Daily Archives: April 4, 2011

Americas market wrap: Equities hit 3-month high

April 4, 2011 9:00 pm by Anora Mahmudova

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Latin American stocks followed the rest of the global equities higher on Monday, after gaining nearly 7 per cent during the past two weeks. The MSCI Latin America index was 0.43 per cent higher at 4,710, its highest level since November 2010.

Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa index, the largest market in the region rose 0.6 per cent to 69,704. Earlier on Monday, Fitch upgraded Brazil’s debt a notch closer to investment grade, saying the country was set for strong growth and prasing government’s success at fiscal restraint. Continue reading »

Posted in Global, Uncategorized | Permalink

EM rally: nice while it lasts

April 4, 2011 6:50 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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With emerging market stocks rallying by almost another percentage point on Monday, EM equities are now passed their January highs and are back to their highest levels for three years and within sight of all-time records.

With the MSCI EM index up 9 per cent since mid-March, the speed of the surge has surprised many investors, given the general caution induced by everything from the Middle East turmoil and the eurozone and the Japanese earthquake. But investors are bouyed by a stronger-than-expected recovery in the US (not least Fridays’ strong payroll numbers). With so much bad news around, it’s the sliver of good news that has caught the imagination. Continue reading »

Tags: equities, fund management Posted in Global | Permalink

Turkey: still no reason to tighten

April 4, 2011 6:15 pm by Delphine Strauss

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Durmus Yilmaz, Turkey’s central bank governor, will retire this month on a high note: inflation of 3.99 per cent in March is the lowest on record – and at a level that previous generations of Turkish savers and businessmen could only dream of.

The benign figure, lower than expected due to a drop in food prices, will be a boost for the ruling AK Party ahead of June elections, since decades of double digit inflation has made voters acutely sensitive to inflation and exchange rates.

It may also ease pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates. Continue reading »

Tags: monetary policy Posted in Turkey | Permalink

Egypt: the Russians are coming (back)

April 4, 2011 5:45 pm by Courtney Weaver

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With the oil price soaring and its financial markets booming 2011 has so far proved ‘lucky’ for Russia. But there’s one notable exception: the tourism industry.

Tourist agencies have had a rough couple of months due to a travel ban on a top destination – Egypt. But with the political turmoil easing, the clouds seem to be clearing.

Tags: tourism Posted in Russia | Permalink

EM vs DM: the battle of the strategies

April 4, 2011 5:11 pm by Alexandra Stevenson

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As euphoria surrounding the emerging markets growth story settles, investors are looking for increasingly sophisticated strategies to squeeze new earnings out of their EM portfolios.

There are two contrasting schools of thought. One says you should aim for developed market multinational companies with exposure to emerging markets. The other says that if you believe emerging markets are set to outperform, you should invest directly in EM.

So who is right? Continue reading »

Tags: fund management Posted in Global | Permalink

[snap] Fitch upgrades Brazil

April 4, 2011 5:04 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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Fitch Ratings has upgraded Brazil’s local and foreign currency debt to BBB from BBB-, and its country ceiling to BBB+ from BBB.

Brazil already had investment grade ratings from all three major agencies (Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s) but the upgrade will be a welcome boost to the government as investors remain sceptical about its commitment to fiscal and monetary adjustments. Continue reading »

Tags: fiscal policy, investment Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

Poland’s hawks prepare for action

April 4, 2011 3:59 pm by Jan Cienski

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Increasingly hawkish statements from Poland’s interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Council have analysts convinced that Poland is in for another rate hike on Tuesday as the central bank resumes its tightening policy.

The expectation is that the council will increase its policy rate by a quarter point to 4 per cent a year – with analysts at Danske Bank predicting that rates will continue their upward climb, hitting 5 per cent within 12 months. Continue reading »

Tags: fiscal policy, inflation, interest rates, monetary policy Posted in Europe, Poland | Permalink

Cross border M&A: going EM’s way?

April 4, 2011 3:29 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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There are, as we know, lies, damn lies and statistics.

According to data from mergermarket, an FT group company that follows M&A activity, US companies accounted for almost half of global deals in the first quarter of this year, up from about a third last year. Megadeals are back, as the FT reported last week, and the US is in the lead.

But a report out on Monday from KPMG, the global auditing and advisory group, suggests something quite different: developed markets are losing their lead as target countries in cross-border deals, and emerging markets will soon take over as both originators and destinations in M&A activity. Continue reading »

Tags: M&A Posted in Global | Permalink

Tapping investors to build a new Philippines

April 4, 2011 1:26 pm by David Pilling

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Visitors to the office of Benigno Aquino III, the Philippine president, sometimes come away these days with a glossy 179-page, bright yellow booklet whose page headings bear scintillating titles like: “Taal Lake Fish Port & Processing Complex” and “Calamba – Los Banos Expressway.”

The booklet is a list of projects being tendered under the government’s programme of public-private partnerships (PPP) through which Mr Aquino hopes to finance the bulk of the country’s infrastructure needs. Continue reading »

Tags: FDI, infrastructure Posted in Philippines | Permalink

Seoul: wrong faces in Olympic lobby

April 4, 2011 12:11 pm by Christian Oliver

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South Korea faces tough opponents in winning the 2018 winter Olympics: France and Germany. So it should be relying on its most charming ambassadors, headed perhaps by Kim Yuna, the Olympic figure-skating champion.

Instead, Korea is allowing the country’s most notorious corporate boss to do the lobbying. Kim Seung-youn, chairman of the Hanwha conglomerate, was briefly imprisoned in 2007 for abducting some bar staff to a building site, where he beat them with a steel pipe in revenge for an attack on his son. Continue reading »

Tags: Olympics Posted in South Korea | Permalink

New York headlines

April 4, 2011 12:05 pm by beyondbrics

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* Minmetals in $6.5bn bid for Equinox

* India telecom minister and chiefs charged

* Brazil contemplates more capital controls

* US automakers accused of dumping vehicles Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Kazakhstan: back again

April 4, 2011 11:30 am by Stefan Wagstyl

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It’s easy when you are in charge of everything, or almost everything. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been returned to power for another five years after winning 95.5 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s elections.

The man, who has ruled Kazakhstan since its foundation in 1991, said in a website statement: “The Kazakh people again supported my course for reforms and modernization of society. Everything that we did in the last 20 years has sunk in.” Continue reading »

Tags: politics Posted in Kazakhstan | Permalink

Indian cricket: cash first, medals later

April 4, 2011 11:07 am by James Lamont

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Who said there was no money in cricket? Within minutes of India winning the cricket World Cup in Mumbai on Saturday night, the country’s national team was being showered in cash.

The first gift came from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the game’s powerful governing body led by Maharashtran political strongman Sharad Pawar. As players lapped up the adulation of the crowd in the Wankhede stadium shortly after stumps up, veteran cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri announced to tens of millions of television viewers that the BCCI would be giving each player in the squad Rs10m ($225,000). Continue reading »

Tags: sports Posted in India | Permalink

Russia: Deutsche Bank sticks with it

April 4, 2011 10:00 am by beyondbrics

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By Ben Aris of Business New Europe

When a bank gives up a licence, it always looks like a bit of a retreat. But Deutsche Bank insists that although going down from two securities licences in Russia to just one, it’s not giving up any ground – it’s simply consolidating its investment banking business and creating a more efficient operation.

It needs every bit of efficiency it can get. With state-controlled giants Sberbank and VTB Group increasing their presence in investment banking, a foreign operation must be good it’s going to generate the revenues required to cover the high costs of doing business in Moscow. Continue reading »

Tags: banking Posted in Russia | Permalink

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Daily Archives: April 4, 2011

Americas market wrap: Equities hit 3-month high

EM rally: nice while it lasts

Turkey: still no reason to tighten

Egypt: the Russians are coming (back)

EM vs DM: the battle of the strategies

[snap] Fitch upgrades Brazil

Poland’s hawks prepare for action

Cross border M&A: going EM’s way?

Tapping investors to build a new Philippines

Seoul: wrong faces in Olympic lobby

New York headlines

Kazakhstan: back again

Indian cricket: cash first, medals later

Further reading: Arab conspiracies

Russia: Deutsche Bank sticks with it

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