Weir stock is most shorted on FTSE 100 February 15, 2012 ENGINEERING firm Weir has become the most shorted stock on the FTSE 100, as investors bet the company’s share price will be dented by weak demand for specialist mining equipment. Information provided by Data Explorers showed that 13.48 per cent of shares are out on loan – double the amount that were shorted only three [...]
UK car factories rev back into life February 14, 2012 JAGUAR Land Rover underlined the rebound in the British car industry yesterday when it posted a record quarterly profit. Just three years after it turned to the European Investment Bank for a £340m crisis loan, JLR reported a 57 per cent rise in net profit to £440m for the final three months of 2011. Demand [...]
IHG banks on China to spur its expansion February 14, 2012 INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group, the world’s largest hotel operator, said it was is looking to emerging markets and especially China to drive future growth as a recovery in the US helped the group post a surge in full-year profits. The owner of brands including Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza said US and Chinese demand helped boost [...]
BHP and Rio Tinto in $4.5bn copper expansion February 14, 2012 BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have raised their bets on global copper demand, approving plans for a $4.5bn expansion of the massive Escondida mine in Chile, while BHP plans to reopen a US copper mine idled three years ago. The two miners are already spending billions of dollars expanding output at their Australian iron ore [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 12, 2012 The Salamanca Group Jeremy Wrathall has been appointed as managing director of Salamanca Resources, the recently formed division of the group that will focus on the metals and mining sector. He joins Salamanca from Renaissance Capital, where he was head of investment banking for the firm’s London operation and had responsibility for metals and mining, [...]
Canaccord to launch $1bn fund for Canada resources after China deal February 9, 2012 CANACCORD Financial yesterday announced it was launching a $1bn (£630.8m) fund to invest in the resources sector in Canada. The firm, one of the biggest investment banks in Canada, will work in partnership with China’s Eximbank. The fund will be branded the Canada-China Natural Resource Fund. The deal was signed yesterday by Canaccord chief executive [...]
Glencore’s deal with Xstrata faces long road to clearance February 7, 2012 GLENCORE and Xstrata’s $90bn (£57bn) merger faces a long road to reach regulatory and competition clearance. While bigger commodities tie-ins have been cleared in the past – such as the deals that formed Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – merging a clearing house with a miner could encounter new hurdles, analysts said yesterday after the [...]
Carry on carry trading the Aussie dollar as rates held February 7, 2012 THE Reserve Bank of Australia caught the markets by surprise after holding interest rates yesterday – contrary to the expected cut. With December retail figures contracting, house prices dropping an average of 4.8 per cent year-on-year and housing construction in a 20 month slump, traders were poised for a 0.25 per cent cut in rate [...]
Citigroup wins consent to offer credit cards in China February 6, 2012 THE CHINESE arm of Citigroup announced yesterday that it has won regulatory approval to issue credit cards in mainland China, becoming the first non-Asian bank to receive permission. Citi, which has branches in 13 cities, said it would likely launch credit card operations this year. “This approval represents a significant milestone in the continued expansion [...]
China’s fate tangled with Eurozone February 6, 2012 AS CHINA’S economic power grows, its authorities are increasingly willing to punch their weight on the international stage. The decision to direct Chinese airlines to ignore the European Union’s carbon-emissions system is a slap in the face. But can China really afford to be sanguine? The latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests [...]