JUNEASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8NEWSROOMOn June 10, GitHub, owned by Microsoft, announced a partnership with Infosys to establish its first GitHub Center of Excellence (CoE). This collaboration aims to expedite the software production process by partnering with Global System Integrators (GSIs). Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, emphasized on social media that GSIs play a pivotal role at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and software economies, presenting a unique opportunity to accelerate digital transformation and economic growth globally.Dohmke highlighted that by equipping developers with GitHub Copilot across the organization and extending these capabilities to their customers, GSIs could achieve a significant increase in the speed of software production. This collaboration with Infosys is expected to deliver substantial business value for software in the global economy, marking a significant step forward in the industry.The launch event for the CoE was attended by key figures such as Infosys' Chief Technology Officer Rafee Tarafdar and Executive Vice President Balakrishna D.R. Dohmke heralded this as the dawn of a new era for GSIs, referring to it as "The Age of Copilot."Recently, GitHub revealed that Indian developers are the second-largest contributors to AI projects on its open-source platform. According to internal projections, India is on track to surpass the United States in terms of the total developer population on GitHub by 2027. This underscores India's growing significance in the global tech landscape and the importance of initiatives like the GitHub CoE in fostering innovation and development. Investors significantly withdrew from Japan-focused equity mutual funds in May as a long market rally lost steam and the potential for interest rate hikes loomed. Data from LSEG Lipper indicates that domestic and global equity mutual funds investing primarily in Japanese stock markets saw outflows of US$7.2 billion, the highest in eight years.This withdrawal indicates that investors are taking profits after a substantial run that lifted the benchmark Nikkei to record levels, with an approximate 30% gain over 17 months. The outflows suggest a waning enthusiasm for further investments, partly due to expectations of imminent interest rate hikes in Japan, possibly as soon as next month.Martin Schulz, senior portfolio manager at Federated Hermes, commented that the Japanese market is likely to remain stagnant in the short to medium term following the surge in stock prices. He attributed the outflows to profit-taking and concerns over the domestic political climate, with recent surveys showing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's support at its lowest since he took office in 2021.The Nomura NF Nikkei 225 ETF led the sell-off, experiencing outflows of $2.07 billion. The Nomura NF TOPIX ETF and iShares MSCI Japan ETF followed, with withdrawals of US$1.28 billion and $699 million, respectively.Japan's Nikkei index hit record highs in March but has since entered a prolonged range below these peaks. The extended rally also left valuations less attractive. The MSCI Japan index trades at 15.4 times forward price-to-earnings (P/E), above its 10-year average of 14.1 and higher than the MSCI Asia Pacific's P/E of 14.03.In contrast, Indian equity funds recorded inflows of $2.41 billion in May, bringing the year-to-date total to $24.65 billion. According to Lipper, Chinese equity funds received US$1.1 billion in the same month, with their year-to-date inflows reaching $46.88 billion. GITHUB TO LAUNCH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN INDIAJAPANESE EQUITY MARKETS WITNESS OUTFLOWS WORTH $7.2 BILLION
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