Americas markets wrap: Mexico ends 2010 on a high note
Latin American stocks edged up, boosted by solid gains in Mexico, the only major market open on Friday. The MSCI Latin American index edged 0.3 per cent on Friday, posting a 12 per cent gain in 2010.
Mexico’s IPC index rose 0.8 per cent to a record high of 38,551 – its fifth consecutive day of gains. Mexico’s gains for 2010 were 20 per cent. Continue reading »
Central and eastern European stocks were mixed in the last session of 2010, as investors opted to book profits rather than to take new positions before the New Year Break. CEE currencies mostly rose against the dollar.
“We’ve seen bouts of profit taking after having had a strong performance this month,” said Joshua Raymond, a market strategist at City Index in London. “Light volumes have exacerbated falls and one should not read too much into this. The majority of traders and volumes are likely to return next week, in the New Year.” Continue reading »
Peru: yellow underpants bring promise of good 2011
Nobody gauges the ebbs and flows of a nation’s whimsies like a street vendor. And in Lima, the product of the moment is yellow knickers.
Market tables have sprung up all over the city laden with lemon-coloured briefs for the millions of Peruvians who believe that wearing yellow on New Year’s Eve brings good luck. Continue reading »
Shanghai led further gains for Asian stocks on Friday, which were buoyed by better than expected manufacturing and labour market data from the United States. Most Asian currencies continued to rise against the dollar.
“Investor confidence has swung back to a view that the global recovery is on track,” said Shane Oliver of Sydney-based AMP Capital. “Despite lingering concerns, it should continue with some solid earnings gains. Global liquidity is plentiful, while companies are cashed up, boosting the prospects for mergers and acquisitions, dividend increases and buybacks.” Continue reading »
New York headlines
11 for 2011: Can South Africa shed its Old World sclerosis?
By Michael Power of Investec Asset Management
South Africa often portrays itself as “Africa’s locomotive”, but this metaphor is starting to ring hollow. While the rest of Africa is likely to see its 2011 GDP grow at 7 per cent, South Africa will probably expand by just 3.5 per cent. How can the wagons consistently travel at twice the speed of their supposed locomotive? They can’t.
One of South Africa’s biggest problems, identified by former president Thabo Mbeki, is that its economy is divided between a developed world component and an emerging market component. 2011 will be the year when it decides which part of the two defines its future. Continue reading »
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