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Intervention fears weigh on yen
August 22, 2011--The yen pulled back from a record high against the dollar on Monday on speculation that the Japanese authorities could move to weaken the currency.
The yen hit a record high of ¥75.93 against the dollar on Friday as fears over global growth sparked haven demand for the Japanese currency and speculation of further quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve weighed on the greenback.
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Source: The Globe and Mail
ETFs Won't Shake Hong Kong Markets, Official Says .
August 20, 2011--Beijing's plan to allow exchange-traded funds comprising Hong Kong-listed stocks to be sold to mainland investors wouldn't cause huge volatility in the city's equities market, a senior Hong Kong government official said Saturday.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury KC Chan said on a radio program Saturday the implementation of the exchange traded funds will be subject to the approval of the Chinese securities regulator and the investors are rather rational, so he doesn't believe the new measure will cause volatility in Hong Kong's stock market.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
SBI Mutual Fund launches SBI Gold Fund
August 18, 2011--Asset management firm SBI Mutual Fund has launched a new fund offer, SBI Gold Fund, an open-ended fund scheme to enable investors to systematically invest in gold. The corpus collected from the NFO would be invested in SBI Gold Exchange Traded Fund.
"It is a convenient product and will give an opportunity to an investor to invest in the purest form of gold without the need of buying and storing physical gold, that too, without a dematerialized account unlike gold exchange traded funds," SBI MF Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Deepak Chatterjee said.
He said there was a demand for ETFs and the assets under ETF schemes in the country had crossed Rs. 6,000 crore last month.
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Source: NDTV Profit
ETF Entering Fast Growth Period, Product and System Innovation Being of Great Significance
August 18, 2011------SZSE 300 Index ETF Released
Recently, Shenzhen Stock Exchange held an ETF business innovation and development workshop, attracting the participation of nearly 50 securities company executives and industry experts, who made an in-depth discussion on the ETF product development and business innovation. According to them, ETF, as an innovative product in our capital market, has been offered an unprecedented development opportunity and is now entering the fast growth period. Therefore, to maintain the proper development of EFT, the product and system innovation is of great significance.
This year, the domestic market scale of ETF has been quickly expanded, and the ETF has become one of the most noteworthy fund products. It is reported that SZSE will boost the development of the listed funds by perfecting the funds market platform, so as to drive the development of ETF and build the SZSE funds market into an interconnected, efficient, stable and cost-effective funds service platform.
According to the participating experts, the appearance of such innovative businesses and products as feeder fund, rating fund, stock index futures, margin trading and short selling, has provided the listed funds represented by ETF with richer investment trading strategies, and the long-term investors and short-term investors with larger investment choices.
According to the expert analysis, SZSE 300 Index is the core index that represents the characteristics of Shenzhen market. Focusing on the emerging industries (up to 43%), it is consistent with the development direction of Chinese economy and features a wide coverage over the three boards of Shenzhen market. This index presents an excellent growth, which will be further reflected in the securities market.
In recent days, SZSE 300 Index received its own ETF. China Universal Asset Management Co., Ltd issued SZSE 300 Index ETF on August 15. The attendees held an optimistic opinion on the investment of ETF. According to them, SZSE 300 Index, as a core index with considerable long-term return and highly consistent with the industry development direction and economic structure adjustment, has a promising development perspective.
Source: Shenzhen Stock Exchange
HKEx: Potential Joint Venture With Shanghai Stock Exchange And The Shenzhen Stock Exchange
Augsut 18, 2011--The Board of Directors of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) is pleased to announce that HKEx has agreed in principle to enter into detailed discussions with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with a view to establish a joint venture company to be incorporated in Hong Kong.
Currently the possible areas of business operation of the joint venture company include, but are not limited to, the development of index and other equity derivative products and the compilation of new indexes.
The Board wishes to emphasise that no binding agreement has been entered into as at the date of this announcement. Accordingly, the joint venture may or may not proceed. HKEx will make further announcement in compliance with the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited as and when appropriate. Shareholders of the Company and potential investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of HKEx.
Source: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx)
Gold ETFs mushroom in India
August 18, 2011--Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may be new for India, but are gaining in popularity as investors become aware of the benefits of investing in gold paper as opposed to holding it as jewellery.
ETFs are instruments that trade like shares and are backed by physical holdings of the commodity.
India is the world's top consumer of gold, accounting for 20 percent of global demand. In a country where many of the 1.2 billion population live far from a bank, Indians traditionally invest in gold jewellery.
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Source: Reuters
HKEx looks to mainland joint venture
August 18, 2011--Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, the world’s largest bourse operator by market value, plans to form a joint venture with its counterparts in Shanghai and Shenzhen in a move that would mark the most significant commercial link between the three exchanges.
Thursday’s announcement came a day after Li Keqiang, the Chinese vice-premier, unveiled measures to boost Hong Kong’s role as a financial centre and widen the channels for money to flow between the city and the mainland.
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Source: FT.com
ASIC Consults On Consequential Market Integrity Rules For ASX And Chi-X Markets
August 17, 2011--ASIC today released Consultation Paper 166 Market integrity rules: non-AFS licence foreign participants and consequential amendments (CP 166).
Consultation Paper 166 proposes market integrity rules for the ASX and Chi-X markets, and seeks views on:
certain minimum presence requirements for foreign participants not required
to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence (non-AFS licence foreign participants) trading on the ASX and/ or Chi-X markets; and
minor consequential amendments to the ASIC Market Integrity Rules (ASX Market) 2010 and the ASIC Market Integrity Rules (Chi-X Australia Market) 2011, resulting from the introduction of the competition market integrity rules, in particular amendments to:
restrictions related to crossings and trading outside of normal trading hours during takeovers and buybacks to ensure that existing restrictions operate effectively;
the prohibition on dealing during a trading suspension; and market participant restrictions relating to client instructions.
view CP 166 Market integrity rules: non-AFS licence foreign participants and consequential amendments
Source: ASIC
Hong Kong ETF planned for mainland investors
August 17, 2011-- Beijing plans to unveil an exchange-traded fund that will enable mainland China investors to access stocks listed in Hong Kong, according to a package of measures unveiled Wednesday by Vice Premier Li Keqiang.
Li, speaking at a forum in Hong Kong midway through a three-day visit, mentioned the ETF along with several other measures to boost the city’s role an offshore hub for the use of the Chinese currency, the yuan.
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Source: Marketwatch
ASIC publishes ETF information for investors
August 16, 2011--ASIC today published new information on its consumer finance website, MoneySmart, to help consumers understand the different types of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and their risks.
ETFs can provide a convenient and low-cost way for investors to diversify and receive returns close to the performance of market indexes or other assets, usually with lower fees than traditional managed funds.
But while standard, ‘physical’ ETFs generally invest in the underlying investments they are designed to track, ‘synthetic’ ETFs also use derivatives, such as swap agreements, to achieve similar outcomes. Benefits to investors of synthetic ETFs may include access to new and varied asset classes and low performance ‘tracking error’. Downsides include increased complexity and counterparty risk.
Standard ETFs are widely available in Australia. A few synthetic ETFs are currently available in Australia and they are increasingly available overseas.
ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft said: ‘ETFs are growing in popularity and people should understand the different features and risks of ETFs before investing. We want investors to be informed and confident if investing in ETFs so therefore ASIC has published clear and straight forward information at www.moneysmart.gov.au to help investors understand these products. While conventional ETFs are often relatively straight forward, there are complexities and risks to be aware of. Furthermore, the use of derivatives by synthetic ETFs creates separate additional issues for investors to consider. Either way, people should not invest in products they don’t understand.
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Source: ASIC