Daily Archives: May 23, 2011

Latin American stocks sold off on Monday, following the rest of the world markets lower, amid fears of slowing growth in China and, particularly, the debilitating eurozone fiscal crisis. The MSCI Latin American index fell 1.2 per cent to 4,269, its lowest level since September 2010. Continue reading »

Belarus has devalued its currency by 36 per cent and imposed capital controls, after some of the world’s tightest monetary policies failed to halt the rouble’s slide against the US dollar.

Natsionalnyi Bank Respubliki Belarus set its official exchange rate for Tuesday at 4.93 roubles to the US dollar, compared with 3.155 on Monday, Bloomberg reported. Continue reading »

Reports in the French press that Carrefour is mulling a merger of its Brazilian unit with Grupo Pão de Açúcar, the country’s largest retailer, had beyondbrics scratching its head.

Afterall, a quick scan through the French retailer’s 2010 results seems to paint a picture of a Brazilian business that is in rude health (especially when compared with the flagging performance at Carrefour’s European hypermarkets). Continue reading »

Among the hardscrabble nations of Central America, renewable energy involves no high-falutin’ principles. It is an essential weapon in a battle for survival as well as a hope for prosperity in some of the frailest economies of the Americas. Continue reading »

On the semi-urban roads of India, a low-cost vehicle designed to offer affordable travel, safety and relative comfort to the masses has quickly become a common sight – and it’s not the $2000 Tata Nano that hit so many headlines on its launch.

The ubiquitous Tata Group has struggled to make a hit out of the Nano. But it has been more successful with its Magic people carrier, designed to carry a driver and four, six or seven passengers and priced at Rs190,000 ($4,200) – leaving competitors scrabbling to catch up. Continue reading »

With Yandex set to close the book soon on its over $1bn New York offering, 2011 is starting to look like a better year for Russian IPOs.

Domodedovo, the Moscow airport, announced last week that it would be next line with a London IPO that could value Russia’s biggest air passenger hub at $3.5 – $7.5bn. Yet it seems that certain parties in Moscow would prefer that the listing didn’t happen at all.

Continue reading »

YandexRussia’s biggest internet firm is about to pull off the world’s biggest dot com float since Google, if its target share price is anything to go by. Yandex has raised price guidance to a range of $24 to $25 a share from a previous $20 to $22, Reuters reports. But is this company really Russia’s Google or is it all just market chatter, reminiscent of that surrounding the IPO of Renren, aka China’s Facebook, a few weeks ago? In other words, is this just more froth in the global tech sector? Continue reading »

The multi-billion dollar battle for control of Polkomtel, Poland’s second largest mobile operator, is heating up. The two remaining bidders are Scandinavian Telia Sonera and Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, a Polish media mogul.

Two previous contenders, Apax, a private equity firm, and a joint venture between Telenor and Bain Capital, had made the short list but appear to have fallen by the wayside, according to Poland’s Rzeczpospolita newspaper. Continue reading »

Brazil is looking towards China – and China is looking right back.

As these two leading emerging economies draw each other into an ever closer embrace – China to Brazil for its natural resources and Brazil to China for its deep pockets – few doubt that the world is witnessing the birth of one of the greatest commercial relationships of the future. Continue reading »

Not everyone in town has rushed to join the property boom in Danang. Although he has received offers of well over a million dollars for it, Doan Ngoc Minh has refused to sell his half-built, nine-storey house on a quiet street in the city centre.

That’s because his family is already earning handsome profits thanks to the surprise arrival of a flock of swiftlets during construction in 2006. Continue reading »

Brazilian construction workersAs JP Rathbone reports in Monday’s FT, it’s not just beach-front properties in Leblon whose prices are heading for the sky. In Brazil’s favelas, where police are finally providing a semblance of security, house prices have doubled or trebled over the past few years.

So, time for a bubble warning? For many reasons, in the mass housing market, the answer is a resounding No. What’s harder to measure is the emergence or not of a wider credit bubble. Here, the warning lights are flickering. A new law to monitor borrowers’ credit histories may help. Continue reading »

* CDB seeks to join TPG stake purchase

* Battle at Karachi naval base rages

* India goes full steam to finalize $10.4bn jet deal

* Emerging market bond fund flows signal shift

* India’s Hindustan Petroleum in talks with Total for $10bn petrochem project Continue reading »

French finance minister Christine Lagarde

To see the challenge now faced by any emerging market candidate for the IMF job, just look at the odds.

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister who is backed by most of the European Union, has streaked so far ahead that she is the odds-on favourite, on 1/10.   South Africa’s Trevor Manuel, The top EM runner is in second place – but on 10/1. The rest are out of sight, according to bookmaker Paddy Power.

Continue reading »

Air India jumbo jets at New Delhi airportGood news for Indian travellers. Bad news for Indian airlines.

Air India, the ailing state-owned carrier, has launched a promotional drive with discount fares triggering a likely price war among airlines at the peak of the holiday season. Continue reading »

In Rio, Hong Kong and Cartagena house prices are booming again; corporate treasurers are rolling in cash but Indian cities struggle to find credit to finance the infrastructure they must build. Continue reading »

Global equities macromap

Number of the day

12.4% Fall in Mail.Ru shares on Monday, on the back of its Facebook stake.

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