China money rates shoot up as tightening worries rise

China money rates shoot up as tightening worries rise

1:52am EDT

* 7-day repo contract rise more than 1 percentage point

* Beijing is concerned with inflation, property prices

* Intervention to hold back yuan adding liquidity

* Traders will watch c.bank ops on Thurs for more signals

By Pete Sweeney

SHANGHAI, Oct 23 (Reuters) – China’s primary short-term money rates rose on Wednesday in a delayed reaction to signals from regulators they are considering tightening liquidity to tamp rising inflationary pressure. A policy adviser to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) told Reuters on Tuesday that the authority may tighten cash conditions in the financial system to address inflation risks. Read more of this post

Panic grips Union govt as onion price hits Rs 100 a kg

Panic grips Union govt as onion price hits Rs 100 a kg

Dipak Kumar Dash & Tushar Pawar, TNN | Oct 23, 2013, 04.50 AM IST

NEW DELHI/NASHIK: With onion prices continuing to be on fire in the run-up to crucial state polls, an embattled government scrambled to stem the surge but appeared to lack a coherent plan. As onion prices, defying the sharp dip in the rates in the country’s biggest wholesale market at Lasalgaon in Nashik, continued to spiral and touched the Rs 100 per kg mark in the city and elsewhere, panic in the government was obvious. Food minister K V Thomas rushed to Maharashtra as the Congress-ruled state accounts for 28% of the total onion production and can help tame prices by cracking down on hoarders. Read more of this post

The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why

The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why

By Heather Timmons 12 hours ago

America’s pork industry has been gripped by an outbreak of porcine diarrhea since mid-May, the first appearance of the condition in North America. US farmers havereported 768 cases of the disease, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), through the first week of October, which implies that many more thousands of animals could be affected. Although the disease is not transferable to humans, it has been devastating for the US pork industry. It causes severe “watery diarrhea and vomiting in nursing pigs,” according to information from the US’s National Pork Board. Almost all the piglets who get the disease die because of it, and farmers are reportedly filling “wheelbarrows of dead piglets.” Read more of this post

Investigative reporter detained after writing more than a dozen stories criticizing the finances of a major Chinese state-owned construction equipment maker

Free our reporter, begs newspaper as China cracks down on journalists

6:25am EDT

By Megha Rajagopalan

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese newspaper pleaded with police on Wednesday to release an investigative reporter accused of defamation in an unusual public rebuke amid a wider government crackdown on freedom of expression. The state-run New Express tabloid printed a front-page commentary begging police in the south-central city of Changsha to set reporter Chen Yongzhou free under the headline: “Please release him.” Chen was detained after writing more than a dozen stories criticizing the finances of a major state-owned construction equipment maker. Read more of this post

Chinese Acquisition Appetites Shift From Resources

Chinese Acquisition Appetites Shift From Resources

CYNTHIA KOONS

Oct. 23, 2013 8:42 a.m. ET

When it comes to global mergers and acquisitions, China has long been seen as a buyer of natural resources but not much else. But bankers increasingly expect to see companies in industries like technology, real estate and food buying assets overseas, spurred by government policies and readily available financing. The increasing shift in appetite for hard assets or technologies has been noticeable in recent weeks, with Chinese personal-computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK -0.48%considering a bid for struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T -0.12%, which The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Should Lenovo pull the deal off, it would be one of the highest-profile deals done by a Chinese player on the global stage. Read more of this post

Glaxo’s China Sales Plunge 61% After Corruption Probe

Glaxo’s China Sales Plunge 61% After Corruption Probe

By Makiko Kitamura – Oct 23, 2013

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)’s third-quarter sales of pharmaceuticals and vaccines in China fell 61 percent after an anti-corruption probe began there in July, and the drugmaker gave no outlook on how long the downturn would last. Sales of consumer health-care products in China fell 29 percent, the London-based company said today in a statement. Total revenue rose 1 percent to 6.51 billion pounds ($10.5 billion), compared with analysts’ average estimate of 6.64 billion pounds. Read more of this post

ECB says stress tests of 124 eurozone banks begin next month

ECB says stress tests of 124 eurozone banks begin next month

POSTED: 23 Oct 2013 19:45
The European Central Bank said on Wednesday it will start next month to “stress-test” and examine the balance sheets of 124 eurozone banks in advance of assuming its supervisory role.

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank said on Wednesday it will start next month to “stress-test” and examine the balance sheets of 124 eurozone banks in advance of assuming its supervisory role. “The assessment will commence in November 2013 and will take 12 months to complete,” the ECB said in a statement. It will be carried out together with national authorities and supported by an external consulting firm, it said. The “comprehensive assessment” will look at “key risks”, review the quality of bank assets and include “a stress test to examine the resilience of banks’ balance sheets to stress scenarios”. Aside from building transparency and taking any necessary corrective actions, the exercise aims at “confidence building” and “to assure all stakeholders that banks are fundamentally sound and trustworthy”. “A single comprehensive assessment, uniformly applied to all significant banks, accounting for about 85 percent of the euro area banking system, is an important step forward for Europe and for the future of the euro area economy,” ECB president Mario Draghi said in a statement. “Transparency will be its primary objective. We expect that this assessment will strengthen private sector confidence in the soundness of euro area banks and in the quality of their balance sheets.” This outcome will be published before the ECB assumes its supervisory role of eurozone banks in November 2014.

How sick are Europe’s banks? Wait and see

By Mark Thompson  @MarkThompsonCNN October 23, 2013: 10:01 AM ET Read more of this post

The struggle to tame Africa’s beast of a megacity

The struggle to tame Africa’s beast of a megacity

2:00am EDT

By Tim Cocks

LAGOS (Reuters) – A walk along the two kilometers of light rail that Lagos authorities have managed to build in three years gives a sense of how hard it is to impose order on one of Africa’s most chaotic cities. From either side of the concrete structure – no track has yet been laid – the crowded slums and highways of Nigeria’s lagoon-side commercial hub teem with activity. Its trademark yellow buses overtake, undertake and force their way down impossibly narrow side streets, where women stir pots next to canals clogged with rubbish. With between 15 million and 21 million people – the upper estimate is the official one, though no one really knows – and generating a third of GDP for Africa’s second biggest economy, Lagos has become almost as alluring to yield-hungry investors as it is to the 4,000 or so economic migrants who turn up each day. Read more of this post

China Tries to Clean Up Toxic Legacy of Its Rare Earth Riches

October 22, 2013

China Tries to Clean Up Toxic Legacy of Its Rare Earth Riches

By KEITH BRADSHER

TIANJIN, China — In northern China, near the Mongolian border, radioactively contaminated leaks from two decades of rare earth refining have been slowly trickling underground toward the Yellow River, a crucial water source for 150 million people. In Jiangxi province in south-central China, the national government has seized control of rare earth mining districts from provincial officials after finding widespread illegal strip-mining of rare earth metals. And in Guangdong province in southeastern China, regulators are struggling to repair rice fields and streams destroyed by powerful acids and other runoff from open-pit rare earth mines that are often run by violent organized crime syndicates. Read more of this post

China Intensifies Crackdown on Bond Market

China Intensifies Crackdown on Bond Market

10-22 14:32 Caijing

The long-term solution will be to reduce regulatory arbitrage by ending market segmentation and the current three-rail regulatory system.

By staff reporter Wang Xiaolu

A crackdown on bond market irregularities, triggered by a case involving a high-level Finance Ministry official in 2010, has been intensifying as of late. Heads of fixed income departments in several banks, brokerages, and fund companies have been investigated since March. As part of the latest development, Guosen Securities stated Oct. 11 that Sun Mingxia, head of the company’s fixed income unit, and other two executives at the unit were being investigated by the public security authorities. Read more of this post

A recent rally in Korean stocks is prompting a number of after-hours block trades of shares

Oct 23, 2013

South Korean Share Rally Prompts Stake Sales

By Kanga Kong

A recent rally in Korean stocks is prompting a number of after-hours block trades of shares. Just a day after France’s BNP Paribas SAraised $192.4 million by selling 1% of Seoul-based Shinhan Financial Group055550.SE -2.96% in block trades, Korea Exchange Bank sold a 2.9% holding in its parent Hana Financial Group086790.SE -2.78% to raise $321 million, while Industrial Bank of Korea024110.SE -0.40% offloaded all of its 3.4% stake in Shinsegae Co.004170.SE -3.16%for $82 million, both late Tuesday, according to people familiar with the companies’ plans. Read more of this post

One of South Korea’s biggest gaming firms Paradise Co is building a $1.7 billion casino resort in the coastal city of Incheon to lure the rising number of Chinese gamblers flocking to the country

Paradise seeks Chinese punters with $1.7 bln Korea resort

7:01am EDT

* Paradise Co teams up with Sega Sammy for $1.7 bln South Korea casino resort

* Resort will be one of biggest in South Korea

* South Korea attracting interest of major casino operators

* Chinese tourist numbers on the rise; casino operators attract punters

HONG KONG/SEOUL, Oct 22 (Reuters) – One of South Korea’s biggest gaming firms Paradise Co Ltd is building a $1.7 billion casino resort in the coastal city of Incheon to lure the rising number of Chinese gamblers flocking to the country. Paradise, one of two companies that dominate Korea’s foreigner-only casino market, said on Tuesday it was teaming up with Japanese gaming firm Sega Sammy Holdings Inc for the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2017 and will be located minutes away from Seoul’s international airport. Read more of this post

James Packer’s Sri Lanka casino faces delay

James Packer’s Sri Lanka casino faces delay

October 23, 2013 – 4:21PM

Colin Kruger

James Packer’s plans to build a $400 million casino resort in Sri Lanka face further delays after opposition by religious leaders and politicians in Sri Lanka forced the government to alter tax concessions granted to Crown Resort’s consortium. The changes will delay the passage of legislation granting tax concessions to the project. The legislation was originally scheduled to go before parliament this week. Read more of this post

Rift between India’s business leaders and its government widens

October 22, 2013 2:08 pm

Rift between India’s business leaders and its government widens

By James Crabtree

Targeting of billionaire Kumar Birla in coal rights probe provokes angry reaction

Pity the titans of corporate India. Just a few years ago, the country’s leading industrialists were lauded at home and admired abroad as custodians of one of the emerging world’s most impressive growth stories. Now they stand becalmed by an economic slowdown and beset by anti-corruption investigations. Their frustration with India’s lacklustre government is clear. Many wait quietly for the saviour they hope will arrive after next year’s elections: opposition leader Narendra Modi. Read more of this post

Chinese consumers favour overseas brands in many sectors, eroding Beijing’s attempts to boost domestic profits

October 22, 2013 8:41 pm

China: Foreign values

By Paul J Davies

Consumers favour overseas brands in many sectors, eroding Beijing’s attempts to boost domestic profits

The menswear floor of the New World Department Store in central Chengdu, a city of 14m in western China, offers the kind of fast fashion you might expect to see in any second-tier city in the US or Europe. The signage on the concessions is in English but it displays unfamiliar brand names. “I’m David” sells urban casual wear, “Scofield” is meant to have a British feel, while “Mind Bridge” and “Gather Jewels” are both preppy Ivy League style. They may look the part, but these clothes struggle to compete with Uniqlo, Zara and H&M, all of which have their own stores nearby. Brands such as these illustrate the problems and opportunities facing China as it attempts to jump-start the consumer spending that will rebalance its economy away from heavy investment in factories and property. Read more of this post

Brazil must embrace change to flourish; 74% of GDP growth over the past decade was due to the increase in the number of people working and only about 26% was attributable to productivity gains

October 22, 2013 10:03 pm

Brazil must embrace change to flourish

By Joseph Leahy

The Technological Park of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro could hardly be better located, given its purpose. Set on an island in Guanabara Bay, the giant natural harbour that forms the setting for Brazil’s second-largest city, the centre has a prime vantage point looking out over the ocean and the country’s huge oil discoveries that lie beneath. These deepwater fields, called pre-salt because they are buried under a layer of sodium chloride that is up to 2km thick, are helping drive a wave of innovation in the energy sector. Read more of this post

Indonesia’s mining industry will collapse if the government moves ahead with a planned ban on the export of raw minerals, the country’s chamber of commerce has warned

October 22, 2013 5:53 pm

Indonesia mining at risk over export ban

By Ben Bland in Jakarta

Indonesia’s mining industry will collapse if the government moves ahead with a planned ban on the export of raw minerals, the country’s chamber of commerce has warned. The southeast Asian nation, which is facing strong economic headwinds, is the biggest exporter of coal for power stations, nickel ore and tin, and a leading shipper of bauxite and copper. But on January 1 it is set to implement a law prohibiting the export of unprocessed metals as part of a drive to refine the ores and potentially generate higher margins. Read more of this post

Struggling Newspapers Sell Off Old Headquarters

October 22, 2013

Struggling Newspapers Sell Off Old Headquarters

By TERRY PRISTIN

They were once major symbols of civic pride and influence, often situated in the heart of the city, and nearly equal in stature to nearby city halls, courthouses and other major public buildings. But increasingly, many of the buildings that served as newspaper headquarters in cities around the country are being put on the market, as a struggling industry searches desperately for ways to increase revenue. Read more of this post

China’s Banks Must Compete to Survive; The explosion of debt and shadow banking may threaten the stability of China’s banking system, if it stays as is

China’s Banks Must Compete to Survive

The explosion of debt and shadow banking may threaten the stability of China’s banking system, if it stays as is.

YUKON HUANG AND CANYON BOSLERYukon Huang

Oct. 22, 2013 1:27 p.m. ET

The news leading up to China’s Third Plenum next month seems to suggest that the country is heading toward a financial cliff. The common perception is that China’s mismanaged banks are saddled with unprecedented credit driven by irresponsible local borrowing and incomprehensible shadow banking products. Over-capacity in manufacturing suggests that high investment rates cannot produce the returns needed to service these new debts. Read more of this post

China’s ‘Mr. Market’ Urges Political Reform; Country’s Most Famous Economist Says Next Wave of Change Needs to Target Political System

China’s ‘Mr. Market’ Urges Political Reform

Country’s Most Famous Economist Says Next Wave of Change Needs to Target Political System

ANDREW BROWNE

Oct. 22, 2013 10:31 a.m. ET

The Chinese leadership appears to have launched a battle against press freedom, civil rights and judicial independence. But China’s most famous economist, Wu Jinglian, believes that China needs more – rather than less — political reforms. The WSJ’s Andrew Browne explains why press freedom is crucial to a better economy. BEIJING—Ever since Deng Xiaoping launched his first overhauls in 1978, free-market reforms in China have come in great waves, usually in response to a crisis. Read more of this post

Yazkuza Bosses Whacked by Regulators Freezing AmEx Cards; “It’s becoming inconvenient to be a yakuza”

Yazkuza Mobsters Whacked by Regulators Freezing AmExs

The yakuza, Japan’s organized-crime syndicates that have reaped billions from activities ranging from extortion to human trafficking, are finding their ranks decimated by authorities employing methods similar to those used to jail Al Capone: going after their money. Japan’s Financial Services Agency delivered the latest blow, last month ordering Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411) to improve compliance and then demanding that top executives report by Oct. 28 what they knew and when about a consumer-credit affiliate found making loans to crime groups. Read more of this post

Coutts Cutting Japan Stocks on Concern About Abe’s Third Arrow

Coutts Cutting Japan Stocks on Concern About Abe’s Third Arrow

Coutts & Co., the wealth management unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, is cutting holdings of Japanese shares on concern Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won’t pass the structural reforms needed to boost the economy. Coutts shifted from overweight to neutral on the best-performing developed-market equities on signs Abe will squander the early decisiveness of Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, said Gary Dugan, chief investment officer for Asia and the Middle East. With a sales-tax increase approaching in April, Abe is failing to deliver on reform measures that would ease the burden of the levy, Dugan said. Read more of this post

Hong Kong’s Missing Workers Signal Danger for Aging City

Hong Kong’s Missing Workers Signal Danger for Aging City

Hong Kong restaurant owner Hudson Chang says he can’t lower the bar much further for hiring staff. He warns his employees repeatedly about sending messages on their iPhones during work hours. He pleads with them to be more pleasant to customers. Still, he can’t afford to fire anyone: He can’t be sure of finding a replacement. “We don’t really have much choice,” said Chang, 39, owner of a venue called Indonesian Restaurant 1968 on the outskirts of the central business district. “I’m just looking for people with basic manners. You don’t even need specific qualifications. You just have to be mobile and know how to smile.” Read more of this post

Li Ka-shing’s Hong Kong Sales Signal Peak as European Growth Beckons

Li’s Hong Kong Sales Signal Peak as European Growth Beckons

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing made his fortune over a half-century of well-timed bets on everything from property to power generation. His latest deals suggest he’s wagering the city’s era of fast growth may be drawing to an end. Asia’s richest man may raise as much as $18 billion selling stakes in his retail unit and Hong Kong’s second-largest power supplier. The moves, announced in the past month, would free up money for Li to buy more assets in Europe, where his companies including Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13) have spent $14.5 billion on acquisitions the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Read more of this post

The debt mountain at U.K. water companies is their best defense against politicians seeking to cut the cost of living

Debts Keep Water Firms Off-Limits for Politicians: U.K. Credit

The debt mountain at U.K. water companies is their best defense against politicians seeking to cut the cost of living. The Labour opposition, which has pledged to freeze gas and electricity prices for 20 months if it wins the 2015 general election, may be wary of imposing a similar cap on highly leveraged water businesses, according to Lakis Athanasiou, a utilities analyst at Agency Partners LLP. Water companies have debt-to-equity ratios as high as 80 percent and rely on borrowings to keep infrastructure intact. “I really can’t see them going after the water industry,” Athanasiou said in a phone interview. “Because they are highly leveraged structures, they need masses of debt, not just for expansion but for replacement of existing debt.” Read more of this post

Fidelity to Open Cheapest Single-Industry ETFs in Push

Fidelity to Open Cheapest Single-Industry ETFs in Push

Fidelity Investments, the second-biggest mutual-fund provider, plans to open the cheapest lineup of single-industry exchange-traded funds as it seeks to break into a market dominated by Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. (BLK) Fidelity on Oct. 24 will start 10 funds, focused on industries ranging from energy to telecommunications, with an annual expense ratio of 0.12 percent, cheaper by 2 basis points than Vanguard Group Inc.’s lineup of similar ETFs, according to a regulatory filing and data compiled by Bloomberg. The ETFs, distributed by Fidelity, will be managed by BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Read more of this post