Indian firms join scramble for Africa
January 27, 2011-- Indian consumer goods makers are scrambling to buy assets in Africa, applying their knowledge of challenging, lower-income markets to a continent where spending power is on the rise.
Tapping Africa opens up new growth avenues for cash rich Indian makers of personal care products such as soaps, shampoos and hair and skin care products, with rising costs and fierce competition squeezing profits at home.
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Source: Asia-Pacific
TSE to permit exchange-traded notes - Nikkei
January 27, 2011--The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to allow listings of exchange-traded notes that track indexes for the prices of precious metals, Asian stocks and other assets, from April, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Unlike exchange-traded funds, financial institutions that issue ETNs do not have to own the assets they are based on but hedge risk by investing in a range of commodities, Nikkei said.
The exchange, which plans to list ETNs in the form of depository receipts so that they can be traded like stocks, is likely to modify its listing rules on Friday, Nikkei said.
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Source: Reuters
S. Korea’s economic growth slows down
January 26, 2011--South Korea’s economy grew at its fastest pace in eight years in 2010 even as the expansion slowed in the final quarter amid weakness in capital spending, manufacturing and construction.
Gross domestic product advanced 6.1 percent last year, the Bank of Korea announced Wednesday, marking the best performance since a 7.2 percent surge in 2002. South Korea grew a meager 0.2 percent in 2009 amid the global economic slowdown that followed the worldwide financial meltdown of late 2008. The robust result for 2010 was achieved “owing to the buoyancy of exports and the ensuing pick-up in manufacturing and facilities investment,” the central bank said in a release.
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Source: Todays Zaman
India hikes rates to contain inflation
January 25, 2011--India’s central bank raised key interest rates Tuesday for the seventh time in little over a year as it attempts to contain inflation.
Inflation is clearly the dominant concern,” the Reserve Bank of India said in its latest review of monetary policy. India’s inflation rate jumped to 8.4 percent in December as prices climbed for fruit, vegetables, manufactured goods and fuel.
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Source: Todays Zaman
Long-term Funding Secured for Proposed ASX-SGX combination
January 24, 2011--Commitments for long-term financing facilities for the proposed ASX-SGX combination announced on 25 October 2010 have been secured.
The proposed combination brings together complementary businesses of two successful exchanges in the Asian time zone to create the premier international exchange in Asia Pacific.
The funding comprises term loans of S$3.8 billion and A$750 million to be made available by well-established banks - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Singapore Branch, DBS Bank Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, United Overseas Bank Limited and National Australia Bank Limited. Australia and NewZealand Banking Group Limited has been appointed as the co-ordinator in relation to these term loans.
Said Mr Magnus Bocker, CEO of Singapore Exchange, "We thank the six banks for their confidence in the proposed combination and their support towards creating the leading Asia Pacific exchange. This transaction has attracted significant interest from the loans market and we are pleased to have achieved competitive pricing consistent with our good credit standing."
The term loans are in tranches with tenors of three years and five years. The interest payable for the S$ term loan will be based on Singapore dollar swap offer rate plus a margin of 0.55% per annum for the 3-year tranche and 0.72% per annum for the 5-year tranche. The interest for the A$ term loan is based on the relevant Australian bank bill swap bid rate plus a margin of 0.75% per annum for the 3-year tranche and 1.01% per annum for the 5-year tranche.
Source: Singapore Exchange (SGX)
Japan's Financial Services Agency Extends Temporary Measures Regarding Restrictions On Short Selling And Purchase Of Own Stocks By Listed Companies
January 21, 2011--1.The following regulatory measures on short selling are currently in place, with regard to all listed stocks in Japan:
1) An "uptick rule requirement" which prohibits, in principle, short selling at prices no higher than the latest market price;
2) Requirements for traders to verify and flag whether or not the transactions in question are short selling; and
3) Request the exchanges to make daily announcements on their aggregate price of short selling regarding all securities and aggregate price of short selling by sector (The announcements have been made sequentially since October 14, 2008).
In addition, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has put in force the following measures, as temporary measures effective until April 30, 2010
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Source: FSA.go.jp
BNY Mellon Aims to Start 6 to 7 Japan Retail Funds This Year
January 21, 2011--BNY Mellon Asset Management Japan Ltd. said it plans to start six to seven funds for Japanese retail investors this year, including those that will invest in emerging market stocks with high dividends.
The Japanese asset management unit of the world’s biggest custody bank also aims to ally with about 10 regional banks over the next one to three years to sell the funds, Shizu Kishimoto, managing director and head of retail sales and marketing at BNY Mellon Asset, said at a press gathering in Tokyo today.
Source: Bloomberg
China's economy records 10.3% growth
January 19, 2011--China recorded 10.3% economic growth last year while inflation held at about 5% in December, Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix Television reported Wednesday.
t said the figures came from a report leaked ahead of the government's planned release of its annual economic data Thursday.
The growth figure is higher than a World Bank forecast of 9.5% and compares with 9.2% growth in 2009.
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Source: FIN24
BSE refutes reports of legal action against SGX
January 19, 2011--Stressing that both the bourses share a strong and long-standing relationship, the Bombay Stock Exchange today called reports of it planning legal action against the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as "inaccurate".
The two bourses in a joint statement said news reports published today about BSE planning to take legal actions against SGX were inaccurate and without basis.
The clarification comes amid reports that BSE could sue SGX for launching Nifty options, breaching terms of an agreement through which the Singapore bourse acquired a five per cent stake in the former in 2007.
Further, the statement noted that the investment agreement in 2007 "clearly contemplates the launch of Nifty- related products, including Nifty options, by SGX".
"SGX has a strong and long-standing relationship with the BSE... Both the exchanges are in dialogue on various business areas, exploring opportunities that are mutually beneficial to both markets," it said.
Source: Online News
Tokyo Stock Exchange To Begin Calculating And Publishing “Currency Hedge Indices”
January 19 2011--The Tokyo Stock Exchange begins calculating and publishing the TOPIX Total Return Euro Hedged Index to satisfy the market demands of capturing the return of currency-hedged indices.
TOPIX Total Return Euro Hedged Index is calculated by hedging beginning-of-period balances using rolling one-month EUR-JPY currency forward contracts.
This calculation method is based on methodology of S&P Indices (Standard&Poor's) and this index uses a hedge ratio of 100%.
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Source: Tokyo Stock Exchange
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