Americas markets wrap: Brazil and Chile stocks lead rally
Latin American stocks rose on Wednesday with Brazilian and Chilean markets leading gains.
Brazilian stocks rose for a second day, bringing the Bovespa index above its level at the end of last year. Continue reading »
South Africa as a Bric: the godfather raises an eyebrow
The godfather has spoken – the godfather of the Bric group. Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs had planned to stay quiet over the holidays, but he couldn’t resist reacting to a gutsy move by China on Christmas Eve to insert South Africa into the acronym he coined.
According to reports in Chinese state media, China invited South Africa to join the four-letter club of fast-growing emerging markets – or at least to join a summit of theirs in China next year. In a note to clients on Wednesday, O’Neill wrote: “While this is clearly good news for South Africa, it is not entirely obvious to me as to why the Bric countries should have agreed.” Continue reading »
CEE markets wrap: oil rally drives stocks higher
Central and eastern European stocks performed strongly on Wednesday, as soaring oil prices – which reached a 26-month high – and improving risk appetite buoyed markets. While most currencies gained against the dollar, the Russian rouble fell a surprising 0.5 per cent.
Looking ahead to the new year, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Moscow-based UralSib Financial, said that Russia was “tipped to be one of the best markets in 2011 and oil holding solidly above $90 a barrel makes that assumption all the more credible.” Continue reading »
11 for 2011: Will Brazil’s government tighten fiscal policy?
By Tony Volpon of Nomura
The recent performance of Brazil’s outgoing government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, does not suggest that his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, will tighten fiscal policy.
Ignoring the highly distorted fiscal surplus figures, and looking at spending, we see that the central government’s expenditures in the last twelve months came to R$616bn, a huge 44 per cent increase from 2008. As Lula is leaving office with record-breaking popularity, would Rousseff dare change anything? Continue reading »
Asia markets wrap: stocks, currencies rebound
Asian stocks rebounded on Wednesday on speculation that recent falls – largely driven by China’s interest rate hike on Christmas Day – were excessive relative to prospective earnings. Asian currencies edged upwards against the dollar.
“Markets in the Asian region are probably in a holding pattern until the start of the new year,” Tim Schroeders of Melbourne-based Pengana Capital told Bloomberg. “Continued concerns about sovereign debt in Europe and a further rate hike in China are likely to weigh on markets in January.” Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Seoul reverses stance on talks with North Korea
* Norilsk rises to 2-year high as buyback offer tops market price
* Vietnam growth quickens to 7.3 per cent, adding to overheating pressure
* Ineos seeks joint venture partners in Asia
* Lawson CEO packs bags for China as Japan growth ebbs Continue reading »
China: where elephants attack
Villagers in China’s southwestern Yunnan province received a belated Christmas present this week when the government handed them close to Rmb1m in compensation for a series of wild elephant attacks they suffered in the past year.
The 700 villagers of Kelian Village in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture received a combined Rmb960,000 ($145,000) for 26 incidents this year in which elephants tore up their corn crops and in one case apparently killed a man, according to state media reports. Continue reading »
Further reading: going medieval
From the FT:
From elsewhere:
London headlines
* Budweiser hit by Vietnam legal dispute
* China may need more affordable homes than targeted, ISI Says
* Ineos seeks joint venture partners in Asia
* UC Rusal rejects Norilsk’s raised offer
* Tata Steel to sell UK-based TCP Continue reading »
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