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Market watchdogs in Asia lack bite, says study
September 21, 2010--Corporate governance in Asia remains well below global standards and efforts to improve it have stalled since the financial crisis, according to a new report.
Even the top-ranked Asian markets – Singapore and Hong Kong – lag way behind the US and Europe, according to research produced by CLSA, the broker, and the Asian Corporate Governance Association, a lobby group for institutional investors.
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Source: FT.com
Australia tempers view of commodities demand
September 20, 2010--Australia, the world’s largest exporter of commodities such as iron ore and coking coal, has tempered its outlook for global commodities demand in 2011, painting a more bearish picture than its previous report in June.
“Over the past few months, world steel consumption growth has moderated, and economic growth in 2011 is assumed to be weaker in China and major OECD economies,” the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said in its latest quarterly report, published Tuesday.
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Source: FT.com
India’s Sensex passes key 20,000 mark
September 20, 2010--The booming Mumbai market surged past the 20,000 level for the first time in 32 months but Japanese equities slipped on renewed yen strength as the region’s investors were generally cautious ahead of policy news from a key US Federal Reserve meeting
The FTSE Asia-Pacific index edged forward 0.1 per cent to 240.68 with Indian stocks again providing the main lift, the BSE Sensex climbing 0.5 per cent to 20,001.55 as foreign funds continued to pile into the country, fuelling a bull market run.
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Source: FT.com
SGX launches corporate bonds for retail investors, starting with SIA
September 21, 2010--Singapore Exchange (SGX) today said that corporate bonds for retail investors will be available, for the first time, on SGX primary and secondary markets.
These corporate bonds, issued by SGX-listed companies and other organisations, will be traded in smaller denominations, making it attractive to the growing pool of retail investors in Asia. SGX offers an easily accessible, cost efficient and transparent bond market. Real-time prices as well as volume and price information will be made available on its website.
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Source: The Edge Singapore
Six Questions Regarding the Internationalisation of the Renminbi
HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li has written an article in Chinese that covers six key questions about the internationalisation of the renminbi (RMB). The internationalisation of Mainland’s currency has become one of the most widely discussed topics in Hong Kong's finance industry. As a result, Mr Li wanted to offer his views on the subject and explain why he thinks the internationalisation of the RMB is an important issue for the industry and Hong Kong. The following is a summary of the article (the article has been posted in the Chinese-language section of the HKEx website).
September 21, 2010--Internationalisation of the RMB has been one of the hottest topics in Hong Kong's financial press recently. It is also a major component of HKEx’s 2010-2012 Strategic Plan. Through the following discussion, we hope to provide some perspective to this important development particularly in relation to how it is relevant to our markets. We try to address the following six questions:
1.Why is there a need to internationalise the RMB?
2.Is RMB internationalisation feasible and realistic in the current environment?
3.What is the likely roadmap of development?
4.Why Hong Kong can be an offshore RMB centre in this development?
5.What are the commercial opportunities potentially available to Hong Kong?
6.What does Hong Kong need to do to prepare itself?
Question I: Why is there a need to internationalise the RMB?
1. It will help China preserve the fruits of its development to date
There is a need for the Mainland to reduce the size of its foreign exchange reserves to minimise the impact of international financial market volatility on its economy. If the RMB assumes a broader role as a currency for trade settlement between the Mainland and other countries and regions, Mainland enterprises will have less foreign exchange exposure, and the Central Government will face less pressure in managing its foreign exchange reserves.
2. It will help China balance its growth, particularly relating to its trade
There is indeed an imbalance between investment and consumption in the Mainland economy, and between exports and domestic demand. The RMB internationalisation will not directly remove the imbalance, but it has a significant role to play in controlling the growth of the foreign exchange reserves, easing the revaluation pressure on the RMB and increasing coordinated development in economic and trade balance between the Mainland and its major regional partners and resources providers from outside the region.
3. It will help China achieve greater influence in global political and economic affairs
As the world’s second largest economy, China does not have proportional say and influence in international economics and finance. To a large extent, this is the result of a currency that lacks international standing.
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Source: HKExc
FTSE Wins Award For Excellence In Asian Tradable Indexing
September 21, 2010--Global index provider, FTSE Group (“FTSE”), has won the “Structured Products Index Innovation of the Year, Asia” award yesterday for the second time since the award category was introduced in 2008.
Jessie Pak, Director of FTSE Asia said, “FTSE has become a leading global index provider of choice by creating localised and customised index solutions to meet investors’ needs. It is an honour to be recognized for our efforts in providing leading Asian structured and ETF product issuers with innovative solutions that yield new investment opportunities.”
The Structured Products Asia Awards recognise industry excellence and innovation in structured products from banks, distributors, index and technology providers, and exchanges, and are the only awards focused on contributions in the Asian region.
Source: FTSE
Consultation conclusions reached on proposal to introduce scripless securities market in Hong Kong
September 21, 2010-The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx) and the Federation of Share Registrars Limited (FSR) jointly released a set of consultation conclusions today, announcing the plan to introduce a scripless securities market in Hong Kong (Note 1).
The proposed operational model is largely similar to that described in the joint consultation paper issued on 30 December 2009 (Note 2).
“Implementation of the scripless regime will be a significant step forward in enhancing the overall efficiency and competitiveness of Hong Kong's securities market, and in securing an appropriate and improved level of investor choice and protection,” said the SFC’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Martin Wheatley.
The scripless regime will be implemented in phases to provide investors with the flexibility of holding securities in physical certificates or in paperless form. The new paperless option will enable investors to hold securities in their own names as registered holders, thus offering more opportunities for straight-through-processing to enhance market efficiency.
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Source: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx)
China launches first ESG index, plans corporate governance addition
Joint venture between China Securities Index and Italy’s ECPI
September 20, 2010--China has taken a major step in the promotion of sustainable investment in the country with the launch of its first ESG-based (environmental, social, governance) index, a joint venture between Chinese Securities Index Company (CSI) and ECPI, the Italian-based ESG index and research group.
. The CSI ECPI China ESG 40 Equity Index is made up of 40 domestic companies listed either on the Shanghai or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, both joint owners of CSI. The index constituents will be the best Chinese companies meeting its sustainability criteria.
Professor Hu Ruyin,?director of the research centre?at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, speaking at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia conference in Sydney last week, said the index was scheduled to launch on September 17.
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Source: Responsible Investor
Mumbai shines as foreigners buy in
September 20. 2010--Mumbai stocks surged to 32-month highs as foreign investors rushed to grab more of the Indian growth story, helping Asian equities advance to near five-month peaks.
The FTSE Asia-Pacific rose 0.4 per cent to 240.44 with the BSE Sensex climbing 1.6 per cent to 19,906.10 as overseas funds bought more shares than they sold for the 13th consecutive session.
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Source: FT.com
DB Global Equity Index & ETF Research-- Asia-Pacific ETP Market Weekly Review
September 20, 2010--Market Overview
There are 236 equity based ETFs in the Asia Pacific region with 329 listings across 12 countries and 15 exchanges. Japan has the largest market share by AUM accounting for 40.85% of the whole market, whilst China has the largest market share by turnover with 35.55%.
There was one new listing during the last week. Korea Investment Trust Management launched one fund tracking Samsung Group companies in the Korean Stock Exchange.
Turnover
Monthly average daily turnover rose 3.3% in the last week. Turnover for the previous week was USD 869m. The largest ETF by turnover was the iShares Asia Trust - iShares FTSE/Xinhua A50 China Tracker issued by BlackRock with USD 137m accounting for 15.8% of total turnover.
Assets Under Management
AUM in Asia Pacific Equity ETPs crossed the USD 70 bn level, rising 7.0% at the end of the previous week. The new USD 70.5bn level is the highest AUM level seen in the region in more than three years. This asset increase was mainly driven by both positive flows and performance in the Japanese ETF market. The largest ETF by AUM is the TOPIX ETF managed by Nomura Asset Management with AUM of USD 8.4bn.
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Source: DB Global Equity Index & ETF Research
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