Daily Archives: April 7, 2011

Americas market wrap: Equities slip

April 7, 2011 8:36 pm by Anora Mahmudova

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Latin American markets slipped on Thursday, as another earthquake in Japan and turmoil in the Middle East prompted investors to take profits after recent strong gains. The MSCI Latin America index was fractionally lower, down 0.1 per cent to 4,712.

“Latin America equities are in the red suffering after the Japanese quake, and reduced risk appetite and external debt spread generally flat to wider. LatAm currencies, however, are continuing their appreciation trend,” said strategists at Bulltick Capital Markets. Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Dongfang wins Bosnia power contract

April 7, 2011 7:04 pm by Neil MacDonald

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China’s power-generation behemoth, Dongfang Electric Corp, has plugged into the underbelly of the European energy grid with a deal to build a new thermal plant drawing on Bosnia’s rich coal veins.

Dongfang’s Balkan partner, the Serb-run, UK-headquartered Energy Financing Team (EFT), has turned to the China Development Bank about underwriting 85 per cent of the three-year project costing just over €500m. Continue reading »

Tags: energy, FDI, infrastructure Posted in Bosnia, Europe, Global | Permalink

[snap] BRL/USD: through the roof

April 7, 2011 6:09 pm by beyondbrics

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The Brazilian real broke through the barrier of R$1.60 to the US dollar on Thursday, in spite of measures announced by finance minister Guido Mantega on Wednesday evening to slow its advance.

As one trader commented, “Mantega’s latest attempt completely backfires”. But the trader also noted that the strong currency is becoming another tool to tame inflation. Has Brazil changed sides in the currency war?

Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

More pay rises in EM

April 7, 2011 5:11 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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Working for a medium-sized company in Europe? Want a proper pay rise this year? You’d better get moving – preferably to Chile, India or South Africa.

That, anyway, is the message from Grant Thornton, an accountancy and advisory firm that looks at salaries and other data from businesses around the world. On a regional basis, workers in the ASEAN countries and Latin America will do best this year, it says. But things are also picking up in north America. Continue reading »

Tags: wages Posted in Global | Permalink

[snap] 7.4 magnitude quake off Japan’s coast

April 7, 2011 4:31 pm by beyondbrics

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Japan’s metorological agency has issued a tsunami warning after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake shook the country on Thursday evening.

Officials said the quake was centred 25 miles under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture, according to the Associated Press. Continue reading »

Tags: Japan earthquake Posted in Uncategorized | Permalink

China’s farmers: spending more

April 7, 2011 2:44 pm by Alexandra Stevenson

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Did somebody say Chinese people aren’t consuming enough? News that home appliance sales in rural areas increased by 179 per cent in March would certainly suggest otherwise.

As with most statistics churned out by the Chinese government, the numbers come with a caveat. But they are supported by another statistic that helps explain the shopping spree: rural net incomes grew at a faster rate than urban ones in 2010, for the first time since 1997. Continue reading »

Tags: consumption Posted in Asia, China | Permalink

Beijing wins pay round with MNCs

April 7, 2011 12:53 pm by Jamil Anderlini

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The official Communist Party-controlled trade union in Beijing has scored a coup in its collective bargaining campaign against foreign-invested enterprises, according to reports from Chinese state media.

The Beijing municipal federation of trade unions has convinced more than 100 foreign companies in the Chinese capital to pay their employees no less than 1.5 times the city’s statutory minimum wage of Rmb1,160 ($177). Continue reading »

Tags: China inflation, FDI, inflation, wages Posted in Asia, China | Permalink

Vietnam’s economy: growing too fast

April 7, 2011 12:00 pm by Ben Bland

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Emerging market investors tend to gravitate toward countries that have accelerating economic growth prospects.

Vietnam, which has been battling regular bouts of economic instability, is one of the few fast-growing countries in the world where investors want to see growth slow down. Continue reading »

Tags: economy, GDP Posted in Vietnam | Permalink

New York headlines

April 7, 2011 11:55 am by beyondbrics

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* Ouattara forces lay siege to Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo

* Gaddafi forces attack eastern oilfields

* India’s Telecom ministry to impose $67.9m penalty on Idea Cellular

* Brazil takes fresh ‘currency war’ action

* China to raise gasoline, diesel prices Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

Guest post: End of QE is bad for EM but not a crisis

April 7, 2011 11:20 am by beyondbrics

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By Amer Bisat, partner at Traxis Partners

Emerging markets are in for a rude awakening if – or shall we say, when – the major central bankers reverse their super-easy monetary policy stance. The shock will almost certainly be painful. But will it be crisis-inducing? My best guess is that the answer is no.

Let’s, at the outset, get the bad news out of the way. Tighter global monetary conditions are bad for EM – pure and simple. Continue reading »

Tags: guest post, QE Posted in Global | Permalink

Inflation fears limit Beijing fuel hike

April 7, 2011 11:03 am by Leslie Hook

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With oil firmly over $120 this week, Beijing responded by raising motor fuel prices on Thursday, the second time it has done so this year.

More significant than the rises, however, is their restraint. The threat of inflation is such that Beijing has kept motor fuels much cheaper than the basket of international crude oils it uses as its reference. Continue reading »

Tags: China inflation, fiscal policy, inflation, oil & gas Posted in Asia, China | Permalink

HTC: bigger than Nokia, for now

April 7, 2011 10:45 am by Josh Noble

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Quietly brilliant. The pithy two-word slogan of Taiwan’s HTC could readily sum up the company’s recent performance. Its Android-based smartphones are spreading across developed markets like wildfire, its unit market share in the global mobile market has gone from nothing to 2.6 per cent in just 3 years, while its latest release – the Thunderbolt – is attracting rave reviews.

And as of this week, the Taiwanese smartphone maker – which few had heard of just a couple of years ago – now has a bigger market cap than Nokia. Continue reading »

Tags: technology Posted in Taiwan | Permalink

Guest post: EM assets “priced to perfection” face threat from ending QE2

April 7, 2011 9:27 am by beyondbrics

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By Alain Bokobza of Societe Generale

For Emerging Market assets (both bonds and equities), the deterioration in the underlying enviroment has already taken its toll, with high inflation and geopolitical events pushing up risk premiums and depressing prices relative to other assets.

However, an end to quantitative easing in the US will drag down the relative performance of EM assets further because liquidity flows will drop, EM economies will slow and EM asset prices are still rather high. Continue reading »

Tags: bonds, equities, fund flows, guest post, monetary policy, QE Posted in Global | Permalink

Emerging markets: Portugal no shock, but Spain would be another matter

April 7, 2011 9:00 am by Stefan Wagstyl

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Investors shrugged off news of Portugal’s bail-out please with a minimum of fuss. Asian markets traded flat on Thursday, with the Nikkei, the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite up a fraction, and Seoul’s Kospi down a little, from record levels.

But, with Portugal joining Greece and Ireland in the European Union’s rehab ward, investor attention turns to Spain, as the next possible eurozone candidate for a financial crisis. If Spain runs into trouble – and there were no new signs of problems on Thursday – that would be a big crisis for all markets, emerging markets included. Continue reading »

Tags: banking, equities, EU Posted in Global | Permalink

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Daily Archives: April 7, 2011

Americas market wrap: Equities slip

Dongfang wins Bosnia power contract

[snap] BRL/USD: through the roof

More pay rises in EM

[snap] 7.4 magnitude quake off Japan’s coast

China’s farmers: spending more

Beijing wins pay round with MNCs

Vietnam’s economy: growing too fast

New York headlines

Guest post: End of QE is bad for EM but not a crisis

Inflation fears limit Beijing fuel hike

HTC: bigger than Nokia, for now

Guest post: EM assets “priced to perfection” face threat from ending QE2

Emerging markets: Portugal no shock, but Spain would be another matter

Further reading: Yachts and jets for India’s super rich

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