BHP optimistic for the longer term outlook as profits fall August 20, 2013 Mining giant BHP Billiton has reported a 15 per cent fall in profit and a 30 per cent fall in earnings per share for the first half of the year (release). Earnings per share fell to 204.4 cents (130.6p) from 289.6 cents – less than half the 429.1 cents reported in 2011. In the face [...]
Daily FX: Analyst picks August 19, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Long dollar-yen, short euro-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks Last week I was beginning to look at the dollar long against the euro and yen, but neither trade got off the ground. Now, attention turns to the [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 19 August 2013 August 18, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES House of Fraser eyes London listing House of Fraser, the British department store chain, has considered a return to the public markets to help simplify its ownership structure. The group is mulling a listing in London, although this is being considered alongside other options to allow shareholders to exit the group, said one [...]
L’Oreal targets Chinese skincare market with £540m acquisition August 16, 2013 Paris-based beauty company L’Oreal has offered to buy Chinese facial mask maker Magic Holdings International for HK$6.54bn (£540m). L’Oreal is hoping its HK$6.30 per share offer will allow it to take advantage the Chinese company’s leading market share of the fastest growing sector in China’s $15bn skincare market. The facial mask market is projected to [...]
Everbright investigating trading error related to Shanghai spike August 16, 2013 Major Chinese brokerage firm China Everbright Securities suspended its trading in domestic A shares yesterday after a trading error potentially resulted in a sudden spike on the Shanghai Composite Index. Rumours are circulating that the issue derived from an Everbright broker mistakenly switching a mock trading session into a live one. Everbright lost over eight [...]
Before the open – 16/08 August 16, 2013 The Shanghai Composite Index posted the biggest intraday jump since March 2009 and volumes 76 per cent higher than the 30-day average, despite no news of note. Chinese officials are looking into what happened, with some traders speculating it could be government intervention to support the markets or a trading error. The bourse said it [...]
Earnings up at China Mobile August 15, 2013 China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, posted a two per cent rise in second-quarter net profit yesterday, roughly in line with market expectations, buoyed by an increase in 3G subscribers. China Mobile’s net profit for the April-June quarter came in at 35.2bn yuan (£3.7bn). China Mobile, the only Chinese carrier that does [...]
China to launch a new pharmaceutical probe August 14, 2013 CHINA is intensifying its investigation into bribery in the pharmaceutical and medical services sector with a fresh three-month probe slated to begin today, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The probe by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), one of China’s anti-trust regulators, is aimed at stamping out bribery, fraud and other anti-competitive [...]
Bottom Line: Australia slowdown not a bust August 13, 2013 SUCH is the FTSE’s reliance on mining and commodities stocks that closely watched data from the sector – be it a slowdown in the Chinese economy or a lift in factory output – can make or break a day’s trading. But as Michael Page proved yesterday, the knock-on effects go even further. The white-collar [...]
Whirlpool buys 51 per cent stake in China home appliance maker August 13, 2013 HOME appliance maker Whirlpool said yesterday it will acquire a controlling stake in Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric for $552m (£357m) to expand in China’s fast-growing market for washing machines and fridges. Hefei Sanyo was set up in 1994 as a joint venture between Japan’s Sanyo Electric, now a unit of Panasonic, and Heifei State-Owned Assets [...]