FTSE down as mining shares fall October 12, 2010 Britain’s leading share index edged lower yesterday with weakness in commodity issues countering strength in defensive issues as investors’ risk appetite faded. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 10.81points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,661.59, having earlier touched its lowest level in a week below the 5,600 level. Miners Xstrata, Kazakhmys, and [...]
From Japan to Oman: the life of Mark Mobius October 12, 2010 EMERGING markets may be the most popular investment flavour of the past decade but Franklin Templeton’s charismatic and distinctive guru Mark Mobius can safely lay claim to having been one of the first to spot the opportunities these countries offered. Countries like Hong Kong and Japan were deemed emerging markets when Mobius started looking at [...]
Asia may rise but be careful of the dragon October 12, 2010 The Thai government attempted to pull on the reins of its rapidly appreciating currency yesterday. This should be a warning sign for traders putting their cash into emerging market currencies. Capital controls are one of the few weapons available to governments who need to keep their currency weak to compete with China in the export [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES NIGERIA APPROVES $2.5BN BID FOR NITEL Nigeria has approved a controversial $2.5bn offer for the country’s main fixed-line telecoms group, but has demanded that the winning consortium come up with a $750m downpayment to secure the sale. The approval follows years of ill-fated efforts to sell off Nitel, which has withered since liberalisation [...]
Meddling with forex markets is risky October 11, 2010 ONE of the biggest problems in the City today is that so few people have worked in financial markets long enough to remember how things used to be just 25 years ago. This damaging lack of a collective memory helps to explain why so many investors remain so relaxed about the prospect of currency wars [...]
London float for Russian internet firm October 11, 2010 A Russian internet service provider part-owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov is floating on the London market to raise an estimated $500m-$750m (£314.7m-£472.1m). Usmanov and other investors in Mail.ru Group plan to offer up to 15 per cent of the group’s share capital, giving it a market value of about $5bn, a source close to the [...]
Potash plans break up to avoid BHP bid October 10, 2010 POTASHCORP, the Canadian chemicals giant, is believed to be working on a potential break up of the company as one way of fending off a $38.6bn (£24.1bn) hostile bid from the mining company BHP Billiton. The plan is among several strategies being worked on at Potash – whose advisers include RBC Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs [...]
Cool Britannia lives on October 10, 2010 COOL Britannia is alive and kicking, or at least it is in the luxury goods market. The Chinese and Indians might be stealing a march on the UK when it comes to manufacturing, services, and just about everything else, but they want to do it while wearing high-end British brands. That’s good news for Burberry, [...]
All businesses are wealth creators October 5, 2010 WHEN you think of a wealth-creator, don’t think of a tycoon in a glass tower – or so David Cameron will tell the Tory party conference today. Think instead of a window cleaner, or a female entrepreneur who spends every night balancing her books, he will add. The Prime Minister is right to celebrate those [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES HEDGE FUND MANAGER ENTERS BEAR MARKET A disgraced hedge fund manager is to sell one of the world’s most valuable collections of teddy bears at a London auction later this month. Paul Greenwood, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges last year, will sell his £1.2m collection of Steiff teddy bears at Christies International [...]