Peru’s banks are safe, for now
Hot on the heels of Blackrock rating Peruvian bonds a better bet than British sovereign debt, Moody’s has given Peru’s banking system the thumbs-up.
Thanks to dynamic, investment-led economic growth, strong earning prospects and good asset quality, the outlook for Peruvian banks is stable, even “robust”, according to Moody’s. Continue reading »
GM: thank goodness for China
Europe might be in the doldrums and the US is still just muddling through. But thank goodness for China. The world’s biggest auto market was the sole bright spot in General Motors’ third quarter earnings results.
But can the good times last? Continue reading »
Brazilian banks: risky business?
It’s a question that doesn’t always go down so well in Brazil: just how risky is the country’s banking system? In light of the recent disaster with mortgage-backed securities abroad and the current crisis among US and European banks, Brazilians are always very quick to defend their own banks.
Well, Standard & Poor’s has just come to their own, more measured, conclusion on Brazil’s banks and the answer to the original question is: well, only a bit. Continue reading »
Argentina and YPF: nationalise while the going is hot?
It’s been a few years since there was serious talk of the Argentine government renationalising former energy monopoly, YPF.
But just days after the company, now controlled by Repsol of Spain, announced a monster shale oil discovery, one of Argentina’s former top privatisation promoters under former President Carlos Menem says the state should return to the driving seat of YPF. Continue reading »
Safaricom: feeling the shilling pain
If proof were needed of the impact of Kenya’s collapsed shilling, look no further than half-year results for the country’s biggest telephone company.
Safaricom net profits for the six months to the end of September, out on Wednesday, are down 48.3 per cent, to 5.4bn shillings ($55m). Continue reading »
Tata makes a $2bn Friend
Diligenta, a division of Tata Consultancy Services, India’s biggest IT outsourcer, landed its biggest UK deal on Wednesday – a $2.2bn contract for running the 3.2m pensions, investments and insurance policies of Friends Life.
And the fact that a deal of this size can still be done in Europe, with its economy struggling, is a welcome sign for India’s outsourcers who are worried about prospects in the region, their second most important market after the US. Continue reading »
Berlusconi hammers the zloty
Warsaw’s foggy streets are a continent away from Rome’s piazzas but that didn’t stop worries about Italy’s economy and the future of Silvio Berlusconi hammering the zloty on Wednesday.
The Polish currency was down about 3.3 per cent against the dollar and 1.2 per cent against the euro as concerns over the eurozone’s third largest economy translated into heightened increased risk aversion that hit Poland and other emerging markets hard. Continue reading »
New Delhi: how not to tell the eurozone to get its act together
Even when the Brics have something sensible to say, they get muddled trying to say it.
Beyondbrics reported earlier on an apparent failure of co-ordination between India and China over a joint statement, urging the developed world to “adopt responsible macroeconomic policies to handle the issues of debt and financial stability properly”. Continue reading »
Russia: downing fewer pints
The Kremlin’s anti-alcohol drive may be changing Russian drinking habits, but it has hit brewers in the pocket.
Reporting third quarter results on Wednesday, Carlsberg (CARL B:CPH), blamed rising costs and a contraction in its core Russian market for a 21 per cent fall in profits. Continue reading »
More trouble for China property
Cut rates! That must surely be the message being nailed to the door of the People’s Bank of China by any passing property developer this week.
Wednesday brought more bad news on the state of the housing market, with sales falling, and falling fast. Continue reading »
Co-ordinated action Chindia style
India and China have a long way to go to co-ordinate their strategies at the G20, not to mention between their own capitals.
The world’s two fastest growing large economies were at odds on Wednesday about a supposedly shared view on the challenges facing the world economy – and the failure of the developed world to deal with them. Continue reading »
Moody’s downgrade (2): South Africa
Moody’s on Wednesday downgraded the outlook for South Africa to negative from stable, citing heightened political risk and sluggish growth in a move that will add fuel to the debate about the direction Africa’s largest economy is headed. Continue reading »
Moody’s downgrade (1): India
Two blows for India’s banks in one day. An outlook downgrade from Moody’s for the whole sector and a chunk increase in bad debt provisions at the State Bank of India (SBID:NSI), the biggest lender, which saw its shares plunge on Wednesday by 6.8 per cent. Continue reading »
Goldman sheds ICBC stock… again
Goldman Sachs is looking to off-load a chunk of its remaining stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China for $1.54bn as the US bank seeks to insulate itself from possible future portfolio valuation losses.
This will be the third time Goldman has sold stock in ICBC, which has seen its share price fall by about 20 per cent since October 2010. A person familiar with the situation told beyondbrics Goldman was selling the shares to avoid further accounting losses on its ICBC holding. Continue reading »
CEE: scorched as Rome burns
The latest bout of concern about the euro in general and Italy in particular has hit eastern European markets hard.
Hungary suffered especially badly on Wednesday, with the forint falling 1.4 per cent against the euro to its lowest level since April 2009, when CEE was close to financial crisis. The Polish zloty and the Czech crown weren’t far behind, falling by around 1.1 per cent. This isn’t funny, Silvio. Continue reading »
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