Latin American shares were generally up on Monday in spite of fears on the health of the US economy, writes Telis Demos in New York. Continue reading »
As Hungarian markets closed on Monday, investors were taking stock of the damage wrought by the government’s weekend failure to conclude budgetary talks with the IMF and EU. The forint lost more than 3 per cent against the euro and Hungarian blue chip stocks shed some 2.9 per cent – a predictable bashing but not quite a catastrophe.
Hungary’s ever self-confident prime minister Viktor Orban might reflect that things could have been worse. Continue reading »
The IMF left Hungary in a hurry, and many investors needed no invitation to follow: the Budapest bourse sank 2.9 per cent on Monday to 21,843.38, led by the financial sector, which lost 5.4 per cent amid fears of a proposed banking levy.
Yet, beyond Hungary, stock losses were moderate, following fluctuations in western European indices, on the back of indifferent US data, rather than reflecting a wider loss of confidence within central and eastern Europe. Continue reading »
Deal of the day: Viking lands in India and Brazil
By Hafsa Kara of mergermarket.com
In the latest move in Singapore’s booming market for offshore and marine M&A, Viking Offshore and Marine has spent $22.3m on buying Promoter Hydraulics, a winch specialist, and a further $7.5m on a 55% stake in Marine Accomm, cited as Singapore’s largest turnkey project integrator. Continue reading »
In China, Paul the prophetic octopus scores big … in all its incarnations
Innovation is Beijing’s favourite word these days, as China tries to shake off the moniker of Sweatshop of the World. But there is nothing quite so innovative as a Chinese sweatshop owner who catches a scent of profit, and runs it relentlessly to ground.
In the space of a fortnight, Chinese merchants have capitalised on the fame of Paul the soccer octopus, who predicted the victor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to create a whole new market for octopus paraphernalia: octopus-shaped tissue boxes, octopus plush toys, even Sichuan octopus. Continue reading »
One could be forgiven for thinking that the primary task for Gyorgy Matolcsy, Hungary’s economy minister, this morning was to remove some of the confusion surrounding the collapse of talks between the government and the IMF and EU, which has roiled financial markets. But instead he succeeded in adding to it. Continue reading »
For sale in China: iPhone 4 for $2,000
If you thought the new iPhone 4 was expensive in London, try buying one in China. The phone has yet to be released there – but unlocked handsets are being sold on the grey market for as much as $2,000, according to MIC Gadget, a China-related gadget blog. Continue reading »
India: hot economy brings private equity to the boil
Even in the space of four years, forecasts for India’s private equity markets look horribly out of date.
Back in 2006, Bain & Company predicted that India’s private equity market would reach $7bn this year. Today, the US consultant is predicting $17bn. Continue reading »
China: Google’s loss is Baidu’s gain
Just a few months ago bloggers were mourning the death of Google China, after the internet search behemoth challenged the government to a game of bluff, by uncensoring previously censored mainland searches, risking being kicked out of the country.
After a tense face-off, it appeared on Friday that the Chinese government had backed down, renewing Google’s internet license to operate in China. One might hear a sigh of relief from Google. But some damage has already been done as research out today shows.
New York headlines
* Tucker takes helm at AIG Asia unit
* German industrialists attack Chinese
* Emirates orders 30 Boeing 777s for $9.1bn
* Sun Hung Kai to sell 50 more luxury flats after weekend surge
* Telefónica gives up on Portugal Telecom’s Vivo stake Continue reading »
Hopes that the Chinese government will stimulate the housing market and domestic consumption lifted the country’s stocks on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite, the worst-performing Asian benchmark in 2010, shrugging off last week’s losses and rising 2.1 per cent. Property, airline and coal stocks all made significant gains. Continue reading »
While some other parts of Dubai Inc are in trouble with their creditors, Emirates Airline seems to fly from strength to strength. Today it is set to make a bumper order for at least 20 Boeing 777′s at the Farnborough airshow, just week after making the largest order to date for 32 additional Airbus A380 super-jumbos.
The government-owned airline’s spending spree is reminiscent of Emirates’ huge order in 2002 as the airline industry faced the post-9/11 crisis in global air travel. That bold buy worked out well, for both the airline and the emirate. But this time around the economic outlook, at home and around the world, is much more stormy. Continue reading »
Further reading
From the FT,
From elsewhere,
Hungary is not Greece – its public debt is high for central Europe at 80 per cent of GDP but much lower than the Hellenic Republic, or the United Kingdom for that matter. Nor is it in any immediate need of International Monetary Fund financing.
But in allowing the International Monetary Fund/European Union team to fly back home without an agreement, prime minister Viktor Orban, a die-hard soccer fan, has scored another spectacular own goal this weekend. With the forint down 2.4 per cent at 9:40am in Budapest today, he has not had to wait long to see the results. Continue reading »
[Update] Hungary versus the IMF
The Hungarian forint plunged against the euro in early trading today after the acriminious collapse on Saturday of talks between the government and an International Monetary Fund/European Union delegation on the country’s €20bn rescue loan programme.
Hungarian equities plummeted 4.8 per cent at the opening in Budapest, with bank stocks over 6 per cent down.
The currency fell as much as 2.8 percent against the euro and was trading 2.66 percent lower at 289.37 at 8:50a.m in Budapest compared with 282.10 at the close on July 16. The Forint forint has now lost over 9 per cent against the euro in the past three months, buffeted by fears about the economic plans of Viktor Orban’s government, that took power in April. Continue reading »
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