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China's manufacturing sector weakens
May 25, 2012--A widely-watched measure of Chinese manufacturing Thursday showed activity weakened further in May.
HSBC Corp. said its preliminary Purchasing Managers Index, based on responses by 85 to 90 per cent of Chinese manufacturing companies in its sample, fell to 48.7 from April's 49.3 on a 100-point scale.
Numbers below 50 indicate a contraction.
The weak showing came a day after China's cabinet promised to step up efforts to reverse a steep slowdown in the world's second-largest economy and said it would encourage private investment in energy and other state-dominated industries.
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Source: CBC.ca
Goldman Said to Plan Private REIT to Buy Japan Properties
May 24, 2012--Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) plans to start a private real estate investment trust with as much as 50 billion yen ($628 million) that will invest in Japan's property market, two people familiar with the situation said.
The asset management arm of Goldman Sachs in Japan will begin the REIT as early as July and plans to expand the fund to 100 billion yen in two years, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The REIT will invest in office buildings and some residential and retail properties mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, they said
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Source: Bloomberg
Growth in Developing East Asia and Pacific Is Strong But Slowing
Region needs to become less reliant on exports and capture new sources of growth, says World Bank East Asia & Pacific Economic Update
May 23, 2012-Growth remains strong in developing East Asia and Pacific, although it has slowed from its post-crisis peaks. With the global slowdown expected to continue, the region needs to reduce its reliance on exports and find new sources of growth, says the World Bank in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update released today.
According to the report, entitled “Capturing New Sources of Growth,” developing East Asia and Pacific grew by 8.2 percent in 2011 (4.3 percent excluding China), a sharp decline from the nearly 10 percent growth rate recorded in 2010 (7.0 percent excluding China). The region’s performance is still impressive on a global scale. In 2011, growth was about 2 percentage points higher than the developing country average world-wide, and poverty continues to fall.
"The number of people living on less than US$2 a day is expected to decrease in 2012 by 24 million. Overall the number of people living in poverty has been cut in half in the last decade in East Asia and Pacific,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President. “Despite this success, about one-third of the people in the region, roughly half a billion men, women and children still live in poverty. In an uncertain global environment, more needs to be done to create new sources of growth that provide opportunities for all.”
view the East Asia and Pacific Economic Update: Full Report
Source: World Bank
Harvest Fund Shanghai/Shenzhen ETF to debut Monday
May 22, 2012--Harvest Fund Management Co.'s new exchange-traded fund, one of the first two cross-market ETFs in China, will start trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday, the bourse said Wednesday in a statement.
The Harvest ETF Tracking CSI 300 (159919.SZ), which is referenced to the CSI 300, an index tracking blue-chip stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, has raised CNY19.33 billion ($3.06 billion), Harvest said in an earlier statement.
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Source: MarketWatch
IMF Working paper-Surging Capital Flows to Emerging Asia: Facts, Impacts, and Responses
May 22, 2012--Summary: Net capital flows to emerging Asia rebounded at a record pace following the global financial crisis, raising concerns about overheating and financial stability.
This paper documents the size and composition of the most recent surge to Asian emerging markets from a historical perspective and compares developments in the broader economy, asset prices, and corporate variables across the different episodes of strong inflows. We find little evidence of a significant build-up of imbalances and resource misallocation during the most recent surge. We also review country experiences in managing the risks associated with inflows and argue that Asian countries have used regulatory measures during past surges, although there is not strong evidence of their efficacy without supporting monetary and fiscal policies.
view the IMF Working paper-Surging Capital Flows to Emerging Asia: Facts, Impacts, and Responses
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-RMB Internationalization: Onshore/Offshore Links
May 22, 2012--Summary: Among emerging market currencies, the RMB holds the most potential to become widely used internationally, due to China's large economic size, diversified trade structure and network, macroeconomic stability, and high growth rates-both current and expected.
Yet, foreign access to RMB-denominated assets that could act as global stores of value remains limited due to extensive restrictions on capitals flows. At the same time, the rapid expansion of RMB trade settlement and issuance of RMB-denominated bonds by the Chinese government and corporates in Hong Kong, SAR have created some feedback channels across onshore (CNY) and offshore (CNH) RMB markets. We employed a bivariate GARCH model to understand the inter-linkages between onshore and offshore markets and found that, while developments in the onshore spot market exert an influence on the offshore spot market, offshore forward rates have a predictive impact on onshore forward rates. We also find evidence of volatility spillovers between two markets. Overtime, those spillover channels would be expected to grow as the offshore market further develops.
view the IMF Working paper-RMB Internationalization: Onshore/Offshore Links
Source:IMF
HKEx to Introduce Three New Stock Option Classes on 11 June
May 22, 2012--Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) will introduce three new stock option classes on Monday, 11 June: Galaxy Entertainment, Sands China and Standard Chartered.
HKEx has invited applications for Exchange Participants interested in serving as market makers for the three new option classes.
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Source: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx)
DB-Equity Research-Asia-Pac-ETF Market Weekly Review: ETP AUM lost another $2.2bn amid bearish equity markets
May 21, 2012--Market Review
Last week, all the markets in the Asia-Pacific region were down. From north to south, Japan (Nikkei 225) lost 3.82%, Korea (KOSPI2) fell by 7.15%, China (CSI 300) slid by 2.39%, Hong Kong (HSI) decreased by 5.07%, Singapore (FSSTI) was down by 3.62%, and Australia (S&P/ASX 200) declined by 5.57% over the previous week.
New Launch Review
Last week, two new ETFs were launched in the Asia-Pacific region. BetaShares Capital Ltd listed one Fixed Income ETF on the Australian Securities Exchange with an aim of exceeding the 30 day Bank Bill Swap Rate with monthly income distributions. CIMB-GK Securities Pte Ltd launched an Equity ETF on the Singapore Exchange tracking S&P Ethical Pan Asia Select Dividend Opportunities Index.
Turnover Review
Asia-Pacific ETP turnover totaled $6.9bn for last week, 14% up from the previous week’s total. South Korea continued to be on top of the turnover ranking, with $2.9bn, followed by Hong Kong ($1.5bn), China ($1.2bn), Japan ($0.8bn), and Taiwan ($0.2bn). Among Equity ETFs, Emerging Country, Asia Pac Developed Country, Leveraged Strategy, and Short Strategy ETFs had total turnover of $2.8bn, $1.5bn, $1.4bn and $740m respectively. Under the Commodity asset class, turnover in Gold ETPs totaled $168m for the last week.
Assets Under Management Review
Last week, Asia-Pacific ETP AUM declined by $2.2bn and ended at $96.6bn. On a year-to-date basis, Asia-Pacific ETP market is up by $5.1bn or 5.5% above last year’s closing.
to request report
Source: Deutsche Bank - Equity Research - Asia Pacific
Huatai-PineBridge Completes US $5.3 billion Exchange Traded Fund Initial Public Offering
First Cross-Exchange Fund in Mainland China
May 21, 2012--PineBridge Investments, the global multi-asset class investment manager, is pleased to announce that its China joint venture, Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management Co ("Huatai-PineBridge"), successfully launched its CSI 300 ETF product in Mainland China, raising US$5.3 billion (RMB 33 billion) in its initial public offering. It is the largest ETF IPO in the Mainland Chinese capital market since 2006 and is expected to be the second largest equity fund in the A share market.
The Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF is the first cross-exchange product linking the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, providing investors with exposure to a well diversified, broad-based index of stocks listed on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. It also matches the CSI 300 Futures Index, the first financial futures index in China, which was launched in April 2010. The CSI 300 ETF has a T+0 trading mechanism, which allows trading and settlement on the same day and enables investors to better capture ETF trading arbitrage opportunities.
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Source: MarketWatch
Notice of Taking ETFs as Underlying Securities of Margin Trading, Securities Lending
May 21, 2012--All member units and fund management companies,
According to Articles 25 and 26 in the "SSE Detailed Rules for Implementation of Margin Trading and Securities Lending", the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) hereby makes the following notice for relevant issues of taking ETFs as underlying securities of margin trading and securities lending:
1. Any ETF which meets the following requirements could be taken as an underlying security of margin trading and securities lending after it traded on the SSE for at least 5 trading days:
a. The average daily asset size is not smaller than RMB10 billion;
b. The number of fund holders is not less than 10,000; and
c. The number of the constituent stocks tracking indices is not less than 30, with the total market capitalization not less than RMB500 billion.
Source: Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE)