BP turns to Australia for cash with £327m Kangaroo issue August 29, 2012 BRITISH oil behemoth BP yesterday announced plans to sell Australian dollar bonds in a rare kangaroo issue. Kangaroo bonds are Australian dollar bonds sold by international issuers. The bond marks the first time that BP has tapped the Australian market for funding. The five-year issue was priced at A$500m (£327m) yesterday, with a coupon of [...]
Trading light in US as investors wait on the Fed August 28, 2012 US stocks ended little changed in another day of scarce activity yesterday after mixed economic data gave investors little reason to shift their focus from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Friday. The Fed chief is scheduled to address a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and could announce new measures to [...]
The glistening appeal of precious metals returns August 27, 2012 SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT UP UNTIL last week, gold and silver – like a Parisian in August – appeared to have shut up shop for the summer. In contrast, equity markets had pushed higher in a low volume melt-up that brought the Dow and S&P 500 up to levels last seen in December 2007. Even [...]
More easing seen as China factory survey disappoints August 23, 2012 China’s manufacturing sector contracted at its sharpest pace in nine months in August, according to a survey showing falling export orders and rising inventories, a signal that more policy stimulus may be needed to engineer a second half pick-up in growth. As calls grew louder from analysts and investors for further measures from Beijing to [...]
China and Us data fail to corrode Qe speculation August 20, 2012 FX360 THE Dow and S&P 500 are both within spitting distance of the highs achieved earlier this year. It will only take a small push for both indices to surmount these heights. After that hurdle, the bulls will have their sights on the pre-financial crisis levels of 2007 – around 14,200 and 1,575 for the [...]
Analyst picks for 20 August 2012 August 20, 2012 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and Aussie-Kiwi, buy dollar-yen dips Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days I took profits on my core Aussie dollar-dollar short from $1.0585 last week, and the pair was reshorted at $1.0450 as it appears a top [...]
ChainTek becomes latest firm to join AIM after it raises £7.5m August 19, 2012 CHINESE logistics group ChainTek joins the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) this morning after a £7.5m fundraising, in a sign of resilience in London’s junior stock exchange. Joint brokers Liberum Capital and ZAI Corporate Finance placed almost 5m new shares, giving the firm a market capitalisation of around £87.5m. ChainTek aims to use the proceeds to [...]
Tourism bosses question Hunt’s China plan August 14, 2012 TOURISM industry leaders have been left unconvinced by government plans to treble to the number of Chinese visitors to the UK, saying yesterday there were still too many barriers to inbound travel that needed to be addressed. In a speech at the Tate Modern, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt set out how the government plans to [...]
Global shares gain ahead of data August 14, 2012 Asian shares rose today as investors hunted for bargains while waiting for more economic figures from Europe and the United States later in the day, after recent data showed the Eurozone’s debt woes were eroding business activity globally. Relative optimism persisted to underpin investor sentiment as deteriorating global growth prospects will keep expectations firmly in [...]
Analyst picks for 13 August 2012 August 13, 2012 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and Aussie-Kiwi dollar, long dollar-yen Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days Shorts were added to my existing Aussie dollar-dollar position, raising the average to $1.0585. The commodity currencies (the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars) appear [...]