Daily Archives: October 19, 2010

Americas markets wrap: Stocks and currencies fall after China rate hike

October 19, 2010 10:12 pm by Shannon Bond

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Latin American markets tumbled on Tuesday as China’s unexpected interest rate rise spurred a flight from riskier assets, boosting the dollar while battering stocks and commodities. Brazil’s Bovespa fell the most since June 29 and currencies softened against the dollar. But Chile’s blue-chip IPSA index bucked the trend and closed 0.37 per cent higher, led by a 3.4 per cent jump in shares of retailer Cencosud following its $800m purchase of Brazilian supermarket chain Bretas. Continue reading »

Posted in Global, LatAm | Permalink

Brazilian exporters fear currency war

October 19, 2010 9:20 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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In currency war, as in the real thing, it’s often non-combatants that come off worst – even though the war is being waged in their name.

Brazil, says finance minister Guido Mantega, cannot stand idly by while foreign currencies devalue, eroding the competitiveness of Brazilian exporters. That’s why he has raised the IOF tax on foreign investment in fixed income instruments twice in the past fortnight, in an attempt to slow the floods of hot money coming after Brazil’s high interest rates and thereby counter the steady rise in its currency, the real. Continue reading »

Tags: capital controls, currencies, monetary policy Posted in Brazil | Permalink

If Rooney leaves Man Utd, will Asian fans go too?

October 19, 2010 8:35 pm by Henry Mance

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Manchester United – arguably the most successful English football club of all time – once claimed to have 94m fans outside the UK, and 20m in China alone. There might, therefore, be a few tears in Shanghai now that Wayne Rooney definitely wants to leave the club.

But Rooney’s departure would test a hypothesis about English football in emerging markets – namely, that international fans follow the superstars, not the clubs themselves. Continue reading »

Tags: sports Posted in Asia, Global | Permalink

Motorola’s pull-back leaves Putin red-faced

October 19, 2010 7:00 pm by Courtney Weaver

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After an arduous 17 years in Russia, Motorola is giving up on trying to sell phones directly to the great Russian public – and for good reason. Once the country’s leading mobile phone producer, Motorola saw its market share drop from 20 per cent to 1 per cent in a few years, while it became embroiled in a local scandal.

Motorola’s decision to end its in-house Russian mobile phone business is another reminder of why multinationals get so nervous investing in Russia – and it comes in the very week when the government launched a new drive for foreign investors. Continue reading »

Tags: FDI, telecoms Posted in Russia | Permalink

Fund managers in two minds

October 19, 2010 6:23 pm by Matt Kennard

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Here’s a contradiction. Fund manager optimism about emerging market equities is “stratospheric”, according to a new survey from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, but the same managers increasingly think those same equities are overvalued.

The monthly report, which surveys 194 fund managers with portfolios worth $492bn, showed its highest reading since November 2009 for investors overweight EM equities. Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Deal of the day: mines for Hong Kong

October 19, 2010 6:15 pm by beyondbrics

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Hong Kong’s position as centre for mining investment has received another boost, with news that China’s Minmetals is juggling its Australian assets so they have access to the territory’s capital markets.

The move follows recent decisions by Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminium producer, and Mongolian Mining Corp, a coal miner, to float on the Hong Kong exchange. And it will give international investors another way to bet on China’s hunger for resources. Continue reading »

Tags: M&A, mergermarket, mining Posted in China | Permalink

CEE markets wrap: Polish stocks fall; currencies down

October 19, 2010 5:38 pm by Matt Kennard

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Central and eastern European equities lost ground on Tuesday, with industrial and energy stocks weakening. Poland led falls, in spite of solid industrial production data. The region’s currencies dropped heavily against the dollar. Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Coca-Cola: into Africa

October 19, 2010 5:17 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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Coca Cola is reaping the rewards of heavy investment in emerging markets, with a 5 per cent increase in sales volume for the third quarter, spurred by an 11 per cent boost in the Pacific, which includes rises of 12 per cent in China, 13 per cent in South Korea and 19 per cent in the Philippines.

Nor is the group resting on its gains in Asia. In an FT interview, chairman Muhtar Kent singles out Africa as the continent of the future, with plans to double investment to $12bn over the next decade over $6bn in the last 10 years. That’s confidence. Continue reading »

Posted in Africa, Global | Permalink

African bonds: beware local currencies

October 19, 2010 4:54 pm by Barney Jopson

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Amid growing talk of an emerging market investment bubble, here’s a sign that the exuberance is not yet irrational: an investment banker who is cool on an African capital market.

The market in question is for local currency African bonds and the message from the banker – Adil Kurt-Elli of HSBC – was that his peers should not push them too soon to international investors because confidence in Africa remains fragile. Continue reading »

Tags: bonds Posted in Africa, Global | Permalink

New Europe’s banks: healthy in parts

October 19, 2010 4:02 pm by Henry Mance

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When it comes to banking, there may be no such thing as new Europe. There’s Russia, where the banks’ fortunes rise and fall with the oil price. Then, analysts at Capital Economics imply, there are two groups – strong performers such as Poland and Turkey, and laggards including the Baltics, the Balkans and Hungary. And for Hungary in particular, the worst may be yet to come. Continue reading »

Posted in Europe, Global | Permalink

Vodafone joins attack on Hungary’s tax

October 19, 2010 3:08 pm by Chris Bryant

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Hungary’s parliament (pictured) has approved $810m of “crisis taxes”- levies on energy, retail and telecoms sectors that should help the prime minister to deliver on an electoral promise to cut income taxes while at the same time plugging a hole in his budget.

But even the mercurial Viktor Orban knows that the rabbit-from-a-hat routine comes at a price. He admitted to legislators that the taxes send a “bad message” to investors. Foreign giants Vodafone and Tesco have been quick to agree. Continue reading »

Tags: tax Posted in Hungary | Permalink

‘Chile is such an open economy’

October 19, 2010 2:28 pm by beyondbrics

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The man of the hour, President Sebastián Piñera, tells the FT that he’s against capital controls, in favour of more China-US cooperation and planning to improve Chile’s education system through private investment. Chile, he says, can become the first developed country in Latin America.

Posted in Chile | Permalink

Mexican telecoms: a drama-less divorce

October 19, 2010 1:20 pm by Adam Thomson

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Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-speaking media company, is cancelling a $1.44bn investment and scrapping a plan to form Mexico’s fourth mobile operator. But the move is not as drastic as it sounds. In fact, it should protect Televisa’s other businesses, without depriving Mexico of a new mobile provider. Continue reading »

Tags: telecoms Posted in Mexico | Permalink

[SNAP] China raises benchmark lending rate

October 19, 2010 12:39 pm by Alexandra Stevenson

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The People’s Bank of China announced today it will raise its one-year lending and deposit rate by 25 basis points. The increase in China’s benchmark lending rate, effective as of October 20, have left analysts wondering whether the move will help to cool China’s property and commodities markets. Continue reading »

Posted in China | Permalink

New York headlines

October 19, 2010 12:00 pm by beyondbrics

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* NetJets announces $1bn order from Embraer

* Disney boost for Chinese cartoon company

* Egypt media fear poll coverage curbs

* Pfizer to sell biosimilar insulins in Biocon deal

* S Korean games group on the prowl Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

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Daily Archives: October 19, 2010

Americas markets wrap: Stocks and currencies fall after China rate hike

Brazilian exporters fear currency war

If Rooney leaves Man Utd, will Asian fans go too?

Motorola’s pull-back leaves Putin red-faced

Fund managers in two minds

Deal of the day: mines for Hong Kong

CEE markets wrap: Polish stocks fall; currencies down

Coca-Cola: into Africa

African bonds: beware local currencies

New Europe’s banks: healthy in parts

Vodafone joins attack on Hungary’s tax

‘Chile is such an open economy’

Mexican telecoms: a drama-less divorce

[SNAP] China raises benchmark lending rate

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