Hong Kong Will Extend ETF Stamp Duty Concession
February 24, 2010--Hong Kong will extend a stamp duty concession on exchange-traded funds as part of its effort to strengthen the competitiveness of the city’s financial industry, Financial Secretary John Tsang said.
Tsang proposed in his budget speech today that the concession be extended to cover ETFs that track indexes comprising no more than 40 percent of Hong Kong stocks, according to an e-mailed statement.
“I don’t really think this will make a huge difference, as people like ETFs in order to get in and out of the market quickly, rather than for their cost,” said Andrew Sullivan, a sales trader at Mainfirst Securities Hong Kong Ltd.
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Source: Business Week
SC to amend guidelines on unit trust funds
February 23, 2010--The Securities Commission (SC) plans to amend the guidelines on unit trust funds to allow greater flexibility in terms of offering investors choices.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, said one of the amendments would involve offerings in multiple currencies.
“This will encourage unit trust funds to be distributed overseas and facilitate investment by foreign investors who may find it difficult to cope with vagaries of the exchange rate,” she said while officiating the launch of The Edge-Lipper-Starmine Awards 2010 here yesterday.
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Source: New Sabah Times
Hang Seng BeES — Chance to buy into China
February 22, 2010--Credited with being the first foreign ETF in the country, Hang Seng BeES is the latest offering from Benchmark Asset Management Company. An open-ended index scheme, the Hang Seng BeES aims to provide its investors with returns (before expenses) that closely correspond to the total returns of securities as represented by the Hang Seng Index.
The fund will track the index on a real-time basis and will be passively managed. That is, the AMC will not try to ‘beat' the market or seek temporary defensive positions when the market declines or appears over-valued.
Hang Seng exposure
The ETF will enable Indian investors to buy into China, the world's largest manufacturing economy. It will invest at least 90 per cent of its total assets in the stocks of its underlying index, in the same proportion as that in the index. The Hang Seng Index comprises 42 stocks, representing about 60 per cent of the total market capitalisation of the Hong Kong stock market.
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Source: Business Line
MCX becomes world’s 6th largest exchange on strength of Metal and Energy
Puts India on the world’s metal and energy map as a “Price Setter” from a “Price taker”
To celebrate 2010 as the ‘Year of Metal and Energy’ and redesigns its logo.
Only commodity exchange certified with ISO 9001:2000 ( quality management), ISO 27001:2005 (information security management systems) & ISO 14001:2004 (environment management systems)
February 22, 2010 --
MCX, India’s No. 1 commodity exchange, has become the 6th largest and amongst the fastest growing commodity futures exchange in the world in terms of the number of contracts traded during the period January to December 2009.
This is based on the data compiled from respective exchange websites (refer to Table 1).
With a vision to be amongst the top commodity futures exchange in the world, MCX will celebrate 2010 as a ‘Year of Metal and Energy’. The logo has been re-designed to reflect the special status given to metal and energy
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Source: MCX
DB Index Research -- Weekly ETF Reports -- Asia - Pacific
February 17, 2010--Highlights
Market Overview
There are 203 equity based ETFs in the Asia Pacific region with 268 listings across 12 countries and 15 exchanges. Japan has the largest market share by AUM accounting for 39.79% of the whole market, whilst China has the largest market share by turnover with 42.83%.
There was one new listing in the last week. MAPS Investment Management Co listed one new ETF in Korea Stock Exchange.
Turnover
Monthly average daily turnover declined 19.9% in the last week. Turnover for the previous week was USD 876m. The largest ETF by turnover was the China 50 ETF issued by China Asset Management with USD 224m accounting for 25.5% of total turnover.
Assets Under Management
AUM rose 2.4% in the previous week. AUM as of Feb 15th were USD 59.9bn. The largest ETF by AUM is the TOPIX ETF managed by Nomura Asset Management with AUM of USD 6.1bn.
To request a copy of the report
Source: Aram Flores and Shan Lan -DB Index Research
China fund in private equity push
February 17, 2010--China Investment Corp, Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, has agreed to invest $1.5bn in the private equity secondary market through custom accounts with three of the biggest specialists in buying second-hand buy-out and venture capital fund interests.
Lexington Partners, Goldman Sachs and Pantheon Ventures have each agreed to manage $500m for CIC through special accounts, which are to be kept separate from their main funds, according to people familiar with the agreements.
The move is the biggest injection of capital into the secondary market.
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Source: FT.com
China loses some of its taste for U.S. Treasuries
February 17, 2010--China has cut its stockpile of U.S. Treasuries in recent months, an indication that Beijing may be willing to act on fears about Washington's stewardship of the economy by unloading U.S. debt.
The reduction comes amid a recent flare-up in tensions between China and the United States on issues ranging from trade to currency policy and human rights. But before investors hit the panic button about the future of the Treasuries market, China's moves should be seen in a wider context.
China's selling of U.S. government debt only goes part way to reversing its vast purchases of Treasuries at the height of the global financial crisis last year as investors piled into safer assets. And because Beijing sometimes uses accounts in London and elsewhere, it's hard to get a clear picture of its buying.
Moreover, the dollar's rally over the last three months may rekindle Beijing's appetite.
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Source: Reuters
Oil near $75; demand eyed
February 16, 2010--Oil prices rose to near $75 a barrel on Tuesday in Asia as investors looked for signs of improving global crude demand amid light holiday trading.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 84c at $74.97 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With markets closed on Monday in the US for the Presidents Day holiday, the contract last settled on Friday, falling $1.15 to $74.13.
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Source: FIN 24
Japan still world’s No. 2 economy
February 15, 2010--Japan held its title as the world’s second-biggest economy after fourth-quarter growth beat expectations and kept the country just ahead of a surging China.
Real gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 4.6 percent in the October-December period, the government said Monday. The average forecast of 15 economists polled by The Associated Press was annualized growth of 3.4 percent. Japan’s nominal GDP for the 2009 calendar year came to about $5.1 trillion, topping China’s domestic output of $4.9 trillion.
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Source: Todays Zaman
Goldman Sachs Economist Sees China Revaluing Yuan
February 15, 2010--China could be about to allow its currency to strengthen by as much as 5 percent to slow down the country's fast-growing economy, Goldman Sachs' chief economist was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"I have a strong opinion that they're close to moving the exchange rate," Jim O'Neill told Bloomberg. "Something's brewing. It could happen anytime."
The news service said O'Neill believes China may allow the yuan to rise as much as 5 percent in a one-time revaluation and to then trade within a bigger band or against a larger basket of currencies.
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Source: Reuters
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