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S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Index Series Launched
A comprehensive benchmark series that is independent, transparent and local
October 13, 2011--S&P Indices and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today launched a comprehensive package of benchmarking tools for fixed interest investments in Australia: The S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Index Series.
The launch of the S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Series will complement Australia's official S&P/ASX Equity Index Series, providing a complete offering across the key asset classes of cash, fixed income and equities.
The S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Index Series is a broad benchmark suite of indices designed to measure the performance of the Australian short-term money market and the Australian bond market which meet the index eligibility criteria.
The S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Index Series comprises:
The S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Interest Index – the flagship bond index, measuring the performance of the Australian bond market and the sub-sector indices
The S&P/ASX Government Bond Index
China Export Growth Dwindles to Slowest Pace in Seven Months as Yuan Gains
October 13, 2011--China’s exports rose the least in seven months and the customs bureau warned of “severe” challenges as the global economic outlook dims, giving Premier Wen Jiabao’s government less incentive to let the yuan rise.
Exports rose a less-than-forecast 17.1 percent in September from a year earlier, the bureau’s data showed in Beijing. The trade surplus was $14.51 billion, the smallest since May. Growth in shipments to Europe, China’s biggest export market, slumped to 9.8 percent, from 22 percent, amid the sovereign-debt crisis in euro-region nations.
Chinese Reveal Size of Copper Inventory
October 12, 2011--China has for the first time revealed the estimated size of its copper inventories, shedding light on one of the commodity market’s biggest mysteries.
Chinese copper inventories stood at 1.9 million tons at the end of 2010, more than the US consumes in a year, according to estimates by the state-backed China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association. The estimate is significantly higher than the 1.0-1.5 million tons range that foreign executives have assumed in the past.
The estimates, which were announced at a recent meeting of the International Copper Study Group but have not been made public, imply that real Chinese copper demand may have been lower than thought in recent years.
Fidessa examines impact of liquidity fragmentation on Australia’s broker community
Second white paper in Australia series looks at opportunities and challenges facing local sell-side firms
October 12, 2011--Fidessa group pl provider of high-performance trading, investment management and information solutions for the world’s financial community, has today published the second in its series of white papers looking at issues raised by the new market integrity legislation in Australia.
Entitled Stuck in the Middle with You? A look at the future for brokers in Australia’s new trading landscape, the paper draws on Fidessa’s global experience to consider the challenges and opportunities brokers and banks will face and outlines the changes they need to consider if they are to take advantage of Australia’s new trading environment. It builds on the themes of the first paper in the series, Aussie Rules, which looked at the impact of the arrival of alternative venues in Australia, the role to be played by smart order routing (SOR) technology and the lessons to be learned from other markets.
Steve Grob, Director of Group Strategy at Fidessa and the paper’s principal author, says: “The Australian marketplace is entering a fascinating phase in its history, and there are plenty of clues about what brokers and investment banks can expect from similar developments elsewhere in the world. The journey towards a new shaped marketplace has begun and, as in other countries, although the changes will doubtless begin modestly, the effects on brokers are going to be far reaching.”
Chinese Banks’ Bad Debt May Hit 60% of Equity Capital, Credit Suisse Says
October 12, 2011--Loan losses at Chinese banks may climb to levels equivalent to 60 percent of their equity capital as real-estate companies and local governments fail to repay debts, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.
Nonperforming loans will probably increase to 8 percent to 12 percent of total debt in the “next few years,” causing losses amounting to 40 percent to 60 percent of Chinese banks’ equity, Hong Kong-based analysts led by Sanjay Jain at Credit Suisse wrote in a research report dated Oct. 12. Jain cut 2012 and 2013 profit estimates by as much as 25 percent and maintained an “underweight” rating on the industry.
DB - Equity Research - Asia Pacific ETF Weekly Review: - ETP AUM remains flat and activity declines
October 11, 2011--Market Review
Last week, Australia (S&P/ASX 200) gained 3.85% as the Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and signaled it has scope to lower the nation’s borrowing costs if necessary as inflation eases. Further, Japan (Nikkei 225) lost 1.09%, Korea (KOSPI2) dropped by 0.06%, Hong Kong (HSI) up by 0.65% and Singapore (FSSTI) declined by 1.3%. Chinese markets remained closed for a week-long holiday.
New Launch Review
In terms of new product launch activity, the Asia-Pacific market remained quiet during the preceding week and no new product was listed in any of the exchanges in the region.
Turnover Review: Activity declines amid shorter trading week
Asia-Pacific ETP turnover totaled $6.6bn for the week ending last Friday, 35.2% below the previous week’s total as Chinese exchanges remained closed for the entire week, while South Korea and Hong Kong had a shorter trading week. South Korea continues to be on top of the turnover ranking with $3.9bn (down 24.4%), followed by Japan ($1.1bn, down 36.7%), Hong Kong ($1.1bn, down 24.4%), Taiwan ($196m, down 20.5%), and Australia ($169m, up 45.6%). Among Equity asset class, Leveraged and Short Strategy ETFs had total turnover of $3.2bn, while Asia Pac Developed and Emerging Country ETFs had combined turnover of $2.9bn. Under the Commodity asset class, turnover on Gold ETPs totaled $158m, 63% down from last week.
Assets Under Management Review
Last week, Asia-Pacific ETP AUM ended at $88.5bn with a small increase of 0.6%over the previous week. On a year to date basis, Asia-Pacific ETP market is $4.3bn or 5.1% above last year’s closing.
Renminbi stages biggest one-day jump in six years
October 10, 2011--The renminbi rose 0.6 per cent against the dollar, the largest jump since July 2005 when China ended a formal peg and ushered in a tightly managed exchange rate float that, for most of the time,
has seen the currency appreciate in steady but tiny
Short selling activities in Hong Kong
October 7, 2011--There has to date been no indication that recent declines in the Hong Kong stock market have been caused by short selling activities, the Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Mr Ashley Alder said, adding that the SFC will not hesitate to take immediate action to deter any manipulative or abusive short selling practices.
Mr Alder pointed out that stock markets around the world have seen significant downward adjustments and increased volatility in recent months against the background of an uncertain global economic outlook and the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.
“Short selling is a trading and hedging tool commonly and legitimately used by a range of market participants. It is not unusual to see the level of short selling increase significantly in the market environment we have been experiencing in recent months,” Mr Alder said.
“Extreme volatility has reflected global concerns centred on an evolving financial crisis which started three years ago, and which is now centred on sovereigns and exposed banks, particularly in the Eurozone,” he added.
Australia; Selected Issues -IMF Report
October 7, 2011--WHY HAS HOUSEHOLD SAVING INCREASED SO SHARPLY IN AUSTRALIA
A. Introduction
1. Australia’s net household saving rate began rising in the mid-2000s and jumped to over 10 percent of gross disposable income after the global financial crisis of 2008–09
(Figure I.1). This was the highest level in nearly 25 years, but was still about 3 percent below the average for the 1970s and early 1980s. The recent spike in saving was higher than
in some other advanced economies. Even though the economy is recovering from the crisis, house prices have declined in real terms and the stock market has not fully recovered to its previous highs. In this environment, consumers have remained cautious and households have continued to save and rebuild their balance sheets.
2. Past staff analysis identified wealth effects, public saving, demography, and the terms of trade as the main factors associated with changes in Australian private sector
saving.2 Cross-country regressions on annual data for 19 advanced economies suggest that private saving is negatively correlated with public saving (interpreted as a Ricardian offset) and old age dependency, and is positively correlated with the terms of trade. Single equation estimates for Australia confirm the negative correlation between private and public saving, and show a quantitatively large co-movement between private saving and the terms of trade. They also show a strong negative correlation between changes in household net worth and
private saving.
view the IMF report-Australia; Selected Issues
Thai Bourse To List Gold-Based ETF On Oct 11
October 7, 2011--The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will list ThaiDex
Gold ETF, managed by One Asset Management, on its main board on Octotber 11, under the
ticker “GOLD99.”
GOLD99, an open-end exchange-traded fund (ETF), has a policy to invest in gold bars of
99.99 percent purity and store physical bullion domestically. TMB Bank plc. is the fund’s trustee.
“The fund is an attractive alternative and meets investors’ demand for those want to invest in gold through the stock exchange. GOLD99 will move in the same direction as the price of 99.99-percent gold bars in global markets, so investors will get returns similar to investment in gold. In addition, it can be traded conveniently via brokers, with real-time prices through SET’s reliable trading systems,” said SET President Charamporn Jotikasthira.
