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Lane Crawford: bold bets in China
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Tag: Asian markets

Noble borrows ADB’s rating to borrow Thai baht

Apr 24, 2013 5:52am by Josh Noble
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When is a BBB- borrower actually a AA+? No, this isn’t financial trickery of the kind made famous in the US subprime fiasco (and perhaps repeated in China in 2012). It’s a new facility offered by the Asian Development Bank to promote cross-border borrowing within Asia.

Under the scheme, the ADB-backed fund guarantees the debt of a corporate issuer, and effectively lends out its rating, regardless of the company’s actual rating. It’s been a year in the making, but finally the scheme has broken the seal. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , Posted in Asia |

US and China credit worries hit Asia

Feb 21, 2013 8:52am by Stefan Wagstyl
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With concerns about the US Federal Reserve possibly cutting its stimulus programme hitting American markets, it was little surprise to see Asian risk assets getting a battering on Thursday.

But the impact was compounded by unexpected moves from the Chinese authorities to curb the property market and reduce to reduce liquidity. As a result the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index slumped by 1.8 per cent, with China leading the way and Shanghai closing down 3 per cent. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, China, Global |

Booming southeast Asia facing new headwinds: ADB

Dec 6, 2012 8:07am by Jeremy Grant
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Robust domestic demand, the rise of the middle class and healthy corporate balance sheets are reasons why southeast Asia is being talked up as the last man standing in an otherwise anaemic global economy.

But Thiam Hee Ng, a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank, has sounded a rare note of caution on the region. He points out four factors that should give the boosters pause. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, Global |

Asia, dull? Don’t be fooled

Apr 30, 2012 9:15am by Jonathan Wheatley
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Frederic Neumann, HSBC’s Hong Kong-based economist, has been visiting clients in Europe where the view, apparently, is that Asia is getting dull, offering few obvious risks and little imminent reward. Nobody likes their own patch to be seen as unexciting, of course, but in a note to clients on Monday Neumann presents four reasons why investors should not underestimate Asia’s ability to surprise.  Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, Global |

BB: time to register

Dear beyondbrics readers,

After more than three years of fully open access, we are taking the step of asking our readers to register on FT.com to read our articles. Beyondbrics will still be free but we'd like to know a bit more about you, our readers. Other FT blogs (including Alphaville) already do the same thing. Registration is active on beyondbrics from May 6.

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Stefan Wagstyl, emerging markets editor

Global equities macromap

Number of the day

-0.2% Fall in Polish retail sales in April, rather worse than 1.1 per cent growth expected.

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