Americas markets wrap: Brazil gains on OGX profits
Latin American markets were mixed today as investors weighed upbeat earnings reports in Brazil against dour global sentiment over the US labour market.
Most currencies shook off early losses to gain ground against the dollar, with Chile’s peso reaching its strongest level since early March ahead of an expected interest rate hike. Continue reading »
Consumer loan defaults rise in Brazil
We know Brazilians prefer spending to saving, and the way they spend tends to be on credit. That’s often supplied by retailers themselves or, increasingly, comes through partnerships with banks or credit cards.
Brazilian shoppers famously pay little attention to the total price of what they are buying, focusing instead on the size of individual instalments. Now new figures suggest that may have lured them too deeply into debt. Continue reading »
Deal of the day: a sign of Chinese property consolidation
By Heather West, Yumin Wang and Yiqing Wang of mergermarket
In a sign that more consolidation could be on the way in China’s real estate sector, Xi’an Minsheng on Wednesday acquired a smaller property group in Shaanxi province.
Xi’an, the regional capital, is the land of the Terracotta Warriors, but it’s an army of fevered property investors that has worried Chinese authorities this year. However, Minsheng’s move comes as government measures to cool the market are working, making small developers juicy acquisition targets. Continue reading »
Recent Argentine statistics, as Jude Webber wrote on beyondbrics a few weeks ago, haven’t been much use to anyone but the government. Now the upper house of congress has passed a bill which aims to overhaul the statistics agency.
So will official inflation statistics soon be worth reading?
Like many others, Eurasia Group is sceptical. Continue reading »
Brazil: boom-time for hotels
Armed with expanding credit and rising incomes, Brazilians are spending more – and that includes on travel. Demand for domestic flights surged in the first half of 2010, while hotel rates are also up.
“More and more Brazilians are travelling and spending money on hotels”, Ricardo Mader, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, an investment services group, told beyondbrics.
“People used to travel and stay in homes of friends and relatives and not use hotels because of the cost. Now they prefer to use the hotels. That is a big change in the history of the travel industry in Brazil.” Continue reading »
CEE markets wrap: rouble down, but equities stabilise
Sliding commodities prices pushed the rouble lower on Thursday, with the Russian currency down 1.1 per cent against the dollar, a loss of nearly 3 per cent since last week.
However, central and eastern European equities – including the Moscow indices – stabilised after two days of falls, as investors’ risk aversion was balanced by bargain-hunting. Continue reading »
Standard Bank: pushing on against the downturn abroad
By Simon Mundy in Johannesburg
The fact that Standard Bank’s international earnings have suffered a rather dismal first half in 2010 has not deterred Africa’s biggest bank by assets as it steps up its foreign expansion.
But going on today’s announcement of unspectacular earnings, it looks like it will be Standard Bank’s domestic operations that help the bank swing to more impressive gains in the second half. Continue reading »
The fierce battle for Poland’s pensions
Last year, when Poland was the EU’s only growing economy, ministers were competing to claim credit for having created Poland’s “green island” in a red sea of recession.
But now that Poland is showing increasing signs of budgetary strain, the knives are out among Prime Minister Tusk’s team. Continue reading »
Beijing keeps its foot on the brakes
While global markets seem spooked by the new evidence that the slowdown in China’s economy is gathering pace, Chinese policy-makers appear to be digging in further.
Just this week, they have ordered banks to bring a huge volume of off-balance sheet loans – perhaps as much Rmb2300bn – back onto their books, which could hamper their ability to lend over the next 18 months. And they have announced the closure of facilities at more than 2000 companies because of inefficient use of energy. Continue reading »
Ranbaxy: is India’s pharma trailblazer running out of steam?
Some top executives enjoy enormous longevity at the helm of Indian companies. That can’t be said these days of those at Ranbaxy Laboratories, a once family-owned pharmaceutical company that was bought by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo two years ago.
Since the Japanese took control of India’s largest generic drugs producer, the company will have had three chief executives in little more than two years. That’s not a good sign.
First, Malvinder Singh (pictured here), the former family owner, quit. Now his replacement, Atul Sobti, has done the same. Continue reading »
Hooray, we can buy Chinese shares! But we won’t
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Violet Beauregarde wins one of 5 golden tickets, allowing her access to a chocolate-lovers paradise. But she doesn’t like chocolate, she only wants chewing gum.
If Chinese shares are like chocolate, and its bonds like chewing gum, then Aberdeen Asset Management today confirmed its place as mainland China’s Violet B. Continue reading »
In Muslim-majority Indonesia, the decision to block illegal pornographic web sites during the holy month of Ramadan could have been expected. But Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring hadn’t anticipated was how difficult it would be to shut down no less than 4m sites.
When the country’s 300 Internet service providers followed instructions from the ministry this week to block “vulgar” cyber content, dozens of perfectly respectable web sites, including leading news portals, went down too. Continue reading »
Emerging Asian markets lost further ground on Thursday, with global investors remaining downbeat after recent data from the US, China and Europe.
In South Korea, the Kospi closed down 2.1 per cent at a month-long low of 1,721.75, with Samsung and steel-maker Posco leading losses. The central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at 2.25 per cent, although Bank of Korea governor Kim Choong-soo hinted at rises soon, saying that the Korean economy was still recovering strongly. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Ranbaxy chief to step down
* Pru reiterates commitment to Asia
* China, Africa should boost agro links: Official
* South African banks agree on black ownership targets
* Ssangyong picks Mahindra as preferred bidder
[Snap]: Ranbaxy chief to step down
Atul Sobti, chief executive and managing director of India’s top drugmaker is to step down on August 18. Sobti has been in the job just over a year.
The company also released forecast-beating Q3 earnings today. Shares are down 0.5 per cent in late trading. More to follow.
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