Privatization Raises Billions in Australia, New Zealand

Privatization Raises Billions in Australia, New Zealand

State Governments Join the Action in Australia

GILLIAN TAN

Nov. 5, 2013 8:10 a.m. ET

Australia and New Zealand rank among the global leaders in privatizations this year, raising billions of dollars as lawmakers seek to cut debt and plug budget deficits. Their privatization sprees have injected needed cash into government coffers and freed the governments to focus on their core missions while injecting life into both nations’ markets. Last week’s listing of New Zealand’s Meridian Energy MELCA.NZ 0.00% , which raised US$1.56 billion in the country’s biggest-ever initial public offering, followed Z Energy’s US$678 million IPO in August and Mighty River Power‘s MYT.AU +1.05% US$1.4 billion offering in May. Read more of this post

Australian drug makers out-muscle miners in IPO surge

Australian drug makers out-muscle miners in IPO surge

4:07pm EST

By Maggie Lu Yueyang

SYDNEY (Reuters) – With a track record of funding junior miners, Australia’s IPO market is now warming up to something that might be just as risky as the diggers – drug makers. Mining stocks have come under pressure over the past year as Australia’s decade-long mining investment boom fades and top consumer China takes a slower lane to growth. Investors with an appetite for risk, who may previously have been lured by the promise of riches under Australia’s vast Outback, are now turning their attention to start-up drug makers. Read more of this post

Casinos have trumped noodle makers in Asia’s stock markets this year as investors become more concerned about buying into the Asian consumption story.; Bargains Harder to Find Among Consumer Stocks

In Asia, Consumer Discretionary Sector Outperforms

Bargains Harder to Find Among Consumer Stocks

DANIEL INMAN and JAKE MAXWELL WATTS

Nov. 5, 2013 5:59 a.m. ET

Casinos have trumped noodle makers in Asia’s stock markets this year as investors become more concerned about buying into the Asian consumption story. Buying stocks that stand to benefit from Asia’s rising affluence has proved popular for years, especially in rapidly expanding economies like China and Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand and the Philippines. But investors are now shifting their attention away from staple goods toward consumer-discretionary companies. Read more of this post

Underdog Indian politician speaks for common man

Underdog Indian politician speaks for common man

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – 05:48

Nirmala Ganapathy

India Correspondent In New Delhi

The Straits Times

“Our most important agenda is a corruption-free Delhi,” said Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal, squinting into a webcam in his campaign office in Delhi. Watching him were about 50 Indians sitting miles away in a room in Singapore. They listened quietly as Mr Kejriwal – a newly minted politician of the Aam Admi or Common Man Party – talked about bringing in strict anti-corruption legislation and transparency in government – if he wins the Delhi assembly elections next month. Then he got down to the nuts and bolts. Read more of this post

Tariff dodging takes its toll on India’s highway developers

Tariff dodging takes its toll on India’s highway developers

4:12pm EST

By Matthias Williams

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Flashing lights on the roof, tailgating politicians’ motorcades, smashing up toll booths, and beating up toll collectors. Welcome to India’s network of privately run highways, where endemic toll dodging is a drag on the finances of road operators such as GVK Power and Infrastructure (GVKP.NS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Reliance Infrastructure (RLIN.NS: Quote, Profile, Research,Stock Buzz), and a deterrent to private investment in a country where poor infrastructure shaves an estimated 2 percentage points from economic growth each year. Read more of this post

Hong Kong: Moving under to avoid dead end

Hong Kong: Moving under to avoid dead end

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – 04:46

Li Xueying

Hong Kong Correspondent

The Straits Times

Gone underground: train tunnels, a garbage compact centre, a sewage treatment plant and an explosives depot. Heading down under: a data centre, a government archive and even sports halls. Burrow deeper into the minds of planning experts and one comes up with visions of an underwater city under Victoria Harbour – a pedestrian corridor with shops and entertainment facilities that connect Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. There is also a proposal for a subterranean road network under jam-packed Mongkok in Kowloon, so as to free up more ground-level space for shoppers and tourists. As Mr Samuel Ng, chief geotechnical engineer at the government’s Civil Engineering and Development Department, states categorically: “We have to move the city underground; otherwise it’s a dead end for Hong Kong.” Read more of this post

South Korea Markets Enjoy a Renaissance

South Korea Markets Enjoy a Renaissance

ANJANI TRIVEDI

Nov. 5, 2013 7:11 p.m. ET

Investors are piling into South Korean stocks and bonds, lured by a trade surplus and a brightening growth outlook that makes the country a standout among emerging markets. South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index is near two-year highs, and in the year to date, the only Asian currency performing better than South Korea’s won against the U.S. dollar is the Chinese yuan. Furthermore, yields on the South Korea latest dollar bond, sold on Sept. 4, have dropped to 3.38% from 4.02% as of Tuesday, according to data provider Markit. Bond yields move in the opposite direction of prices. Read more of this post

Investors eye Samsung’s cash pile at rare strategy briefing

Investors eye Samsung’s cash pile at rare strategy briefing

4:02pm EST

By Miyoung Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – Investors are likely to press Samsung Electronics Co on dividends and plans to sustain growth as the world’s biggest smartphone maker holds its first analysts’ briefing in eight years on Wednesday. Record-high profits have left Samsung sitting on a $50 billion cash pile, equivalent to more than a fifth of its market capitalization, but its shares trade at a deep discount to peers largely because of its investor-unfriendly returns. Read more of this post

Osaka dept stores locked in scrap for survival

Osaka dept stores locked in scrap for survival

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 10:42

Takeshi Nagata

Kentaro Takahashi

The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network

OSAKA – Competition among department stores has intensified in Osaka due to renovations and expansions in addition to the opening of a new department store. To survive, department stores have been thinking outside the box and offering new events-and even teaming up with their rivals. Meanwhile, department stores’ survival measures, such as creating new types of stores and cooperating with rivals, have also been spreading. Read more of this post

Japanese hospitality under scrutiny amid hotel food scandal

Japanese hospitality under scrutiny amid hotel food scandal

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 09:50

Kwan Weng Kin

The Straits Times

JAPAN – Thousands of Japanese diners could not tell the difference. Even inspectors for Michelin Guide, which awards its highly-coveted stars to only a select few restaurants, were apparently duped. There have been red faces across Japan since Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Hotels (HHH) admitted last month that eight directly-managed hotels in Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto and Hyogo prefecture had been serving sub-par food for years. Read more of this post

The U.S. and China Both Need Economic Rehab; ‘Chimerica’ has become addicted to ultra-loose financial conditions

The U.S. and China Both Need Economic Rehab

‘Chimerica’ has become addicted to ultra-loose financial conditions.

NIALL FERGUSON and MORITZ SCHULARICK

Nov. 5, 2013 6:49 p.m. ET

Nearly seven years have passed since we coined the word Chimerica in these pages to characterize the symbiotic relationship between China and America. Few today would dispute that op-ed’s original point: that the unbalanced economic relationship between China and America posed a threat to global financial stability. Without the flow of Chinese savings into U.S. dollars, as a result of Beijing’s large-scale currency intervention and reserve accumulation, American interest rates would surely have been higher and the housing bubble would have inflated less. Read more of this post

China’s Slower Growth Puts a Drag on Western Profits

China’s Slower Growth Puts a Drag on Western Profits

RUTH BENDER and KATE LINEBAUGH

Updated Nov. 5, 2013 7:10 p.m. ET

Just as European economies are showing signs of stabilizing and the U.S. economy is waking up, some companies are running into obstacles in a market long considered their brightest hope: China. U.S. and European companies invested heavily in recent years to expand in China, seeking to tap into its flourishing middle class and fast economic growth. Since the global recession, China has helped offset the free fall in sales and profits in the euro zone and stagnant revenue in the U.S. Read more of this post

Baby boom expected in Indonesia soon

Baby boom expected in Indonesia soon

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 10:33

Bagus Bt Saragih

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

The shortage of marriage registration books, which has hit some regions in the country, could point to a serious demographic problem that has resulted from the failure of the family planning programme. Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo of the University of Indonesia’s Demographic Institute said that the government had been too slow to respond to changes in population trends, including an increase in the number of couples getting married at an early age. Read more of this post

Concern Over Bumi’s ‘Eroding’ Earnings as high interest expenses and weak coal prices are likely to affect the profits going forward at Indonesia’s largest coal company by output

Concern Over Bumi’s ‘Eroding’ Earnings

By Muhammad Al Azhari on 9:12 pm November 5, 2013.
The financial performance of Bumi Resources, Indonesia’s largest coal company by output, remains worrisome as high interest expenses and weak coal prices are likely to affect the company’s profits going forward, analysts say. In the first nine months of this year, Bumi — controlled by London-listed joint venture of Bumi Plc — saw its net loss reduced by 40 percent year-on-year to $377 billion. Read more of this post

Two of World’s Worst Polluted Places Are in Indonesia: Environmentalists

Two of World’s Worst Polluted Places Are in Indonesia: Environmentalists

By Nina Larson on 9:29 am November 5, 2013.

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide risk exposure to toxic pollution, environmental groups warned Monday, publishing a list of the world’s worst areas, which included Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Citarum River Basin. “We estimate that the health of more than 200 million people is at risk from pollution in the developing world,” said Richard Fuller, who heads the Blacksmith Institute, a US-based environment watchdog. Read more of this post

Thai Senators Block Amnesty Bill to Quell Unrest: Southeast Asia

Thai Senators Block Amnesty Bill to Quell Unrest: Southeast Asia

Thailand’s Senate is set to reject a proposed amnesty law for political offenses on Nov. 11 after weeklong street protests raised concerns its passage would reignite political violence. Opposition from the public, universities and business groups convinced a majority of Thailand’s 149 senators to block the legislation, Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanij said at a media briefing in Bangkok yesterday. More than 32,000 people joined demonstrations in the capital and 17 other provinces on Nov. 4, according to police estimates, with the push for the amnesty law weighing on Thai stocks and the baht. Read more of this post

50 per cent of airfryers in Taiwan are unqualified: study

50 per cent of airfryers in Taiwan are unqualified: study

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 09:33

The China Post/Asia News Network

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Five out of ten airfryer samples in the market fail to reach the electric equipment commodity standard, according to the sampling inspection conducted by the Consumer’s Foundation Chinese Taipei (CFCT) and the Bureau of Standard, Metrology & inspection (BSMI). Ten products were bought randomly from the Internet and appliance shops for the sampling inspection. The Foundation’s chairperson Chang Chi-gang pointed out that five of the products have issues relating to “important components and structural match” or “mislabel,” which means available products in the market are not the same design as the registered products. There was even one product which, bought from the Internet, did not pass the inspection procedure before import. Read more of this post

Support for new ESG Index in Malaysia

Updated: Wednesday November 6, 2013 MYT 8:03:17 AM

Support for new ESG Index

BY WONG WEI-SHEN

PETALING JAYA: Socially responsible investing in Malaysia is set to ge t a shot in the arm following the announcement that Valuecap Sdn Bhd will be investing RM1bil into companies that meet the stipulated criteria. Valuecap, a fund set up by the Government in 2002 to invest in undervalued stocks in the local bourse, is bullish about the prospects of such investments. Read more of this post

Huge turnout at ‘Invest Malaysia US’

Huge turnout at ‘Invest Malaysia US’

Published: 2013/11/05

NEW YORK: The “Invest Malaysia US 2013” (IMUS 2013), which started here on Monday, attracted a large gathering of fund managers.

The roadshow, jointly organised by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Bursa Malaysia, was launched by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar. The roadshow will also be held in Boston and San Francisco until November 8.  Malaysian companies at IMUS 2013 include AirAsia X, Astro Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, DiGi.com, Felda Global Ventures Holdings, IJM Corp, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Muhibbah Engineering, MyEG Services, SapuraKencana Petroleum, Sime Darby, UEM Sunrise, Yinson Holdings and Maybank group.  Read more of this post

U.S. stocks tied to optional consumer spending look expensive

U.S. stocks tied to optional consumer spending look expensive

4:36pm EST

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Companies that sell consumer goods, such as electronics, cars and appliances, are leading the U.S. market in earnings and share gains, but high valuations and fund managers’ big weightings in the sector pose major investment risks. Valuations for the S&P consumer discretionary sector, which is the best performing this year, have shot up to a level not seen since the end of 2009, when stocks started to rebound but earnings were still lagging as the recession caused by the financial crisis had just come to an end. Read more of this post

Thai Amnesty Plan Could Be a Strategic Blunder

November 5, 2013, 3:58 PM

Thai Amnesty Plan Could Be a Strategic Blunder

JAMES HOOKWAY

BANGKOK—It might be too early to call time on Thaksin Shinawatra’s influence over Thai politics, but his sister Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s plan to introduce a wide-ranging amnesty enabling him to return to Thailand a free man increasingly looks like a strategic blunder. And already there are signs that the Thaksin camp is beginning to ease off its full-court press as thousands of protests continue to demonstrate against the controversial bill, which was passed by the lower house of parliament on Friday. Read more of this post

South Korean Businesses Quit Kaesong

November 5, 2013, 5:18 PM

South Korean Businesses Quit Kaesong

By Kwanwoo Jun

South Korean businesses are exiting the Kaesong industrial park in North Korea,making Seoul’s efforts to attract foreign investment to the site an even tougher sell. At least nine South Korean firms have ended or have decided to end business at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, just north of the inter-Korean military border, because of uncertain investment prospects and financial crunches following a five-month operational halt amid cross-border tensions. Read more of this post

Beijing to Reduce New Vehicle License Plates by 38%, Daily Says

Beijing to Reduce New Vehicle License Plates by 38%, Daily Says

China’s capital will reduce the number of new passenger vehicles allowed on the city’s roads by 38 percent next year as part of efforts to ease pollution and traffic congestion, according to the Beijing Daily. Beijing will cut the annual number of new license plates to 150,000 in 2014 from 240,000 now, according to the report posted on the city government’s website today. By 2017, 90,000 of the plates will go to conventional autos, with the rest reserved for new-energy vehicles, the report said. Read more of this post

World’s Richest Add $200 Billion as Global Markets Surge

World’s Richest Add $200 Billion as Global Markets Surge

This year’s top 100 billionaires own discount supermarkets and luxury brands, oil refineries and cement factories. They span the decades from millennial Mark Zuckerberg to 93-year-old Karl Albrecht. This diverse bunch enjoys a unifying characteristic: Most spent the year making more money. Their collective fortunes have soared $200 billion to $2.1 trillion since Bloomberg Markets published its inaugural list in December 2012. Read more of this post

China Is Choking on Its Success

China Is Choking on Its Success

Walking through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last week, a German family of five surrounded me, all wearing large face masks and sunglasses. They weren’t robbing me, just asking me to take their photo. When I yelled the customary “Say ‘cheese,’” the dad joked: “We are smiling under here.” Only China’s pollution bubble is no laughing matter, and tourists tell the story. Thanks to extreme air pollution, foreign arrivals plunged by roughly 50 percent in the first three-quarters of the year. Beijing could see even fewer visitors to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the famous square dominated by a painting of Mao Zedong thanks to images of acrid smog that have been beaming around the globe. Read more of this post

Is Germany Repeating American Errors at Bretton Woods?

Is Germany Repeating American Errors at Bretton Woods?

At the founding of the Bretton Woods international monetary system in 1944, the world’s dominant creditor nation, the U.S., set out to revive a fixed exchange-rate system by offering a war-torn, debt-ridden world a new deal in monetary relations, one to be supported by concessionary dollar loans from a new International Monetary Fund. Today, Germany is trying to resuscitate the periphery of the crisis-stricken euro area in much the same way, and it is worth looking back at the formation of Bretton Woods for clues as to how this will play out. Read more of this post

Curious crowds disrupt Istanbul’s new Europe-Asia rail service

Curious crowds disrupt Istanbul’s new Europe-Asia rail service

Wed, Oct 30 2013

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turks intrigued by Istanbul’s new underwater rail line linking Europe and Asia are overcrowding trains by riding to and fro under the Bosphorus, forcing closure of one station and causing delays by pressing emergency stop buttons, state railways said. The service was also hit by a brief power cut in the morning rush hour, prompting television footage of passengers walking through the tunnel next to a stationary train. Read more of this post

Master Kong owner apologises as food scandals hit Taiwan

Master Kong owner apologises as food scandals hit Taiwan

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 22:20

AFP

TAIPEI – The owner of the Master Kong instant noodle brand apologised Tuesday after its Taiwan units were ordered to recall tens of thousands of bottles of adulterated cooking oil. Ting Hsin International Group made the public apology amid a string of scandals involving several major cooking oil retailers that have rocked the island. The group was on Sunday ordered to remove from shelves 21 types of cooking oil that were tainted with copper chlorophyllin. Read more of this post

Italian banks near saturation point on government debt

Italian banks near saturation point on government debt

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 – 17:47

Silvia Aloisi and Valentina Za

Reuters

MILAN – Italian banks are near saturation point after two years spent frantically buying their own government’s bonds, forcing the Treasury to find alternative investors at home and abroad to finance a 2-trillion euro debt. Lenders’ ability to soak up yet more Italian sovereign debt depends largely on the European Central Bank – which in turn says Italy is crucial to the fate of the entire euro zone. Read more of this post