Asia Pac Quant Panorama: Asia’s theme exposure

Research evidence excerpt

Asia Pac Quant Panorama: Asia’s theme exposure

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Asia Pac Quant Panorama

Asia’s theme exposure

Exposure to positive and negative themes 01 July 2026

Analysis of exposure of MSCI country indices to 18 global themes shows Taiwan and Quant Strategy

Korea have the most exposure to positive themes, while India has exposure to negative Asia Pacific

themes. Taiwan stocks provide exposure to AI Compute, Data Centre & Infrastructure,

Robotics, and Energy Storage which are all highly ranked based on Triple Momentum

(earnings, price, news). Korea also provides exposure to AI Compute and Energy Storage.

In contrast, other countries in Asia have exposure to lower-ranked themes including India Nigel Tupper >>

(Consulting), China (AI Data & Platforms), and Hong Kong (Luxury Lifestyle). Quant Strategist

Merrill Lynch (Australia)

Long-only funds are positioned for AI outperformance +61nigel.tupper@bofa.com2 9226 5735

Active long-only funds globally are now overweight Asia by the largest amount in five Amar Vashi >>

years. Funds remain most overweight Taiwan and Korea, and underweight India and QuantMerrill StrategistLynch (Australia)

Australia, according to our analysis of 4,021 funds managing $2.5 trillion in Asia equities. amar.vashi@bofa.com

By Asia sector, funds are most overweight Semiconductors and Tech Hardware. Funds Sumuhan Shanmugalingam >>

appear well positioned for AI outperformance but may be exposed if that theme fades. QuantMerrill StrategistLynch (Australia)

sumuhan.shanmugalingam@bofa.com

Top-ranked stocks in Asia

In APxJ, Positive Triple Momentum stocks (Q1) have outperformed Negative Triple

Momentum stocks (Q5) by 11.0% per annum since 2004. Currently, the top-ranked Unless otherwise noted all links on