It is no surprise that a top member of the Trump administration, like Hegseth, faces concerns, as there have been worries that the boss himself may not be keen on Southeast Asia.

As he does regular weightlifting, Wickramasinghe, in his day job of parsing the markets, is projecting that the Straits Times Index (STI), already up 18% last year to around 3,800 points now, can be ...