Rio Tinto July 14, 2010 THE manacles strangling Rio Tinto’s Australian focus may have been removed, enabling the miner’s $200m (£130.9m) investment in Western Australia to go-ahead, but in reality the 40 per cent super-tax, since reduced to 30 per cent, was just a distraction. The dredging at its Cape Lambert mine in the Pilbara will help to boost production [...]
BMW driven to hike 2010 sales outlook July 13, 2010 Germany’s BMW raised its 2010 pretax profit and sales outlook yesterday, citing better-than-expected earnings at its automotive business and buoyant luxury car markets around the world. Shares in BMW and archrival Daimler jumped on the news as robust demand for high-performance autos like the BMW Z4 roadster and the new 5-series continues to rebound from [...]
FX RECOVERY TRADE STILL UNCERTAIN July 13, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT THE central question facing the currency market is whether the economy will maintain its pace of recovery. Last week the recovery trade received a substantial boost when both Australia and Canada reported better than expected employment numbers. Australia added 45,900 jobs and the country’s jobless rate fell to an enviable [...]
High potential is still at the heart of Africa July 13, 2010 WITH so much uncertainty about the world economy, it is a good time to diversify your portfolio by investing in Africa-facing funds. The recent launch of two such funds adds to a widening range of options: Sanlam Investment Management has started up an ex-South Africa fund, while Silver Street Capital has just set up an [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIO CLASHEs OVER THE RIGHTS TO MONGOLIAN COPPER MINE Tensions are rising between Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines over rights to a world-class copper deposit in Mongolia as the multinational mining group releases hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the mine over which it has limited control. Ivanhoe, which owns the [...]
China’s property market falters July 12, 2010 China’s frothy property market may have peaked after a government clampdown on speculators, new data indicated yesterday. Property prices across 70 cities fell 0.1 per cent in June compared with May – the first monthly fall since February 2009. Despite the monthly fall in June, property prices across China still remained 11.4 per cent higher [...]
Armani sets out resilient sales report July 12, 2010 ITALIAN fashion house Giorgio Armani yesterday said it had displayed “resilience” to battle through the global economic crisis, as it announced falls in its sales and profits. The company said consolidated revenues shrank by six per cent to €1.52bn (£1.27bn), down from sales of €1.62bn last year. And the company saw its operating profit plunge [...]
Depressed mining stocks are finally starting to look attractively valued July 12, 2010 IT WAS a tough second quarter for London-listed miners, which were dealt a severe blow by a toxic combination of general risk aversion, a planned tax on miners’ profits in Australia and a government-orchestrated slowdown in China. After reaching 25,356.51 on 6 April – its best level since July 2008 – the FTSE 350 mining [...]
Traders hold their breath for results July 12, 2010 CAUTION prevailed in the US stock market yesterday, with indexes edging higher as investors kept bets to a minimum in front of earnings. Volume was among the lightest of the year with investors wanting to see if corporate outlooks validate last week’s surge, the strongest week in a year. Dow component Alcoa reported its second-quarter [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA BANKS FEAR FALLING CONFIDENCE Faltering confidence in the Chinese economy could threaten the plans of the country’s banks to shore up capital reserves, the head of China Construction Bank, has warned. On top of the projected $22bn initial public offering of Agriculture Bank of China, announced last week, CCB and Industrial and [...]