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SSGA says ETF growth means plenty for all providers
May 31, 2011--State Street Global Advisers has said it is not concerned about competing for market share against newcomers wanting to take a chunk out of the Australian exchange-traded funds market.
State Street pioneered ETF trading in Australia and at one time enjoyed 100 per cent market share
It's seven ETF products now account for 62 per cent of market share after Vanguard and Blackrock iShares jumped into the market, now estimated to be worth $5 billion.
But Frank Henze, head of SPDR ETFs in Asia Pacific for State Street Global Advisers (SSGA), said there was so much future growth in the market that SSGA don't look at market share.
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Source: Financial Standard
BetaShares appoints General Counsel & Head of Compliance
May 31, 2011--BetaShares Capital Limited (BetaShares) has appointed Anton Allen as General Counsel & Head of Compliance. The appointment comes as BetaShares continues its strong growth trajectory, recently listing its fourth exchange traded fund (ETF) in just under six months.
Allen, who was previously Head of Legal at Macquarie Funds Group, part of Macquarie Bank, brings substantial legal, compliance and risk management expertise to BetaShares. He has 18 years of experience in the legal profession, specialising in institutional and retail funds management.
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Source: BetaShares
HKEx Publishes Consultation Paper on After-Hours Futures Trading Proposal
May 30, 2011--Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) published a consultation paper today (Monday) to seek views on its proposal to introduce after-hours futures trading (AHFT) to strengthen Hong Kong’s derivatives market.
HKEx is proposing trading of three futures contracts, Hang Seng Index (HSI) futures, H-shares Index (HHI) futures and gold futures, from 30 minutes after the current market close (from 4:45 pm for the index futures and 5:30 pm for the gold futures) until 11:15 pm (the proposal’s main points are in the appendix).
HKEx research found many futures brokers in Hong Kong are open in the evening to offer trading of European and US futures during London and New York business hours. Those brokers include at least half of HKEx’s 183 Futures Exchange Participants (FEPs). Together, that group of FEPs accounts for nearly 90 per cent of HSI futures turnover and nearly 95 per cent of the HHI futures turnover.
HKEx also found AHFT is now common among other leading derivatives exchanges, with eight of the top 10 derivatives exchanges in terms of stock index futures turnover offering after-hours trading. Turnover during after-hours trading in major derivatives exchanges ranges from 15 per cent to 37 per cent of the turnover during their regular trading hours.
view the CONSULTATION PAPER ON AFTER-HOURS FUTURES TRADING
Source: HKEx
Indian growth slows for fifth quarter
May 30, 2011--India’s economic growth slowed for the fifth consecutive quarter as rising interest rates and paralysis in the scandal-plagued government curbed company investment.
The economy grew more slowly than expected – 7.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of the April to March financial year – and at its slowest pace for five quarters.
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Source: FT.com
Shanghai Stock Exchange Vice President Liu Xiaodong: SSE 380 May Be Growth Indicator Of SSE-listed Companies
May 27, 2011--The future growth of companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) may be reflected through SSE 380 index, SSE Vice President Liu Xiaodong said at the "Shanghai Multi-layer Blue-chip Market Construction Forum: Corporate Financing, Institutional Investment and SSE Indices" yesterday.
In elaborating on the multi-layer capital market in his keynote speech, Liu stressed that broadly speaking, a multi-layer capital market is supposed to be classified according to risk. The first-tier or low-level market, includes low-risk fixed income products, such as treasury bonds and corporate bonds. The second-tier market is featured by equities, and mainly means a system covering the basic over-the-counter market, SME Board, Growth Enterprises Board and the main board. The third-tier also the highest-level market is what we called derivatives market. "Thus, we should discuss the construction of a multi-layer capital market at these three levels."
Liu also introduced the basic situation of the SSE and its index compilation system. It is learnt that the SSE now boasts 906 listed companies with a total market capitalization of RMB19 trillion, ranked 5th and 6th in the world, respectively. As to the corporate composition, there are both large-scale enterprises with nearly RMB2 trillion market capitalization (i.e. PetroChina Company Limited) and small companies with market capitalization of less than RMB1 billion. Given the multi-level structure, the SSE made a comprehensive and considerate arrangement for its index compilation system. Among the current SSE indices, there are not only SSE 50, SSE 180 and SSE 380 indices, which are divided according to basic market behavior, but also industry indices, such as financial and real estate indices. Generally speaking, SSE 50, SSE 180 and SSE 380 constitute the framework of SSE indices.
Speaking of the SSE 380 index launched at the end of 2010, Liu noted that it is closely related to the construction of a multi-layer capital market. According to him, thanks to its popularity, some fund management firms expressed hope to develop products based on it less than one year after its introduction to the market. As products are usually developed on the basis of an index after one year of its debut, it is obvious that the SSE 380 index has shown strong vitality. He said that the growth of the SSE may be witnessed by the SSE 380 index.
In his closing speech, Liu expressed his belief in the increasing improvement of issuing and listing market, corporate quality and level of marketization. He expected listed companies to enhance competitiveness from the perspectives of both industry and corporate governance.
Source:Shanghai Securities News
From West to East: Estimating External Spillovers to Australia and New Zealand -IMF Working paper
May 27, 2011--Summary: This paper examines the size and source of external spillovers to Australia and New Zealand based on a structural vector autoregression (VAR) approach. It finds that during the last decade shocks from emerging Asia have become more important than those from the United States in affecting Australia’s business cycle.
A 1 percent shock to emerging Asia’s growth is found to shift Australian growth by about 1/3 percent. Furthermore, there is evidence that commodity prices dominate the transmission of shocks from emerging Asia to Australia. The influence of emerging Asia on New Zealand is found to come indirectly through Australia, with Australian shocks transmitting almost "one-on-one" to New Zealand, largely through financial factors.
view the IMF working paper-From West to East: Estimating External Spillovers to Australia and New Zealand Chinese rare earth metals prices soar read more Hong Kong tests banks' ability to survive outflows read more Investors in Asia don't care about ESG, consultancy says read more European Union Chamber of Commerce in China Confidence Survey 2011 Concerns over a perceived unfair playing field and regulatory environment have intensified since last year. This
raises questions about China’s claim to be an equal opportunity market and the attractiveness of China in the
longer term as a place to do business for some companies. view the European Chamber Business in China Confidence Survey
Source: IMF
May 26, 2011--A gravity-defying leap in the price of Chinese rare earth metals has triggered fears that the cost of components used in a range of goods from mobile phones to hybrid cars could soar.
The three to fivefold jump in prices since January comes after China, the world’s biggest producer of rare earths, has clamped down on domestic output.
Source: FT.com
May 26, 2011--The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is forcing the city’s banks to undergo stress tests to gauge their ability to survive a potential outflow of almost HK$700bn ($90bn) in deposits as liquidity tightens in the Chinese territory.
The de facto central bank of the Chinese territory wants commercial banks to slow lending amid concerns about rapid credit growth and soaring property prices.
Source: FT.com
May 25, 2011--The absence of an investor push is partly responsible for the relatively low level of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments in Asia, according to Geoffrey Williams, chief executive at Kuala Lumpur-based OWW Consulting.
"Investors in Asia, in my opinion, do not care about ESG issues," he said, speaking at the Sustainable Emerging Markets conference in London, adding that OWW's own assessments show only $60bn (€42.5bn) is currently invested in equity SRI funds in Asia, while global SRI funds, according to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) are estimated to be holding around $9trn.
Source: IP&E
May 25, 2011--Executive Summary:The results of the Business Confidence Survey 2011 reveal that European companies are doing well. Companies
report that their financial results have improved upon pre-2008 economic crisis levels. Optimism over China’s
growth has resulted in China being viewed as a more strategically important market than ever before.
At the same time, European companies note that the Chinese market has become increasingly competitive
and that costs are rising. As a result, companies are more aware and sensitive to changes in the regulatory
landscape that may affect them negatively and unfairly.
Source: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China