We need to find a fairer way of providing Goods and Services to the rest of the people on Earth.Cryptocurrencies and/or Gold Standard of money....maybe the answer to fight hyperinflation caused by too much printing of paper/fiat currencies by Governments and Central Banks all over the World. (https://nomorefiatmoneyplease.blogspot.com)
A WORLDWIDE rout in equity markets spilled over into Singapore stocks on Wednesday morning as risk aversion ruled.
The local market opened 2.7 per cent lower on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index retreating 70.75 points to 2,552.46 as at 9am.
The blue-chip index tumbled after the yen surged to its highest level in more than a year against the US dollar on Tuesday, sparking a sharp 5.4 per cent plunge in the Nikkei 225.
Blue chips bore the brunt of the early sell-off in Singapore. About 39.1 million shares worth S$95.2 million had changed hands as at 9am, which worked out to an average unit price of S$2.43 per share.
The most actively traded counter was commodities trader Noble Group, which fell S$0.025 to S$0.305 with 8.9 million shares changing hands as at 10.02am. Other actives included Singapore Telecommunications and commodities firm Golden Agri-Resources.
Losers outnumbered gainers 131 to 24, or about five down for every one up.
Default risk at State Bank of India surges on bad debt concerns
[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.
Japan's Asahi offers US$3.5b for Peroni, Grolsch: report
Japan's Asahi Group Holdings has offered US$3.5 billion for two top European lager brands from British giant SABMiller, in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese beer company, a report said Wednesday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
[TOKYO] Japan's Asahi Group Holdings has offered US$3.5 billion for two top European lager brands from British giant SABMiller, in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese beer company, a report said Wednesday.
Board members finalised the 400 billion yen proposal Tuesday for Peroni of Italy and the Netherlands' Grolsch, the leading Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.
The company refused to confirm the report but said in a statement it was "studying a variety of possibilities for a capital and business tie-up, including this case". Nothing has been finalised, it added.
Acquiring the brands, which have a long history in Asia-Pacific, would allow Asahi to broaden its overseas strategy, the report said. Overseas sales only account for about 10 per cent of Asahi's total sales.
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Asahi Group shares fell 7.66 per cent to 3,347.0 yen by the break on Wednesday.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's top brewer, is taking over rival SABMiller, and Peroni and Grolsch have been put on the market as part of an asset sale arrangement, the Nikkei said.
If successful, the deal would be the biggest since Kirin Holdings turned Australia's Lion Nathan into a wholly owned subsidiary for 330 billion yen in 2009, the Nikkei said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev announced in November the purchase of SABMiller for US$121 billion, which was the third largest acquisition in history.
