Vanguard venture with Ant Group lures 200000 Chinese clients
July 19, 2020--Pennsylvania-based asset manager plans to multiply customers by offering low-cost financial advice.
Vanguard's joint venture in China with Ant Group has acquired 200,000 clients in the first 100 days since the launch of an investment advisory...
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Source: FT.com
China's gold market in June: demand stabilised; gold ETF market expanded
July 17, 2020--Summary
Supported by the low rate environment and concerns for global economic growth, gold prices rose for the fourth consecutive month in June. While the LBMA Gold Price AM in US dollars reached the highest level in eight years during the month, the Shanghai Gold Benchmark PM (SHAUPM) in renminbi (RMB) set a new record at 399yuan/gram1
Accommodative fiscal and monetary policies continued to drive China's economic revival in June, but in turn the nation's money supply grew rapidly
Au(T+D) and gold-backed ETFs have grabbed Chinese investors' attention during the first half:
Au(T+D)'s daily trading volumes averaged US$5bn in H1, a 72% rise y-o-y
Chinese gold-backed ETF holdings have increased by 21% so far this year
Gold withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) saw a marginal rebound in June as China's gold demand as a whole slowly recovers. Despite m-o-m upticks, the volume of gold leaving the SGE’s vaults in the first half was still significantly lower than H1 2019, due to supressed gold demand amid a higher gold price and consumers' lower budgets for discretionary items
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Source: gold.org
Indonesia Economic Prospects, July 2020: The long road to recovery
July 16, 2020--Key findings:
In line with significantly weaker domestic and external demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions, Indonesia's real GDP growth slumped from 5.0 percent yoy in Q4 2019 to 3.0 percent in Q1 2020, the lowest quarterly growth since 2001.
On the production side, there was broad-based slowdown across the sectors; manufacturing, construction and low value-added sectors saw near halving in their sectoral growth rates from Q4 2019. In contrast, growth of modern, knowledge-intensive services sectors, including digital, financial, education and health services accelerated.
view the Indonesia Economic Prospects, July 2020: The long road to recovery
Source: World Bank
BetaShares Australian ETF Review-Half Year 2020-Australian Equities Dominate Flows & Short Exposures Dominate Trading
July 15, 2020--In what will go down as one of the most volatile periods in sharemarket history, Australian investors turned to exchange traded products in record numbers in the first half of 2020.
Due to falls in asset values, the industry's funds under management had a more muted increase of 6% for the half to end the financial year at $65.8B-a touch below the $66B record figure achieved at the end of January 2020.
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Source: betashares.com.au
China says its economy grew 3.2% in the second quarter this year, rebounding from coronavirus
July 15, 2020-China reported that the country's economy grew by 3.2% in the second quarter of the year, compared to a year ago.
Economists polled by Reuters expected gross domestic product to have grown modestly at 2.5% in the April to June quarter.
China reported that the country's GDP grew by 3.2% in the second quarter of this year, compared to a year ago-beating analysts' expectations and rebounding from the first quarter's contraction.
It comes as lockdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak in China eased, and as Beijing rolled out stimulus measures to prop up its economy.
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Source: cnbc.com
Pandemic knocks Singapore into recession as GDP plummets 41% in second quarter
July 14, 2020--Singapore's trade-reliant economy plunged into recession in the second quarter with a record contraction, signalling a rough first half globally and an equally challenging outlook as the coronavirus crisis exacts a heavy toll on business and demand.
Gross domestic product (GDP) dived by a record 41.2% in the three months ended June, on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday.
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Source: Reuters
Singapore says blockchain payments project ready for commercial rollout
July 12, 2020--Singapore has developed a blockchain-based payments network that could enable faster and cheaper international settlements, authorities said on Monday, adding that the next step was a commercial rollout.
The final phase of the years-long 'Project Ubin' saw the Monetary Authority of Singapore team up with state investor Temasek and J.P. Morgan (JPM.N) to develop the prototype multi-currency payments network.
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Source: reuters.com
Flow Traders appointed lead liquidity provider for new HKEX MSCI derivatives
July 9, 2020--HKEX confirmed in May it would expand its licensing agreement with MSCI to launch Asia and emerging market futures and options contracts.
Market maker Flow Traders has confirmed it has been appointed Tier 1 lead liquidity provider for Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing's (HKEX) new suite of MSCI-based derivatives.
HKEX has received approval for 33 new contracts from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, with plans to launch the derivates in phases throughout July and August. Flow Traders will make a market in 26 of those contracts during the T session in Hong Kong, and in 14 more contracts during the T+1 session.
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Source: thetradenews.com
COVID-19 accelerates shift to digital payments in APAC region, says GlobalData
July 9, 2020--COVID-19 has fast-tracked the transition to digital payments across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as consumers opt for the comfort and safety of digital channels rather than expose themselves to disease vectors such as cash, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Consumers globally and in Asia are increasingly going digital and are embracing electronic payments like never before. According to GlobalData revised forecasts, the total card payments in APAC market is expected to grow by 6.5% to reach US$20.3 trillion in 2020. This is expected to rise further to US$27.4 trillion by 2023.
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Source: globaldata.com
China's financial market reform stokes rally in yuan to 4-month high
July 9, 2020--China has announced a series of steps to open its financial markets in recent weeks, boosting investor sentiment and leading to an inflow of foreign money
The yuan rose 0.24 per cent to 6.98 per dollar on Thursday, its strongest level since March 13
The yuan's exchange rate strengthened above the psychologically important level of 7 per US dollar on Thursday, as optimism over new policies liberalising China's financial markets helped attract foreign capital.
The benchmark Shanghai Stock Exchange has risen more than 9 per cent so far this week, putting it on a course for its best weekly performance in five years and helping drive the appreciation of the yuan.
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Source: scmp.com