Nikkei notches up best year since 2005
December 28, 2012--The Japanese stock market has completed its best year since 2005 as investors were swept up by the business-friendly rhetoric of Shinzo Abe, confirmed this week as the country's new prime minister.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closed on Friday at 10,395, its highest level since March 2011, bringing total gains for the year to 23 per cent. The stock market will be closed next week until Friday for the new year holidays.
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Source: FT.com
China consumers driving economic rebound: survey
December 26, 2012--China's consumers are leading an uneven recovery in the world's second biggest economy that has retailers expecting stronger sales in six months, early results of a national survey showed on Wednesday.
The China Beige Book survey of more than 2,000 executives revealed that the retail sector had the strongest revenue growth and business expectations in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The survey broadly detected a mild economic recovery with the hard-hit sectors of real estate, mining and manufacturing - to a lesser extent - joining retail at the head of the upswing.
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Source: Reuters
Yen slides to two-year low on Japan easing view, euro firmer
Abe voted in as Japanese prime minister
BoJ minutes show some called for action if economy worsens
Euro hits 16-month high vs yen
December 26, 2012--The yen dropped to a more than two-year low against the dollar on Wednesday, after Shinzo Abe
assumed office as Japan's new prime minister and repeated his pledge to push for more drastic monetary and fiscal measures and tame the strong Japanese currency.
Meanwhile the euro traded above $1.32 against the U.S. dollar for a seventh straight session and in midday New York
trading was firmer on the day. Traders said the euro's gain was due to position adjustment going into the end of the year, with investors continuing to reduce short bets on the currency.
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Source: Reuters
Mirae launching Asia's first physical copper ETF
December 23, 2012--Mirae Asset Global Investments is launching Asia Pacific's first physically backed copper exchange traded fund.
The new ETF, listed on the Korea Exchange, tracks the S&P GSCI Cash Copper, developed by S&P Dow Jones Indices to replicate the daily return of a physically backed copper investment after the deduction of storage costs.
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Source: FT.com
ETF to be up & running soon
December 23, 2012--The government has set the ball rolling for setting up an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) comprising stocks of listed companies that will serve as an additional mechanism for the government to monetise its shareholdings.
An ETF is a security that tracks an index like an index fund but trades like a stock exchange. Stocks may have representations from various sector to provide unit holders more diversification.
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Source: Hindustan Times
Asia economies surge ahead despite global slowdown
December 23, 2012--Emerging economies in Asia have surged ahead despite the impact of debt crisis in Europe, the slow world economic recovery, and the feared U.S. "fiscal cliff".
These economies performed well in 2012 although their growths were slower than expected. A United Nations report released recently says that economic growth of Asia and the Pacific in 2012 is forecast to be 5.6 percent, down from an earlier forecast of 6. 5 percent.
For the upcoming 2013, economists are generally optimistic on the continued growth in the Asia Pacific with strong domestic demand expected to offset weak export growth.
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Source: China.org.cn
Exchange-traded fund rules out in Jan.
December 21, 2012-THE RULES for listing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set to be released by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) next month following a brief feedback period from likely issuers, the PSE's top official said.
The ETF rules by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) have been approved; what’s next [are] the PSE rules for the listing of the ETFs, that’s coming out sometime in January. Those will be circulated then,” Hans B. Sicat, PSE president and chief executive officer, told reporters at the sidelines of an event with media in Makati City on Thursday.
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Source: Business World On-line
Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index to be Renamed in February 2013
December 20, 2012--The Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) and Nikkei Inc. announced today a name change of the Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index as of February 12, 2013.
This change only applies to the Japanese language name. The two companies have been jointly calculating and publishing the index since 2009.
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Source: Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM)
SZSE Low Volatility, High Beta Series Indices Launched
December 20, 2012--Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd. jointly announced on December 20, 2012 to issue SZSE low volatility, high beta series indices, which include SZSE 300 Low Volatility Index(Abbreviation: S300 LV, Code: 399661), SZSE 300 High Beta Index (Abbreviation: S300 HB, Code: 399662), SME 300 Low Volatility Index(Abbreviation: SME LV, Code: 399663),
SME 300 High Beta Index(Abbreviation: SME HB, Code: 399664), SME-ChiNext 500 Low Volatility Index(Abbreviation: SME-ChiNext LV, Code: 399665), SME-ChiNext 500 High Beta Index(Abbreviation: SME-ChiNext HB, Code: 399666).
SZSE Low Volatility and High Beta series indices take SZSE Core Index as sample space, respectively selecting stocks of low volatility and high beta as sample stocks. As indicated by the research at home and aboard, low volatility indices can reduce the portfolio risk, prevent market bubble, and outperform their parent indices in the long term; whereas high beta indices provide perfect trading instrument targets related to high elasticity portfolio of ever-changing market. By separating stocks of different risk scale, SZSE Low Volatility, High Beta series indices, provide investment targets of different risk, thus facilitate the investors to better understand and control market risk.
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Source: Shenzhen Stock Exchange
ESMA publishes an updated Q&A on prospectus
December 19, 2012--This new set of Q&A readopts CESR positions as ESMA positions or amends them to reflect ESMA positions. it also includes a new Q&A on "type of underlying".
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Source: ESMA
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