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)
Capitaland's serviced residence arm The Ascott has clinched four contracts to manage more than 850 units in Asia, the real estate company announced on Wednesday after the market opened.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
CAPITALAND'S serviced residence arm The Ascott has clinched four contracts to manage more than 850 units in Asia, the real estate company announced on Wednesday after the market opened.
The 149-unit Citadines Han River Seoul is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016 and will be the earliest to begin among the four new contracts. This will be The Ascott's first Citadines-branded project in the South Korean city.
The Ascott will manage the 308-unit Citadines Punaka Yogyakarta, a 10-minute drive from the Malioboro shopping district in the Indonesian city. The contract will be The Ascott's first in the tourist destination.
The company will also make its first inroad into the Malaysian city of Miri with a contract to manage the 200-unit Somerset Arcadia Miri.
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In Vietnam, The Ascott will manage the 200-unit Citadines Central Binh Duong.
CapitaLand shares slipped 0.7 per cent, or 2 Singapore cents, to trade at S$2.78 as at 9.39am.
Gold slips on firmer dollar, no benefit from equities fall
Gold edged lower on Wednesday with appetite for the metal soured by a firmer dollar despite weaker Asian equities, and failure to breach a key resistance and a looming US rate hike suggest more downside risk.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[MANILA] Gold edged lower on Wednesday with appetite for the metal soured by a firmer dollar despite weaker Asian equities, and failure to breach a key resistance and a looming US rate hike suggest more downside risk.
Asian stocks sagged after sharp overnight losses on Wall Street, fed by worries over weak Chinese manufacturing data. Chinese stocks fell again despite pledges by a number of brokerages to increase their stock investment to support the market.
Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at US$1,138.01 an ounce by 0301 GMT, after touching a one-week high of US$1,147.16 on Tuesday.
Gold has failed to convincingly breach the US$1,145 resistance even in the face of a 3 per cent slide in US stocks on Tuesday, said Howie Lee, analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. "This suggests that in the short term, stock market meltdown or no meltdown, gold prices are unwilling to move above US$1,145 (and) it will take a way stronger catalyst, say a very weak nonfarm payrolls number this Friday, to substantially bring prices (higher)," Mr Lee wrote in a note to clients.
A US private employment report later in the day could give a rough guide on the wider nonfarm payrolls data on Friday.
Some economists say strong employment growth in August could help cement expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade at its next meeting on Sept 16-17.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said the US central bank will probably only gradually raise interest rates, irrespective of whether it decides to take the first step a few months earlier or later.
Non-interest bearing gold has been hit by a looming hike in US interest rates, shifting funds to the dollar. But some analysts say the dollar could also be prone to profit-taking when the Fed does raise rates, which should support gold.
Tuesday marked spot gold's fourth day of gains, but technical analysts at ScotiaMocatta said "it is hard to get too bullish considering the falls are more significant than the bounces." "We believe this is a consolidation situation with only a breach of US$1,168 bringing in fresh buying," they said.
US gold for December delivery slipped 0.2 per cent to US$1,138 per ounce.
Spot silver dropped 0.3 per cent to US$14.53 an ounce, palladium gained 0.6 per cent to US$570.75 and platinum rose 0.2 per cent to US$1,002.70.
ADB head says China yuan's falls reflect market value
ADB President Takehiko Nakao also said that while China's economy may no longer expand at a 10-per cent pace seen in the past, it will continue to grow steadily as it shifts to a consumption-driven economy with a deeper service sector.
PHOTO: AFP
[YOKOHAMA] The yuan's recent depreciation moves it closer towards its real market value, the head of the Asian Development Bank said, dismissing fears that China may export deflation to its Asian neighbours by flooding goods made cheaper by a weak currency.
ADB President Takehiko Nakao also said that while China's economy may no longer expand at a 10-per cent pace seen in the past, it will continue to grow steadily as it shifts to a consumption-driven economy with a deeper service sector.
"China used to intervene to prevent excessive yuan strengthening, causing some friction with the United States," Mr Nakao, Japan's former top currency diplomat, told a seminar in Yokohama, eastern Japan, on Wednesday. "What's been happening recently is that the yuan has become overvalued ... Depreciation of the yuan is in line with its real market value."
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has repeatedly intervened to stabilise the yuan since the Aug 11 devaluation - billed as free-market reform - sent shockwaves through global markets and depressed emerging currencies.
Mr Nakao acknowledged that the recent market turmoil partly reflected investors' concern on whether Chinese authorities can guide their economy towards a soft-landing.
But he was sanguine on the outlook, saying that while Chinese stock prices have fallen significantly, they remained above levels seen last summer. "Chinese consumption remains very strong and the country's service sector has great potential to grow," Mr Nakao said. "I'm not too worried about the outlook."
Worries about a sharp slowdown in China's economy have jolted global financial markets and heightened concern among Asian policymakers on the outlook for the region's economies.
Mr Nakao said the slowdown in China may weigh on countries that rely heavily on commodity exports to the world's second-biggest economy such as Indonesia. "But Asian countries have the ability to keep expanding on their own," he said. "I don't think (China's slowdown) will deal a severe blow to Asia's economic development."
Ringgit falls amid global stock selloff on China growth outlook
Malaysia's ringgit fell the most in a week amid a global selloff in equities and as energy prices slumped on signs China's economy is slowing.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's ringgit fell the most in a week amid a global selloff in equities and as energy prices slumped on signs China's economy is slowing.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index of stocks dropped more than one per cent Wednesday, raising concern more foreign investors will exit after dumping about US$3 billion in shares this year. Brent crude tumbled 8.5 per cent Tuesday in its biggest one-day slide since 2011 before data forecast to show US stockpiles increased. The price of the commodity has halved in the past year, cutting Malaysia's export earnings and contributing to a 24 per cent slump in the ringgit. A report on Tuesday showed China's official factory gauge fell to a three-year low last month.
An overnight drop in emerging-market currencies and a retreat in Brent "should see Asia falling back in line with the rest of the world where risk appetite remains impaired," said Nizam Idris, the Singapore-based head of foreign-exchange and fixed-income strategy at Macquarie Bank Ltd.
"Oil has been volatile." The ringgit weakened 1.4 per cent to 4.2227 a dollar as of 10:08 am in Kuala Lumpur, the steepest decline in Asia, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It reached a 17-year low of 4.2990 on Aug 26.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index was poised for its biggest drop in more than a week, with energy services company SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd. sinking 2.2 per cent. Brent crude lost a further 1.7 per cent.
Government bonds fell, with the 10-year yield rising five basis points to 4.28 per cent after dropping 17 basis points on Tuesday, Bursa Malaysia prices show.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and DLF Home Developers, a unit of India-listed real estate developer DLF Ltd, have formed a joint venture to invest in two upcoming projects in Central Delhi.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
SINGAPORE sovereign wealth fund GIC and DLF Home Developers, a unit of India-listed real estate developer DLF Ltd, have formed a joint venture to invest in two upcoming projects in Central Delhi.
Both projects will be built under DLF Home Developers. GIC will invest about Rs1,990 crores (S$422.4 million).
GIC said it is confident of India's long-term growth potential and the "attractive opportunities" of India's real estate sector.
DLF said it hopes the investment can be the start of a new relationship with GIC at the project level, and aims to work with the fund in other residential and commercial projects, and also to unlock embedded value in DLF's own development projects.
Shares of DLF reportedly traded higher by 4 per cent to 110 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the news was out.
The investment is subject to meeting all statutory requirements and conditions.
Millions strike in India over 'anti-labour' reforms
Workers lay cables along the Leh Manali highway in Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir, India, on Saturday, on Aug 8, 2015.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
[NEW DELHI] Millions of workers across India held a 24-hour strike Wednesday in protest at right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policies, which they say will put jobs at risk and hurt ordinary people.
Ten major unions went ahead with the day-long strike over the government's pro-business initiatives after talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley broke down.
Unions are demanding the government dump plans to sell off stakes in state-run companies to boost the public purse and to shut down unproductive factories.
Some 150 million workers, including those in the banking, manufacturing, construction and coal mining sectors, were expected to walk off the job Wednesday.
The strike also affected transport. Long lines of commuters and school children could be seen at bus stops early Wednesday, while passengers were stranded at airports as taxis and rickshaws stayed off the streets.
Financial services were expected to be hit by the strike, with many banks shutting their doors for the day.
Hawkers, domestic workers and daily wage labourers were also expected to join the strike to demand an increase in the minimum wage.
Television footage showed the strike's impact in the eastern state of West Bengal, where unions enjoy significant clout, with the capital city of Kolkata mostly deserted with bank branches, shops and other businesses closed early Wednesday.
Mr Modi won a landslide election victory last May, promising a string of business-friendly reforms to attract foreign investment and revive Asia's third-largest economy.
But the opposition has blocked flagship tax and land reforms, aggravating investor concerns, while the unions are increasingly angry over the reforms.
India's economy grew by a slower than expected 7.0 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year and experts say reforms are needed to create jobs for millions of young people.
Previous strikes have shut down cities and cost the Indian economy millions of dollars in lost production.
PBOC seen quitting yuan support by end-2015 as reserves shrink
China's central bank will have to step back from supporting the yuan by early December and allow the currency to decline, given the current strain on foreign- exchange reserves, according to Rabobank Group.
PHOTO: EPA
[BEIJING] China's central bank will have to step back from supporting the yuan by early December and allow the currency to decline, given the current strain on foreign- exchange reserves, according to Rabobank Group.
The nation has to keep at least US$2.7 trillion in hand to avoid any potential shortfalls, considering it needs US$1 trillion to pay for six months of goods imports and US$1.7 trillion to service external debt, Michael Every, head of financial markets research at Rabobank in Hong Kong, wrote in a note Tuesday. The stockpile will shrink by US$40 billion a month for the rest of 2015, partly due to efforts to prop up the yuan, according to a Bloomberg survey conducted in August.
"The pile may already have dropped by as much as $200 billion in the last few weeks of August," Mr Every said, adding that he expects the yuan to decline to 7 against the greenback by the end of this year, from about 6.4 now. "In 2016, if China's economic fundamentals do not improve and the US continues to tighten monetary policy, then a further slide to as far as 7.50 and beyond is not out of the question." The People's Bank of China has set stronger daily reference rates for the yuan and intervened in the spot and swap markets to prop up the currency since an Aug 11 devaluation. It has also imposed a 20 per cent reserve requirement on financial institutions trading in foreign-exchange forwards for clients, effective Oct 15, according to people familiar with the matter. The value of yuan forwards transactions was US$51.1 billion in July, compared with US$698 billion in the spot market.
"The new rule makes speculating on the yuan's decline more expensive in the foreign-exchange forwards market," said Banny Lam, co-head of research at Agricultural Bank of China International Securities in Hong Kong. "This is a new signal the PBOC has sent, on top of stronger fixings, that it prefers a stable yuan and the currency's one-off devaluation is over." The onshore yuan, which can trade a maximum 2 per cent on either side of the PBOC's fixing, was little changed 6.3651 as of 11:14 am in Shanghai on Wednesday, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices. It rose 0.74 per cent in the five days through Tuesday after plunging 3 percent in the three days following the devaluation. The freely-traded offshore yuan in Hong Kong declined 0.18 per cent to 6.4356, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The PBOC on Wednesday raised its daily fixing by 0.21 per cent to 6.3619 a dollar, the strongest level since Aug 12. That brings its four-day increase to 0.7 per cent. Chinese financial markets will be closed Thursday through Sunday as the nation celebrates the victory in World War II.
China's foreign-exchange reserves, the world's biggest stockpile, have slumped US$315 billion in the year through July to US$3.65 trillion. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that every 1 per cent drop in the yuan triggers about US$40 billion of outflows.
