India v China: Big Mac edition
Which Asian country’s exports are most buoyed by an undervalued currency?
If you think the answer is China, think again. The Indian rupee is giving the renminbi a run for its money. At least, that is what the Economist magazine’s Big Mac Index suggests. Continue reading »
Brazilians shoppers: no fear of recession
By Mark Shapland of mergermarket
Brazil’s appetite for shopping shows no sign of waning despite fears in the developed economies of a double dip recession. The county’s consumption boom has been fuelled by middle class incomes continuing to rise – something BR Malls (BRML3:SAO) plans to capitalise on. The Brazil-listed shopping mall owner bought four shopping malls for R$792m this week, hitting home its already dominant position in its domestic market. Continue reading »
Turkey: steady for now, but questions remain
The turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic has shaken Turkey, where the Istanbul stock exchange steadied on Tuesday, a day after recording a 7 per cent slump – the biggest drop in almost three years.
After initial heavy falls during early trading, Istanbul’s benchmark index finished up 1.3 per cent on the previous day’s close.
Still, analysts say that, beyond the worldwide flight to quality, fears about Turkey’s current account deficit and confusion over its central bank policy have eaten into confidence. Monday’s fall was the biggest in percentage terms since October 2008. Continue reading »
Russian equities: shock value
It’s easy to see why talk of 2008 is sending shivers down the back of Russian traders. Russia’s stock market fell 73 per cent in the second half of 2008; the rouble lost 37 per cent of its value; and oil fell from nearly $150 to $40.
While Moscow’s stock markets and the rouble have been among the most bruised and battered over the past couple of days, it is good to remember one thing: for Russia, things could be a whole lot worse. Continue reading »
Chile wants a piece of Peru’s retail pie
Chile’s grip on Peru’s blossoming retail sector is set to tighten after Cencosud, the country’s largest retailer, announced plans to open 10 of its “Paris” department stores in its northern neighbour by 2014.Cencosud already has a heavy presence in Peru’s supermarket sector, having bought the iconic Wong chain back in 2007. Continue reading »
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng: the diver
Foreign money is always the hottest, as illustrated on Tuesday by the slump in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.
The Hang Seng lost 5.7 per cent during the day - its biggest one-day loss since 2008 – making it the weakest of Asia’s markets on Tuesday. Its volatility index reached levels last seen in 2009.
Heavy selling by foreigners investors in Hong Kong, one of the region’s most internationally-oriented bourses, drove the underperformance, said Todd Martin, Asia equity strategist with Société Générale. Continue reading »
[snap] Buyers coming in?
Central and eastern European stocks, like Asian ones earlier in the day, have embarked on a minor recovery.
So has one-month Brent oil and, as a result, the Russian rouble. So far the recovery is pretty feeble. Relief rallies often don’t last and there has been no change in fundamentals. But these charts are worth watching. Continue reading »
Vietnam: the curse of gold
Vietnam, like some other frontier markets, seemed to be remarkably unaffected by the deepening economic problems in the US and Europe over recent weeks.
But the latest waves from the global crisis have finally washed up on Vietnam’s shores after the surge in world gold prices, driven by growing risk aversion, led to a record surge in the domestic gold price, once more putting downward pressure on the country’s fragile currency, the dong. Continue reading »
South Korea intervenes in market rout
What a difference a week makes. Last week, South Korean government officials were talking about introducing additional capital controls to curb surging fund inflows into Korean bonds, as foreign bond holdings hit a record high on the back of the country’s strong economic growth.
But this week they are scurrying to come up with measures to secure foreign liquidity in the country’s financial sector as growing fears of a double-dip recession in the US economy and the deepening European debt crisis rattle financial markets. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Europe slumps in extreme volatility
* Asia stock sell-off deepens
* Chinese inflation hits 37-month high, at 6.5%
* PBOC to drain Rmb 83bn via 28-day repos
* India’s FDI inflow sees surge of 310% to $5.7bn Continue reading »
Time to use the word “bloodbath”?
Asian stocks plunged then recovered somewhat on Tuesday but at mid-session in central and eastern Europe, as the FTSE 100 entered bear territory, stock markets were still plunging.
Prague’s PX index was down 6 per cent. In Russia, the MICEX and RTS indices were down 2.5 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, while the rouble dropped 3.9 per cent against the euro. Continue reading »
[snap] S Korea bans short selling
South Korea’s stock market regulator announced on Tuesday that it would ban short-selling of all stocks for three months, starting from Wednesday, reports Bloomberg. Korea already had a ban on short-selling of financial stocks.
The market fell as much as 9.8 per cent during the session before closing down 3.6 per cent.
South Korea’s move follows a similar ban by Greece, in effect from Tuesday.
Further reading: China, get fit!
Markets woke up to yet another day of panic and investors around the world are trying to make sense of the situation. In the meantime, here are Tuesday’s top picks from the beyondbrics team: examining whether oil still the barometer and gold the safe heaven, and asking when desperate measures are needed. Also, the latest attempt to make China fit. Continue reading »
Fluctuating pork and inflexible onions
China’s inflation numbers released Tuesday showed prices increased 6.5 per cent in the year to July with food inflation as high as 14.8 per cent, causing stock market investors to fret that monetary conditions in China must continue to tighten. Pork prices rose almost 57 per cent year on year – pork accounts for a third of the weighting of food prices in China’s CPI.
The silver lining just about visible amid the clouds is that pork will get cheaper as more pigs are rushed to market in coming months. India’s onion prices – similarly a bellwether of food inflation because of their widespread use in curries and lentil dishes – look more of a structural problem, however. Continue reading »
Meanwhile, in Chinese inflation…
While Asian markets have been trying to figure out whether Tuesday is a case of full panic stations or just a bad day at the office (the Kospi was down almost 10 per cent at one point), China released its inflation figure for July.
Here’s a brief explainer. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Older entries
Stefan Wagstyl
Josh Noble
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh