Should you get in on the ground floor of IPOs?

November 15, 2013 6:49 pm

Should you get in on the ground floor of IPOs?

By Elaine Moore

Kicking yourself for missing out on Royal Mail’s blockbuster stock market debut? Don’t worry. There is plenty more where that came from. This year is shaping up to be a bumper year for companies choosing to make their debut on London’s stock markets as confidence in the UK’s recovery grows. So far this year 71 companies have debuted on UK exchanges, compared to 46 in the whole of 2012. After Foxtons, Merlin Entertainments, Esure and Royal Mail, there is now speculation that House of Fraser, Poundland or DFS might be the next household names to go public. Read more of this post

Young Aussie buyers find home-owning dream a nightmare to fund

Young buyers find home-owning dream a nightmare to fund

November 16, 2013

Simon Johanson

First home borrowers are at record lows as they face skyrocketing property prices, the struggle to save a deposit and investor competition. A generation of young Australians is being squeezed out of the housing market. Skyrocketing house prices and the difficulty of saving a deposit are putting the great Australian home-owning dream out of the reach of many – despite the best buying conditions in years, with interest rates plummeting to historic lows and low unemployment. Sunaina Nundeekasen, a 28-year-old Sydney doctor, has worked for the past four years and still not managed to save a large enough deposit. Read more of this post

Bitcoin Scandal Reflects Popularity of Virtual Currency in China

NOVEMBER 17, 2013, 5:05 PM

Bitcoin Scandal Reflects Popularity of Virtual Currency in China

By ADAM CENTURY

On Oct. 26, the website of Global Bond Limited, a Chinese exchange platform for bitcoins, the booming digital currency, suddenly went dead. Then, without warning, GBL’s roughly 500 remaining investors were kicked out of the company’s official QQ group, a social media platform that the company was using for investor relations. By nightfall, the scale of the swindle was made public – 25 million renminbi, or $4.1 million – making it one of the largest bitcoin fraud cases since the currency’s inception four years ago. Read more of this post

Beijing’s parking woes: Is there any end in sight?

Beijing’s parking woes: Is there any end in sight?

By Lulu Xue    November 13, 2013    0 Comments

Beijing’s motor vehicle ownership has reached 5.4 million, ranking it first out of all Chinese cities in motorization. To combat parking shortages, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport recently announced the addition of over 13,000 parking spaces to the city’s center – but that might not be an optimal solution. Photo by Leo Fung.

What do the time-honored hutong – quintessential narrow alleys of Beijing that date back to the Qing dynasty – and danwei – organized work and housing complexes from the pre-1979 era –have in common? Apart from the fact that neither has been replaced by modern buildings, one of their major similarities is that they were designed to serve pedestrians, not cars. However, as Beijing’s rate of motor vehicle ownership escalates, even hutong and danwei residents are opting for cars. Because the densely-populated central city, an area with over 23,000 people per square kilometer, is inherently at odds with intensive car usage and massive parking lots, continued motorization is exacerbating the challenges to sustainable urban mobility in Beijing. Read more of this post

China’s A shares poised to go global

November 15, 2013 6:26 pm

China’s A shares poised to go global

By Kylie Wong

China has made significant strides in opening up its capital markets to foreign investors, but several key challenges need to be addressed before the mainland equity market can feature in broader equity benchmark indices. Mainland-listed equities traded in the renminbi, also known as A shares, are currently excluded from global indices as they are not freely accessible by the global investing public. The existing China representation within those indices is largely via H shares, which are Chinese securities listed in Hong Kong. Read more of this post

Chinese Balk at Child-Rearing Costs

Nov 16, 2013

Chinese Balk at Child-Rearing Costs

An easing of the one-child policy might help China address a coming slump in its work force. But the country’s citizens are concerned with another reality: how expensive it has become to raise even one kid. In a country where the cost of living has soared alongside breakneck economic growth, some Chinese are saying that due to economic pressures, they don’t want a second child even if the government allows them to. Read more of this post

Future for Egg Derivatives Is Fragile in China

Nov 18, 2013

Future for Egg Derivatives Is Fragile in China

If we were to dream up the perfect commodity to trade as a futures contract, it would probably be durable, non-perishable and subject to regular swings in supply and demand. Being notoriously fragile and perishable, eggs clearly don’t fit the bill on the first two counts, and investors may need some convincing on the third. Eggs aren’t just for breakfast. The Dalian Commodity Exchange on Nov. 8 launched futures contracts, with each lot weighing in at 5,000 tons and each egg weighing 53-60 grams, deliverable to warehouses around China that are cooled to 5° Celsius. Read more of this post

Graduates from Yiwu’s “Taobao University” earn over 10,000 yuan a month

Graduates from Yiwu’s “Taobao University” earn over 10,000 yuan a month

Staff Reporter

2013-11-17

To enroll in the Entrepreneurship Academy — dubbed “Taobao University” — at Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College, students must first open Taobao shops and earn a monthly income of more than 8,000 yuan (US$1300) or a Taobao credit rating of four diamonds — credit rating on Taobao, China’s equivalent of eBay and Amazon, is divided into four grades, starting from hearts, then diamonds then blue crowns then yellow crowns, with each grade divided again into five — the Shanghai Evening Post reports. Read more of this post

Incredible bitcoin rally in China to meet ‘inevitable crash’: investor

Incredible bitcoin rally in China to meet ‘inevitable crash’: investor

Staff Reporter

2013-11-17

Bitcoin, a decentralized online currency, began the second round of revaluation this year in early July after its price has jumped to over US$460 from the original US$200 for every BTC. Exchange rates against the renminbi topped 2,700 yuan (US$443) at its peak, according to huobi.com, a site dedicated to bitcoin trading news. Chinese women have played a critical role in the rally, accounting for 40% of VIP customers. VIPs are defined as traders with over 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) in total transaction volume using the online currency, according to the report. Read more of this post

Legs fall off China’s hairy crab industry

November 17, 2013 4:18 pm

Legs fall off China’s hairy crab industry

By Patti Waldmeir at Yangcheng lake

Free “hairy crabs” used to be one of the perks of government service in eastern China at this time of year – peak season for these hairy-limbed delicacies, one of China’s many currencies of corruption. But, according to crab sellers around Yangcheng lake near Shanghai, home to some of China’s most famous crustacean restaurants, no government departments are staging hairy crab banquets this year. Big companies are struggling to get government officials even to accept crab gift packs, a common way of greasing the wheels of commerce in this crab-hungry part of the country. Read more of this post

New Era of Higher Costs Spurs Record 50-Year Yield: China Credit

New Era of Higher Costs Spurs Record 50-Year Yield: China Credit

China sold 50-year bonds at a record high yield as banks prepare for what they describe as a new era of higher borrowing costs after a government policy overhaul. The finance ministry auctioned 20 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) of debt due November 2063 on Nov. 15 at a yield of 5.31 percent, the highest since sales of the tenor began in 2009. That compares with a 4.24 percent rate offered in the previous sale and the 5.05 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The sale drew bids for 1.51 times the amount offered, less than the 2.13 times in May. Read more of this post

Reality Check: Chinese Developers Unconvinced By Housing Curbs

Reality Check: Chinese Developers Unconvinced By Housing Curbs

Created on Thursday, November 14, 2013 – 19:35 EST

BEIJING (MNI) – Signs that big city governments are finally ready to act to cool demand for housing in China haven’t fazed real estate developers, who still don’t believe the government has what it takes to bring order to the runaway property market. Some hope lies in signs the new Chinese leadership may be willing to institute fundamental reform of the country’s land use system to put the housing market on a more solid, sustainable footing. But the statement released following a key Communist Party meeting here shed little light on how much reform the government is willing or able to implement. Read more of this post

Success of Chinese Leader’s Ambitious Economic Plan May Rest on Rural Regions

November 16, 2013

Success of Chinese Leader’s Ambitious Economic Plan May Rest on Rural Regions

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

HONG KONG — China’s Communist Party has burnished President Xi Jinping’s plans for an economic overhaul with exultant propaganda about a historic turning point. But the success of his proposals, and the long-term health of the Chinese economy, could rest on policy battles reaching down into thousands of towns and villages over land, money and a misshapen fiscal system that has bred public discontent and financial hazards. Read more of this post

Xi, in ‘Godfather’ Mold, Looks Assertive and Even Imperial; “Xi Jinping personally has a sense of crisis. He doesn’t want to become like the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi.”

NOVEMBER 15, 2013, 12:40 AM

Xi, in ‘Godfather’ Mold, Looks Assertive and Even Imperial

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

The president of China, Xi Jinping, has admitted to watching “The Godfather,” and this week he proved he could be a shrewd student of one of that film’s themes: the art of amassing and applying power in a small, secretive circle of men. Mr. Xi emerged from a four-day meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee stronger. He won endorsement for a new national security commission that is likely to enhance his influence, as well as for a leadership group on reform that could give him a more direct say in economic policy, which has tended to be the prime minister’s domain. Read more of this post

Xi’s China Reform Plan Sets Scene for Local Clampdown

Xi’s China Reform Plan Sets Scene for Local Clampdown

China’s Communist Party signaled a bigger focus on fiscal concerns during President Xi Jinping’s tenure, setting the scene for a clampdown to control the finances of indebted regional authorities. Local governments will be able to sell bonds to fund construction and officials will be rated on measures including borrowing levels, the party said Nov. 15. An easing of the one-child policy and extra land rights for farmers also featured in the biggest package of reforms since at least the 1990s. Read more of this post

You Think There’s Bubble in Chinese Real Estate Market? Nothing Compared With Animation Industry in China

BEIJING – NOV 17TH, 1:50 | TAGS: ANIMATION CHINA

You Think There’s Bubble in Chinese Real Estate Market? Nothing Compared With Animation Industry in China

In 2005, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television required that no less than 60% of Chinese animation be screened on TV channels during the prime time. Then more policies that favors the Chinese-made animations are introduced, including subsidies… In terms of the output, China had became the top animation provider in the world. In 2011, China produced more than 260,000-minutes-long tv episodes of animation, which is 180,000 minutes more than Japan, the second biggest animation-output country of the world. In 2012, a total of 117-thousand-hours-long animation was aired in China. According to the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT, 国家广电总局), approximately 60% of the Chinese animation companys’ revenue came from TV stations. Yet the TV stations’ total budget for procurement transactions was not more than 50 million yuan. The average cost of the purchases for TV stations was less than 10 yuan per minute. Read more of this post