Daily Archives: December 3, 2010

Americas markets wrap: Brazil stocks gain on cooling move

December 3, 2010 10:35 pm by Shannon Bond

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Brazil’s Bovespa gained for the third consecutive day on Friday, up 2.3 per cent for the week, after the central bank raised reserve requirements in a bid to tame inflation. Retailers and other consumer companies gained on demand hopes, but shares of banks including Santander, Banco do Brasil and Bradesco fell.

In Mexico, stocks dipped as the worse-than-expected US jobs report raised worries about the economy of Mexico’s biggest trading partner, but finished the day nearly unchanged. The peso slipped against the dollar. Continue reading »

Posted in Global, LatAm | Permalink

Video: Emerging economies drive mobile data market

December 3, 2010 8:20 pm by beyondbrics

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In today’s View from the Top, Ryan Wuerch, chief executive of Motricity, talks to the FT’s Paul Taylor about the the mobile data services provider’s recent expansion into India and the prospects for growth in the developing world. In places where more people have mobile phones than bank accounts, Wuerch says, mobile data usage is poised to skyrocket.

Tags: mobile banking, technology, video Posted in India | Permalink

Baltics keen to get reactor project back on track

December 3, 2010 7:19 pm by Andrew Ward

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It was not only Lithuania left disappointed by the collapse of talks with Kepco of South Korea over the proposed construction of a new nuclear reactor in the country.

Fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia are also counting on the project to provide energy security to a former Soviet region still uncomfortably dependent on Russian fuel supplies. Continue reading »

Tags: nuclear power Posted in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania | Permalink

CEE markets wrap: stocks, currencies continue rally

December 3, 2010 6:23 pm by Ranjit Lall

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Central and eastern European stocks rose for a fourth day as concerns about poor American jobs data were offset by rising optimism that the European debt crisis will be contained.

Hungary led gains, seeing its biggest weekly gain in three months as Mol , the oil and gas group, soared 6.8 per cent after it made a bid for all oustanding publicly traded shares of its Croatian unit. CEE currencies rose against the dollar. Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Guest post: Brazil to follow China’s lead

December 3, 2010 4:45 pm by beyondbrics

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By Tony Volpon of Nomura

How will Brazil’s economic policy change under Dilma Rousseff? Though elected as a continuity candidate to follow hyper-popular President Lula, we think Rousseff has in mind a different “model” for policy in Brazil, and that model is made in China.

This assertion may seem absurd in view of the vast differences between these two Bric economies. China’s growth model is based on its manufacturing exporting prowess, with high savings and investment rates generating a large (too large for many) current account surplus. Brazil, in many ways, is the mirror image: a commodity exporter with very low savings, running a large (and growing) current account deficit. However, Brazil is already shifting policy in Chinese-inspired directions. Continue reading »

Tags: Brazil politics, China-Latin America, fiscal policy, guest post, monetary policy Posted in Brazil, China | Permalink

Hungary: moving to Latin America?

December 3, 2010 3:04 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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The east European political joke, honed through decades of Communist oppression, has come back into service in Hungary.

With prime minister Viktor Orban throwing his weight around - imposing arbitrary taxes on banks and phone companies, and raiding the private pension funds - many of his critics are getting angry. And when they get angry, they try to have a laugh.

Here is the latest cover from the independent HVG magazine – with a map plonking Hungary bang in the heart of South America and a headline that reads “What is the limit?” or more loosely “How far will he go?”. Continue reading »

Tags: politics Posted in Hungary | Permalink

Malaysia’s oil giant: too big to sell?

December 3, 2010 2:30 pm by Kevin Brown

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Investors looking for details on Malaysia’s promised privatisation programme will have been disappointed by prime minister Najib Razak’s latest speech on economic reform.

However, the government did put some flesh on the bones of earlier announcements, mainly by indicating in supporting documents how it will distinguish between strategic government-linked companies – over which it wants to retain control – and non-strategic companies that can be sold. And it looks like Petronas, the oil and gas producer that is Malaysia’s biggest company, may be left out of the sell-off. Continue reading »

Tags: privatisation Posted in Malaysia | Permalink

West’s drugmakers look for China buys

December 3, 2010 1:45 pm by beyondbrics

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By Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai and Andrew Jack in London

From fashion to pharmaceuticals, the principle is the same: if a global company does not succeed in China these days, it will increasingly struggle to succeed at all. So predictably, the past few weeks have seen a bunch of mergers and acquisitions in the Chinese pharmaceutical sector: deals that may have long been seeded, but which are finally flowering.

GlaxoSmithKline, for example, is understood to be close to buying the Chinese drug company Nanjing MeiRui: part of a “bolt-on” strategy of buying other companies’ medicines in China. That’s a strategy also favoured by other pharma multinationals that want to expand their portfolio in China, without waiting years to get new drugs through the government’s approval process. Continue reading »

Tags: M&A, pharmaceuticals Posted in China | Permalink

Chinese interest rates: the party speaks

December 3, 2010 1:30 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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Another strong signal that China could raise interest rates before the year-end has come with the publication of a Politburo decision to switch from a “relatively loose” to a “prudent” monetary policy.

But the Communist party policy-making body’s move, set out in its economic programme for 2011, was tempered by a decision to stick with the current “proactive fiscal policy”. So while Beijing;’s top brass is more worried than it was about the risks of over-heating it remains determined that the country’s formidable public investment engines should keep running. Continue reading »

Tags: China inflation, inflation, monetary policy Posted in China | Permalink

Brazil moves to prevent over-heating

December 3, 2010 12:57 pm by John Paul Rathbone

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How does a central banker slow an over-heating economy without raising interest rates? The knotty bind – and its solution – is in this case Brazil’s. Yet the problem is common to any number of fast-growing developing economies worried about collateral damage from the “currency war” – such as a local credit bubble. Raise local interest rates to cool the economy, for example, and only more yield-seeking hot money will come swooshing in – with all the attendant problems that brings.

To square the circle, Brazil on Thursday night raised bank reserve requirements to cool the economy by aiming to slow credit growth that has been expanding at a 20 per cent clip. In doing so, it was taking a leaf out of China’s book. Continue reading »

Tags: monetary policy Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

Asia markets wrap: stocks flat, as China hints at more tightening

December 3, 2010 12:31 pm by Ranjit Lall

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Asian stock markets moved only modestly on Friday, ahead of US jobs data and as China hinted at more credit-tightening moves. The Shanghai Composite was flat, while indices in Hong Kong, India and Malaysia fell slightly.

“As long as the [Chinese] government continues to send out signals on curbing inflation, the market will fluctuate with uncertainty,” said Zhang Kun of Guotai Junan Securities. Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

New York headlines

December 3, 2010 11:57 am by beyondbrics

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* China declares shift to “prudent” monetary policy

* Brazil raises reserve requirements to curb lending

* Sarkozy seeks weapons, power sales on India trip

* Chinalco and Rio sign exploration deal

* Tata to jump-start ailing Nano Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Crouching tiger: Indonesia ducks issue

December 3, 2010 11:45 am by Josh Noble

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Indonesia’s central bank chose not to raise rates on Friday, instead holding at the record low of 6.5 per cent. It’s beginning to look like the odd one out: Malaysia, China, India, Taiwan, South Korea and most recently Thailand have all raised rates this year. And the Bank of Indonesia’s justification for its dovish stance looks thinner with every new inflation figure. The latest consumer prices index result – also out this week – topped expectations. Continue reading »

Tags: capital flows, monetary policy Posted in Indonesia | Permalink

Qatar 2022: construction and conservatism

December 3, 2010 11:00 am by Simeon Kerr

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By winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has put itself on the map. Soccer-crazed Americans mourning the death of their bid have dismissed ‘Katar’ or ‘Quatar’, misspellings of the country’s name that have started to trend on Twitter.

But for the Qataris, and perhaps the broader Middle East, the victory was a vindication for those sceptics who refused to believe that the global festival of football could be held in the scorching heat of the Gulf summer via air-conditioned pitches and fan zones. Continue reading »

Tags: sports, World Cup Posted in Asia, Bahrain, Global, Middle East, Qatar, United Arab Emirates | Permalink

China: censorship or traffic accident?

December 3, 2010 10:14 am by Kathrin Hille

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When China’s largest microblog closed down for several hours this week, many observers weren’t surprised. The chatter on Sina Weibo (pictured) had become more political following WikiLeaks revelations, with users trading cynical remarks about how China might respond to a website publishing its own closely-guarded state documents.

Thousands of users reported getting the error message ‘this page does not exist’ when they tried to log on on Wednesday. But then Sina apologised saying the microblog was not closed down by the censors but crashed because it couldn’t handle the traffic. It put up a new message saying “Sina Weibo is upgrading, we’ll be back a bit later.” Continue reading »

Tags: China politics, internet Posted in China | Permalink

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beyondbrics

Daily Archives: December 3, 2010

Americas markets wrap: Brazil stocks gain on cooling move

Video: Emerging economies drive mobile data market

Baltics keen to get reactor project back on track

CEE markets wrap: stocks, currencies continue rally

Guest post: Brazil to follow China’s lead

Hungary: moving to Latin America?

Malaysia’s oil giant: too big to sell?

West’s drugmakers look for China buys

Chinese interest rates: the party speaks

Brazil moves to prevent over-heating

Asia markets wrap: stocks flat, as China hints at more tightening

New York headlines

Crouching tiger: Indonesia ducks issue

Qatar 2022: construction and conservatism

China: censorship or traffic accident?

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