Saturday, April 20 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
SHANGHAI - The new Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) has seen a total of 208 companies register since its launch. The enterprises include 188 domestic and 20 overseas-funded companies, according to the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce. Registered capital ranges from RMB30,000 to RMB8 million. Trade and investment-asset management industries saw most registrations, at 122 and 36 respectively.
SINGAPORE - Asia's increasing household leverage, mainly from rising mortgages, could be risky for Asian banks' creditworthiness, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's. It published a report today evaluating the asset quality of banks in six Asian economies - Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, and China.
SINGAPORE – While China’s growth rate has started to decelerate since 2012, slowing to below 8% for the last six consecutive quarters, ANZ Bank believes the new Government will likely engineer a growth rate in the range of 7-8% up to 2015, and around 6.5% from 2016-2020.
NEW DELHI - As widely expected, the Reserve Bank of India has lifted its benchmark repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 7.75%. The RBI offered what ANZ Bank described as an eloquent rationale for today’s policy action noting that “it is important to break the spiral of rising price pressures in order to curb the erosion of financial saving and strengthen the foundations of growth”. Still, ANZ said, more needs to be done and the bank is anticipating a terminal repurchase rate of 8.0%.
HONG KONG - Expectations for the new Chinese leadership’s reform agenda have been running high ahead of the Third Plenary meeting in November (specific dates have not been announced). In a meeting last week with international business leaders, President Xi Jinping was reported to have said that the Third Plenary meeting will set out a roadmap for “broad and deep reforms.” And over the weekend a published report of the State Council’s think tank, The Development Research Centre (DRC), entitled “The Strategy and Roadmap for the New Round of Reform” received wide press attention.
HONG KONG - A 100+ basis point rise in China’s interbank rates this rise week has caught the attention of market observers. The 7-day repo rate rose to 4.8% on Thursday from 3.5% last week. BBVA Bank points out that memories are still fresh of the PBoC’s ill-advised liquidity squeeze last June, which was engineered to slow the growth of shadow bank lending. “For the time being, the current rise appears to reflect a combination of seasonal factors and the PBoC’s effort to tighten liquidity and slow credit growth,” BBVA says.
HONG KONG - The private sector HSBC/Markit flash manufacturing PMI estimate rose to 50.9 for October (consensus: 50.4), up from a disappointing 50.2 in September. BBVA Bank says the outturn, while preliminary, may suggest that growth momentum is continuing into the fourth quarter, after Q3 GDP growth came in at a robust 7.8%. “Nevertheless, questions remain about the sustainability of the growth pickup given signs of a moderating trend in September activity indicators, and market jitters of signs of monetary tightening,” BBVA says.
HONG KONG - Alibaba Group is reportedly working on a compromise with the Hong Kong stock exchange to allow it to list in the HKSAR. Under the plan, the company would not demand a dual-class share structure - rather, the new CEO would be chosen from the 28 partners so that decisions by the CEO would need to be approved by the majority of Board Directors. The deal would be a concession on Alibaba’s part, but would allow it to avoid regulatory hurdles that accompany listing in New York, another city the company was considering.
SINGAPORE - Standard & Poor's has explained in further detail today why it recently lowered the rating on Indonesian coal producer PT Bumi Resources Tbk. to 'CC' from 'CCC'. S&P said the downgrade followed a debt-for-equity and asset exchange agreement between Bumi and a large creditor. “We consider the agreement to be a de-facto default under our criteria.”
BALI – A survey by global accounting firm PwC released at the APEC conference here shows that 42% of CEOs in the Asia Pacific are 'very confident' of revenue growth over the next 12 months, while close to 70% intend to increase their investments in the region. The trend towards urbanisation, emergence of the local middle-class, and the need for infrastructure development are the main reasons driving the increase in confidence.
MELBOURNE – Australian business confidence rose to its highest level since January 2011 following the September election, according to Roy Morgan Research, which says a rise of 14.7 points to a score of 134.3 is the biggest monthly increase in business confidence recorded since the survey began in December 2010. The figures are drawn from 2,787 interviews with decision-makers representing all types, sizes and locations of businesses around Australia.
TAIWAN - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has become the world's largest integrated circuit (IC) chip supplier in terms of final market value of its sales, with its IC chip sales reaching an estimated US$54.6 billion last year. The sales figure surpassed those of IDM (integrated device manufacturer) giants such as US-based Intel and Samsung Electronics of South Korea.
TAIPEI- Opening of the 2013 Taiwan Nano Week and Exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Centre, Wu Chung-yu, Head of the National Program on Nanotechnology (NPNT), said Taiwan is ranked fourth in the world in the number and share of granted nanotechnology patents in 2012, adding that nanotechnology is expected to be a main driver for the technology industry.
TAIPEI - The Central Bank of Taiwan has announced plans to hold the RMB in its foreign exchange reserves. The move follows similar announcements in the past two years by other central banks, including those of Australia, Chile, Japan, and Korea. Taiwan has not yet given details of the timing of amounts it plans to hold (Taiwan’s total reserves amounted to a US$409 billion as of August 2013).
MANILA - Moody’s has upgraded the Philippines by one notch to investment grade (Baa3), following similar moves by Fitch in March and S&P in May. Moody’s also upgraded the outlook to positive, citing the Philippines’ “robust economic performance, ongoing fiscal and debt consolidation, and political stability and improved governance.”
SINGAPORE – ANZ Bank says it is less optimistic now about prospects for a cyclical recovery as soon as next year, and has substantially cut its calendar 2014 GDP forecast for India to 4.0% from 5.9% prior. “We are also lowering our calendar 2013 annual GDP growth forecast to 4.7% from 4.9%,” ANZ says. India’s annualised H1 growth was 5.1%, but H2 headwinds suggest full year growth will likely be around 4.7%, the bank says.