Solactive is expanding-new Hong Kong office established
October 18, 2018--German Index provider Solactive AG is growing at a fast pace. In addition to the successful establishment of its
Toronto office in January 2018, Solactive has now set up its second international business entity in Hong Kong to accommodate the rapid growth the Frankfurt-based company witnessed over the past years.
The new office houses a dedicated team of professionals who provides customized indexing solutions for ETFs and other
index-linked investment products as well as ETF services such as calculation of the Indicative Optimized
Portfolio Value (IOPV) and creation of the Portfolio Composition File (PCF).Solactive is expanding-new Hong Kong office established
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Source: Solactive
SGX reports market statistics for September 2018
October 8, 2018--Market turnover of ETFs rise 12% y-o-y amid regional equities sell-off
Nikkei 225 Index Futures volume increases 16% m-o-m to six-month high
Securities
Total Securities market turnover value was at S$19.4 billion, down 17% month-on-month (m-o-m) and down 11% year-on-year (y-o-y), over 20 trading days. There were 21 trading days in August 2018 and 20 in September 2017.
Securities daily average value (SDAV) was S$971 million, down 13% m-o-m and down 11% y-o-y.
Market turnover value of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) was S$188 million, down 51% m-o-m and up 12% y-o-y.
Market turnover value of structured warrants and Daily Leveraged Certificates (DLCs) was S$1.43 billion, down 21% m-o-m and down 26% y-o-y.
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Source: Singapore Exchange (SGX)
IMF-Regional Economic Outlook: Asia Pacific-October 2018-Asia at the Forefront: Growth Challenges for the Next Decade and Beyond
October 5, 2018--Asia has achieved remarkable economic success over the past five decades. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, and successive waves of economies have made the transition to middle-income and even advanced-economy status.
And whereas the region used to be almost entirely dependent on foreign know-how, several of its economies are now on the cutting edge of technological advance. Even more striking, all of this has happened within just a couple of generations, the product of a winning mix of integration with the global economy via trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), high savings rates, large investments in human and physical capital, and sound macroeconomic policies.
Fidelity launches active ETF
October 5, 2018--Fidelity International is hoping to get a slice of Australia's $41.5 billion exchange traded fund pool with an actively managed ETF set to launch later this month.
The $589 billion manager will offer its global emerging markets ETF on the ASX under the ticker code FEMX.
The ETF is based on Fidelity's five-year-old Global Emerging Markets Fund which has outstripped the benchmark by 1.15% since inception.
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Source: financialstandard.com.au
Launch of new FTSE ST Singapore Shariah Index
October 5, 2018--First index tracking Shariah-compliant companies listed on SGX
Constituents screened against a clear set of Shariah principles to create a robust Shariah-compliant index for the Singapore market
Meets growing investor demand for Shariah-compliant benchmarks
FTSE Russell, the global index, data and analytics provider, has launched a new Shariah-compliant index tracking companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The FTSE ST Singapore Shariah Index has been designed to track Shariah-compliant companies listed on SGX and can used as the basis of investment products. Independent screening is carried out by Yasaar Ltd, an organisation with a global network of expert Shariah scholars. The indexes have been certified as Shariah-compliant through the issue of a Fatwa by Yasaar's principles.
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Source: Singapore Exchange (SGX)
East Asia and Pacific Growth Remains Resilient Despite Heightened Global Uncertainty, World Bank Says
October 4, 2018--Despite a less favorable external environment, the growth outlook for developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) remains positive, according to the latest World Bank economic report on the region. Growth in developing EAP is expected to be 6.3 percent in 2018, lower than in 2017 due to the continued moderation in China's growth as its economy continues to rebalance.
Navigating Uncertainty, the October 2018 edition of the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update released here today, underscores however that in recent months a combination of trade tensions, higher US interest rates, a stronger US dollar, and financial market volatility in many emerging economies has increased the uncertainty around the region's growth outlook. At the same time, inflation has begun to rise across the region, particularly in Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam.<>
October 1, 2018--Clampdown on risky wealth management products will help push $6tn into market, report says.
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Source: FT.com
IMF Working Papers-China's Local Government Bond Market
September 28, 2018--Summary:
Local governments play a significant role in China's public finance and fiscal operations. The size of local government debt has grown rapidly over the past years, exceeding the stock of sovereign debt in China. How does this development compare to other countries and what policies can foster the sound development of the bond markets?
This paper finds that despite its rapid growth, the local government bond market is still underdeveloped. Severe impediments-low liquidity, weak credit discipline, structural fiscal deficit in local governments-have become more visible. Reforms to develop a sound local government bond market should harmonize tax and regulations, build liquidity, and advance fiscal reforms to tighten off-budget borrowing and address intergovernmental imbalances.
view the IMF Working Papers-China's Local Government Bond Market
Source: IMF
China's Belt & Road Initiative
September 25, 2018--Although Beijing insists that its Belt and Road Initiative has no geopolitical motives, the project has been at the centre of an increasing number of political controversies, foreign and domestic.
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Source: FT.com
Higher Productivity is Key to Prosperous Philippines-World Bank
September 24, 2018--Sustaining higher productivity growth will be key for the Philippines to achieve its vision of becoming a prosperous society free of poverty by 2040, according to a new World Bank study released here today.
Titled Growth and Productivity in the Philippines: Winning the Future, the report finds that the more efficiently the country can use its resources (human capital, natural resources, machines, technology, knowledge, among others) the better chances it will have to generate high-paying jobs and reduce poverty. Productivity growth is particularly important for the agriculture sector where many poor families derive their incomes, the report adds.