Hackers hit two more Japan websites amid whale hunting protests

Two more Japanese websites stopped working today as hackers claiming affiliation with the collective Anonymous step up attacks to protest the country's whale hunting. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

FEB 10, 201610:26 AM

[TOKYO] Two more Japanese websites stopped working today as hackers claiming affiliation with the collective Anonymous step up attacks to protest the country's whale hunting.

Japan's National Tax Agency website appeared to be down for some users on Wednesday morning at 9.02am local time. The agency's website failure came after Japan Securities Finance Co's site stopped working earlier same day.

An anonymous Twitter user claiming to be affiliated with the hacking group Anonymous took responsibility for both website crashes, according to tweets posted Wednesday morning. The same hacker, protesting against Japan's whale and dolphin hunts, has claimed responsibility for past cyber attacks on the websites of Japanese companies and government institutions, including those of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Services Agency and Nissan Motor Co.

Japanese whale and dolphin hunting has continued despite international criticism. Decades of over-hunting has left species including blue, fin and humpback whales endangered and triggered an international campaign to save the animals that culminated with a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Since the ban however, Japan has killed thousands of whales by taking advantage of that treaty's exception on whaling for scientific research.

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Chinese consortium bids 10.5b crowns for Norway's Opera

FEB 10, 20162:05 PM

[OSLO] A group of Chinese firms have made a cash offer for all the shares in Norwegian mobile software company Opera, valuing it at 10.5 billion crowns (S$1.71 billion), the Norwegian firm said on Wednesday.

The buyers, which include New-York listed Qihoo 360 and Shenzen-listed Beijing Kunlun Tech, made an offer of 71 Norwegian crowns per share, a 45.6 per cent premium on the value of the shares in the company on Friday.

Shares in the Oslo-based firm have been suspended from trade since Friday as the shares rose ahead of an expected announcement on the company's future and were worth 48.77 Norwegian crowns.

The online advertising and internet browser maker said last year it was considering a sale of the company.

"The board of directors of Opera has unanimously decided to recommend the company's shareholders to accept the offer," Opera said in a statement.

The buyers also include unlisted Chinese firms Golden Brick and Yonglian Investment.

Owners of 33 per cent of Opera's shares have already agreed to the deal, the Opera board said.

REUTERS

    
 

Default risk at State Bank of India surges on bad debt concerns

FEB 10, 20162:36 PM

[MUMBAI] The cost of insuring the bonds of State Bank of India (SBI) is surging before the nation's largest lender reports quarterly earnings on Thursday amid concern over worsening asset quality.

Credit-default swaps protecting the bank's debt against non-payment for five years jumped to 202 basis points on Tuesday, the highest since August 2014, according to prices data provider CMA.

The contracts, considered a proxy for the sovereign, have climbed 20 basis points in their biggest two-day advance since Jan 21.

Earnings at banks are under pressure as they boost provisions for stressed assets to meet a March 2017 deadline set by the Reserve Bank of India to bolster lenders' balance sheets.

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The central bank is striving to pare the ratio of restructured and soured loans to total advances from a 14-year high and reverse a slowdown in lending.

ICICI Bank Ltd, State Bank's largest private-sector rival, last month posted its slowest quarterly profit growth in six years amid rising bad debts and a threefold increase in provisions.

"Investors are worried about a possible surge in the bad loan provisions at SBI," said Hatim Broachwala, Mumbai-based banking analyst at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities Ltd.

"A sharp deterioration in asset quality at state-run banks that have reported earnings so far has added to this concern."

Sovereign bonds funds set aside for bad loans at Punjab National Bank doubled in the quarter ended Dec 31 over the previous three months, the New Delhi-based lender said in a filing Tuesday.

Its soured debt ratio also widened. Mumbai-based Dena Bank Ltd posted a threefold increase in provisions, swinging to a quarterly loss. SBI will report a net profit of 33 billion rupees (S$667.5 million), according to the mean estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

The lender's shares fell 2 per cent to 163.65 rupees in a second day of declines in Mumbai on Wednesday, taking their 2016 loss to 27 per cent. That's about three times the drop in the nation's benchmark S&P BSE Sensex stock index.

Indian sovereign bonds rose Wednesday, driving the yield on notes due May 2025 two basis points lower to 7.82 per cent, according to prices from the central bank's trading system. The rupee weakened 0.1 per cent to 67.95 per dollar.

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US crude rebounds in Asia but supply glut worries weigh

Oil prices rebounded on bargain-buying in Asia Wednesday after the previous day's plunge but analysts warned any gains would be limited as the global glut that has hammered markets showed no sign of letting up. 

PHOTO: AFP

FEB 10, 201611:43 AM

[SINGAPORE] Oil prices rebounded on bargain-buying in Asia Wednesday after the previous day's plunge but analysts warned any gains would be limited as the global glut that has hammered markets showed no sign of letting up.

Investors are also nervously awaiting the release later in the day of a report on US stockpiles that is forecast to show a further increase in inventories.

At around 0300 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery was up 54 cents, or 1.93 per cent, at US$28.48 and Brent crude for April climbed 72 cents, or 2.37 per cent, to $31.04.

WTI plunged 5.9 per cent and Brent dived 7.7 per cent on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report that the global surplus would be larger than previously expected in the first half of 2016.

It noted that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) was chiefly responsible for the oversupply, adding that Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran - which has just seen nuclear-linked sanctions lifted - had "all turned up the taps" in January.

Phillip Futures analyst Daniel Ang also said Wednesday's price rebound was helped by the reopening of some regional markets after the Chinese New Year break.

"Chinese investors and traders are coming back to support the market after the Lunar New Year holidays," he told AFP. "They are buying crude oil on discount." But Ang said the rebound is unlikely to hold due to expectations that the US Department of Energy would report later Wednesday another rise in commercial crude stocks in the week ending February 5.

"The current issue is still about oversupply. Fundamentals are still the same," he added.

Crude prices have crashed from above US$100 per barrel in July 2014 to under US$30 as it is hit by a perfect storm of overproduction, oversupply, weak demand and a slowdown in the global economy, particularly key consumer China.

AFP

    
 

Oil prices rebound from sharp selloff; more volatility expected

Crude oil prices pushed higher on Wednesday after Iran said it was open to cooperation with Saudi Arabia, partly recovering from an 8 per cent fall in the previous session on concerns over demand and weak equities. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

FEB 10, 20161:00 PM

[SINGAPORE] Crude oil prices pushed higher on Wednesday after Iran said it was open to cooperation with Saudi Arabia, partly recovering from an 8 per cent fall in the previous session on concerns over demand and weak equities.

Liquidity in Asia remained low as China is closed all week due to the Lunar New Year holiday, while South Korea was also off on Wednesday and Japan will take a public holiday on Thursday.

Prices were supported by comments from Iran's oil minister that Tehran is ready to negotiate with Saudi Arabia over the current conditions in global oil markets.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), meanwhile, said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is unlikely to cut a deal with other producers to reduce ballooning output. It predicted the world will store unwanted oil for most of 2016 as declines in US oil output take time. "Another day of heightened volatility is expected as concerns over global growth prospects remain elevated," analysts at ANZ said in a note.

The front-month Brent contract was 70 cents, or 2.3 per cent, higher at US$31.02 a barrel by 0437 GMT. The contract fell for a fourth straight session on Tuesday to end down US$2.56, or 7.8 per cent.

US crude for March delivery was 59 cents higher at US$28.53 a barrel. The contract fell 5.9 per cent on Tuesday to settle US$1.75 lower.

Seeking protection against wild swings in prices, oil traders have scrambled to scoop up options, sending a key volatility index to its highest level since the worst of the global economic crisis in 2008, data showed.

Oil investors will turn to weekly inventory data by US Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday, with analysts surveyed by Reuters predicting a 3.6 million-barrel rise in crude stocks last week.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, reported a build of 2.4 million barrels in US crude stockpiles for last week. "Oil remains susceptible to further weakness as the market digests (Tuesday's) data," ANZ said.

Weighing on the general outlook for oil prices is a global demand growth slowdown. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) this week cut its 2016 world oil demand growth forecast by 180,000 bpd, with demand to hit 95.02 million bpd, up 1.24 million bpd from 2015.

Top oil merchant Vitol also said this week that it expected a slowdown in global oil demand growth from 1.6 million bpd last year to 800,000 to 1 million bpd in 2016.

REUTERS

    
 

Gold holds near US$1,200 as investors look to Fed, stocks for cues

Gold traded near a seven-month high as investors assess the outlook for US monetary policy amid swings in financial markets and concern that global growth is slowing. 

PHOTO: HERBAL PHARM

FEB 10, 20161:06 PM

[SINGAPORE] Gold traded near a seven-month high as investors assess the outlook for US monetary policy amid swings in financial markets and concern that global growth is slowing.

Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.5 per cent to US$1,194.52 an ounce and was at US$1,191.24 by 12:38 pm in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing.

The metal climbed above US$1,200 on Monday for the first time since June as global equities slumped.

Gold has outperformed all members of the Bloomberg Commodity Index in 2016 as growth concerns fuel market turbulence and boost demand for haven assets.

Bullion has also risen after the dollar weakened due to speculation that the US central bank will hold off raising interest rates. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen appears before the US House Financial Services Committee Wednesday and will address the Senate Banking Committee the next day.

Volatility on "global markets saw gold remain in sight of the US$1,200 an ounce level," Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd wrote in a note on Wednesday.

"Markets will be driven by two things today: the performance of equities and the semi-annual testimony by Fed chair Yellen."

The odds of a US rate increase by December are now less than 30 per cent, according to data tracked by Bloomberg. Precious metals tend to fare better in a lower rate environment as they don't deliver returns other than through price gains.

Investors reduced holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products for the first time in 17 days. The assets declined less than 0.1 per cent to 1,563.1 tons as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

BLOOMBERG