Property fever rages with $9m flat sale
Taiwan’s red-hot property market is a key battleground chosen by central bank governor Perng Fai-nan to fight against potential asset bubbles caused by an excess of liquidity.
A court auction of one of Taipei’s most recognizable luxury apartments on Tuesday, however, shows Perng may need to do more to keep property prices under control.
Americas market wrap
Latin American stocks followed global equities lower on Tuesday as concerns that Ireland’s debt problems will spread to other European markets continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Continue reading »
CEE markets wrap: Hungary and Turkey rebound
Hungary and Turkey bounced back from their recent slumps on Tuesday on stronger-than-expected Polish growth data and an improved risk appetite across the region. Stocks in both countries rose by around 2 per cent, while most CEE currencies climbed against the dollar.
“Investors have stopped cashing in their investments in Hungary and Turkey,” Neil Shearing, economist at Capital Economics, told beyondbrics. “Positive news from Poland has helped, although fears remain about the further sovereign debt crises in the eurozone.” Continue reading »
Walmart-Massmart: now it gets tricky
Grant Pattison, chief executive of Massmart, was in bullish form on Monday after the announcement that the South African retailer had approved a $2.4bn offer from Walmart for a 51 per cent stake. With the help of Walmart’s world-leading expertise and formidable global supply chains, he said, Massmart would be well placed to undercut its competitors. But some analysts are more cautious about the impact of the deal.
Massmart will ramp up its limited presence in food retail, Pattison said, in a bid to shake up a sector that is dominated by a handful of players. The locally owned companies Shoprite, Pick ‘n’ Pay and Woolworths, and Netherlands-based Spar, account for about 60 per cent of grocery sales. Continue reading »
100 top thinkers: Foreign Policy’s pick
Which ideas have most shaped the world in 2010? Foreign Policy magazine has made its pitch before the year is out – publishing an annual list of the world’s top 100 thinkers. As a first draft of the history of thought, the list does an impressive job of reflecting the rise of emerging markets.
The Top 100′s strength is to cover a range of challenges facing poor countries, providing an idea for almost every ill. Its weakness is to downplay the factor that has done most to change perceptions of those same countries – economic lift-off. Continue reading »
Chart of the week: moving on up
By Valentina Romei and Ranjit Lall
Talk of emerging markets tends to be dominated by the mighty Brics. Yet as this week’s beyondbrics chart (after the break) shows, the countries that have moved fastest up the economic ladder in the last decade are not those big four, but Nigeria, Vietnam, Peru and Bangladesh.
Nigeria has climbed the most rapidly, moving up 15 places in the list of the world’s largest economies (in purchasing power parity terms) between 2000 and 2010. Vietnam rose 12 places, while Peru and Bangladesh both jumped seven places. By contrast, the Brics were sluggish: Russia rose four places, Brazil two, and China and India just one. Continue reading »
Poland: economic growth regardless
Polish stocks have been hammered in the past two weeks by rising risk aversion among investors, who are spooked by the situation in eurozone countries like Ireland, and now Portugal and Spain. But the country’s economy continues to power ahead.
In data released today, the Polish statistical agency says that the economy grew at an unexpectedly strong annual rate of 4.2 per cent in the third quarter. Analysts had predicted only 3.6 per cent. The main driver of growth was rising domestic demand. Continue reading »
Asia markets wrap: Mumbai rises on growth figures; Bumi tumbles
Better-than-expected growth data lifted Indian stocks on Tuesday. However, other Asian indices fell – with Chinese bank stocks again underperforming. Stocks in Indonesia and the Philippines lost over 2.5 per cent to two-month lows. Indonesian coal-miner Bumi Resources fell nearly 11 per cent (see chart) – ending the rally which followed a deal involving British investor Nat Rothschild. Continue reading »
Hanoi enlists Harvard guru
Wherever capitalism goes, management gurus are sure to follow. So it was that Harvard’s Michael Porter – the man behind the value chain and other business insights – visited Vietnam this week. In a sign of the times, he spoke at one session sponsored by the Financial Times, and another by the Communist party.
Porter said Vietnam’s “easy success” was in the past, and presented a major report calling for structural reforms. But while officials and businessmen listened patiently, it’s unclear that they’ll rush to implement the guru’s recommendations. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* China could accept Korean unification
* Indian economy grows by 8.9 per cent
* Lending probe may lift borrowing costs for Indian real estate
* Chinese anxiety over food prices grows
* EU growth funds lie idle under red tape Continue reading »
China censors itself in WikiLeaks
Around the globe, the US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks are treating the public to a reality show of relations between the US administration and foreign governments. But as so often, China is an exception.
The WikiLeaks page devoted to the cables is blocked in China. The country’s print and television media, all owned by state or Communist party organs and kept on a tight censorship leash, are reporting on ‘Cablegate’ but omitting almost any reference to their own government – despite the fact that cables involving the US embassy in Beijing are a large part of the leaked documents and have revealed some of the most newsworthy details, including suggestions that hacker attacks on Google in China originated in the Politburo. Continue reading »
Guest post: the temptation to tinker
By Roland Nash, chief strategist, Renaissance Capital
Economic recovery in Russia has not been going to plan. After a reasonably peppy 4.5 per cent in the first half of 2010, growth slowed in the third quarter to 2.7 per cent. The disappointing slowdown is all the more surprising given that the oil price is back up above $80 per barrel.
Understandably, the government is trying to do something about it. Indeed, since the crisis began the government’s economic policy has become a lot more active – with very mixed results.
Continue reading »
[snap] Big jump in Turkish trade deficit
Turkey’s trade deficit widened 136 per cent year-on-year in October to $6.3bn, the Turkish Statistics Institute said on Tuesday, raising fears about the sustainability of the country’s rapid post-crisis recovery. The deficit exceeded forecasts of around $5.8-$5.9bn, with exports rising only 8.8 per cent to $11.0bn and imports soaring 35.5 per cent to $17.3bn.
Turkish markets took the news in their stride, with the Lira strengthening 0.68 per cent against the crisis-battered euro to trade at 1.96 lira to the euro and dropping 0.3 per cent against the US dollar to 1.51 lira to the greenback. Turkish stocks were up 0.45 per cent around noon in Istanbul but they have fallen nearly 10 per cent in the last month, well ahead of a 6.9 per cent drop in the MSCI emerging markets index.
Further reading: waste, wine, Walmart
From the FT:
From elsewhere:
China selling: price, fear, or liquidity?
Aside from the Philippines, the worst performing stock market in Asia in the last month has been its biggest growth engine: China.
The Shanghai market is set to post its first monthly decline since June, and has lost almost 11 per cent since the early November high. The reasons for the sell-off look plentiful. Continue reading »
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