritized labour market conditions. The 10-year Treasury yield remained above 4% amid concerns over deteriorating US fiscal health and elevated inflation. Meanwhile, markets grew increasingly alert to vulnerabilities in US private credit, with rapid growth in AI-related investments and high margin debt cited as potential pressure points. Meanwhile, Asia’s USD credit market closed out the year on a high note, with tight spreads and strong returns driven by solid fundamentals and technicals, while Saudi government sukuk also delivered modest gains last year. In this article, we discuss how Asia ex-Japan investment grade bonds and Saudi government sukuk continue to stand out as compelling alternatives, as the trend toward diversifying away from the US is likely to persist in 2026.
Jan 13, 2026
The risk profiles of Emerging Market (EM) investment grade (IG) vs their developed market (DM) peers are converging. In fact, amidst spending/borrowing excesses in the DM, rising long-term government bond yields, and recent cyclical lows in US corporate credit spreads, volatility for DM bonds has risen substantially since 2020, prompting the expression the “EM’ification of DM debt”. Meanwhile EM IG bonds have been relatively stable, and the search by asset allocators for alternatives to DM bonds will likely continue the pivot to EM IG bonds. Beneath the surface of the short-term volatilities and possibly a longer-term repricing of multiple assets, Asian IG bonds and Saudi government sukuks may just be the sweet spots for attractive, uncorrelated and resilient returns regardless which side one is at on the debasement debate. In this article, our Senior Advisor Say Boon Lim discusses how the asset allocators are increasingly turning to EM IG bonds as compelling alternatives to DM bonds, for which our Premia JP Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF (3411/9411 HK) and Premia BOCHK Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF (3478/ 9478 HK) would be useful allocation tools in this pivot.
Nov 10, 2025
Asia USD Investment Grade Credits and Saudi Government Sukuk have outperformed in a global fixed income market that has been shaken by fiscal profligacy, geopolitical tensions, tariff uncertainties, and even oil market volatility. The Premia J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond ETF and Premia BOCHK Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF have emerged from this stress-test as effective alternatives in portfolios – delivering stable income, and uncorrelated returns, while still trading at a spread over US Treasuries with further room for spread compression. Indeed, their higher yields of 4.8%-4.9% (4.8% for the Premia Asia Credit Investment Grade USD Bond and 4.9% for the Premia Saudi Government Sukuk) are outstanding, considering their lower corporate and government leverage, and comparable or superior credit ratings versus global peers.
Jul 24, 2025
Saudi Arabia’s tremendous transformation since the launch of the Vision 2030 strategic initiative has been accompanied by significant development of its capital markets – including its fixed income market which now offers some of the most attractive risk-adjusted returns in the government and investment grade fixed income space. In this article, we discuss about how our newly launched Saudi Arabia Government Sukuk ETF offers a timely alternative amid current market environment, and for sukuk investors and fixed income and multi-asset allocators stable income, attractive yield spread as well as uncorrelated returns.
Jun 22, 2025