Hong Kong stocks rose to a 2010 high on October 6 as investors poured money into local assets on expectations of another round of asset purchases by the US Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy weakened the dollar. Mainland banking shares, which have a large weighting on the benchmark index, joined the rally after sharply underforming throughout the year. The Hang Seng Index was up 1.08 percent at 22,884.65 at the midday trading break, moving further into technically overbought territory according to its relative strength index, currently at 78 and well above the threshold 70 level. With several large cap constituents on the Hang Seng Inde...
The Bank of Japan has pledged to pump more funds into the struggling economy and keep interest rates at virtually zero, surprising markets and stealing a march on the Federal Reserve in providing a fresh dose of economic stimulus. For months, the central bank had eschewed government calls for more decisive action, such as buying more government bonds, focusing instead on a limited funding scheme. But in the face of growing evidence that the yen’s strength was hurting the economy, the Bank of Japan cut its overnight rate target to a range between zero and 0.1 percent from 0.1 percent and pledged to buy 5 trillion yen ($60bn) worth of assets....
General Motors Co posted an annual sales gain of 10.5 percent in September amid evidence that the U.S. auto market remained stuck in a slow-moving recovery at the start of the fourth quarter. GM was the first of the major U.S. automakers to report sales for the month. Analysts and industry executives expect auto sales near 11.5 million vehicles on an annualized basis in September, almost flat from August after adjusting for the typical early fall slowdown. GM said it expected industry-wide sales had fallen to a range of about 970,000 to 980,000 vehicles in September compared with sales of over 997,000 in August. “Consumers are sending a ver...
Iraq has signed multi-billion deals with oil firms to boost output capacity to 12 million barrels a day in seven years. This could give Iraq the money to rebuild after decades of war, sanctions and economic degradation, opening opportunities to the banking sector in financing projects. Today, Iraqi banks are hardly lending to private companies due to limited capital. “The banks so far have not been able to lend in any structured manner,” Eric le Blan, chief operating officer of boutique investment firm MerchantBridge, told reporters. MerchantBridge owns a majority stake in an Iraqi lender, Mansour Bank, which plans to raise its capital to...
Switzerland, at risk of losing its crown as the world’s top wealth management hub to Singapore, is seeking a deal on billions of dollars of untaxed money hidden at its banks, under pressure from cash-strapped foreign nations. Last year Europe and the US, hungry for tax revenues after numerous bank bailouts, forced Switzerland to weaken its prized bank secrecy and extracted promises from the placid Alpine nation to help fight tax evasion. That, together with a bitter US tax fraud probe into wealth management giant UBS, opened cracks into the rock-solid reputation of the $2trn Swiss wealth management industry. UBS paid a hefty $780m fine to s...
The Nikkei average clawed up 0.7 percent on Wednesday on window-dressing before the end of Japan’s financial first half, but it pared earlier gains as the yen’s strength revived and resistance held strong. An additional boost came from a poor December outlook in the Bank of Japan’s “tankan” survey of business sentiment, which some market players said could increase expectations the central bank will discuss easing monetary policy further at a meeting next week. “The ‘tankan’ was as expected, showing improvement in the short term and a gloomy outlook going forward. That only increased expectations for further easing by the Bank...
The Lloyd’s of London insurance market revealed that record claims from disasters including the Chilean earthquake and US oil spill halved its profits, and said it saw no respite from a steady decline in prices. Lloyd’s, which traces its origins back 322 years to a London coffee house where wealthy merchants insured ships, has posted a pretax profit of £628m ($994m) for the first half of 2010, down from $1.32bn a year earlier. Lloyd’s, a cluster of competing insurance syndicates which specialise in covering large-scale risks, said it had to absorb more claims in the first half than in any other six-month period. The market was also hit...
European workers have put aside $2.5trn less than they need to fund their retirement, condemning many to a penurious old age unless they start saving more, British insurer Aviva said. The shortfall is equivalent to one-fifth of the EU’s annual economic output and reflects savings habits that have failed to keep pace with lengthening lifespans, according to a study published by Aviva. Britain’s pensions gap of 26 percent of GDP, is the EU’s biggest, followed by Germany and Spain, whose deficits are equivalent to 24 percent and 18 percent of GDP respectively, the study shows. Aviva said that without increased saving, European workers will...
The European Commission has said it intends to use a its plan to reform financial markets to rein in speculation on commodities markets, notably by reinforcing controls and extend the market abuse legislation. The European Commissioner in charge of financial reform services Michel Barnier made the announcement in the opening speech of a conference on the revision of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) in Brussels, along with his colleague, EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. “The revision of MiFID is one of the key elements of an ambition reform of the raw materials markets,” the EU’s financial markets chief sai...
In a week in which French president Nicolas Sarkozy defended his country’s treatment and exportation of a substantial number of dislocated Romas, the same government has stirred controversy within the world of alternative investment. And much like the emigration situation, there are those comparing the Sarkozy administration’s attitude toward the proposed legislation as archaic and stubborn. The draft bill, first proposed to the European Commission in April of last year, has been held up by French representatives, who argue that it would reduce the influence a European state would have over fund managers based outside of but operating wit...