China’s FX shift won’t spark a sustained rally June 21, 2010 IT WAS a decision that had been long awaited by the financial markets, analysts and policymakers alike. But the announcement by the Chinese central bank to gradually return the Chinese currency to a managed floating exchange rate was issued with little ceremony on Saturday evening Beijing-time. Despite its vagueness, the statement was leapt upon yesterday [...]
Yuan un-pegging to lift markets before Budget June 20, 2010 News at the weekend that China is to ease the yuan’s peg to the US dollar will be a boost to stock markets everywhere this morning, in the expectation that the move would prove a major lift to exporters. FTSE SET TO OPEN HIGHER GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open up 35 [...]
StanChart set to be investor in AgBank IPO June 17, 2010 AGRICULTURAL Bank (AgBank) of China, gearing up for a likely record $23bn (£15.5bn) IPO, looks set to tap Britain’s Standard Chartered as a cornerstone investor. AgBank signed a strategic deal with emerging markets-focused Standard Chartered yesterday to collaborate on banking products and services, both in China and internationally. “It’s very likely StanChart will take a [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 17, 2010 BHP BILLITON Citigroup maintains a “buy” recommendation on BHP Billiton saying the group’s share price has been overly impacted by issues such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Chinese slow down and OECD debt issues. According to Citi, the market has already discounted $55bn in value destruction for BHP, which it believes is overdone. [...]
Hong Kong flat sale fails June 16, 2010 THE world’s most expensive apartment is to remain empty for now, as developer Henderson Land revealed its £38.3m sale had fallen through. The duplex in the 39 Conduit Road luxury development in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels district was snapped up last October for the record sum. Its sale, and 19 other deals for plush apartments in [...]
Gain exposure to the yuan and the rupee June 16, 2010 THE high-profile battle between Washington and Beijing over China’s stubborn policy of pegging its currency to the US dollar has piqued retail traders’ interest in Asian currencies, and the Chinese yuan in particular. While investors have been able to trade currencies such as the yuan and the Indian rupee through offshore non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts, [...]
Fund managers pessimistic about growth June 15, 2010 FUND managers are highly pessimistic about the outlook for global economic growth and corporate profits. But sharp falls in world stock markets mean that global equities are now perceived to be at their most undervalued since March 2009, according to the June Bank of America-Merrill Lynch fund manager survey, published yesterday. Only a net 24 [...]
Commodities should take off later this year June 14, 2010 MARKETS tend to react quickly to bad news. Last month, after fears that the Greek debt crisis could spread across Europe and dent the outlook for global growth, the markets traded lower as investors sold risky assets. Commodities – sensitive to the global growth outlook – were hit hard. For example, the oil price fell [...]
China takes Club Med stake June 13, 2010 CHINA’S largest non-state holding, Fosun, has acquired 7.1 per cent of holiday resort group Club Med, the first time a quoted Chinese group takes a direct holding in a high-profile listed French company. Club Med hopes to make China its second-biggest market in the next five years while Fosun is keen to invest in Club [...]
TORIES: WE KNOW BP’S VALUE TO UK June 10, 2010 DAVID CAMERON, who is visiting troops in Afghanistan, asked chancellor George Osborne to phone BP chief executive Tony Hayward yesterday, amid concerns the government isn’t doing enough to counter Barack Obama’s increasingly vitriolic attacks on the embattled UK oil major. “I spoke on the phone to Tony Hayward today at the Prime Minister’s request. We [...]