South African Markets – Factors to watch on July 20

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 20 (Reuters) – The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect South African markets on Tuesday.

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GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, looking past weak revenue growth at top U.S. firms and weak U.S. economic data, as shares of resource firms and banks clawed back some of their recent losses. [MKTS/GLOB]

GOLD XAU=

Gold regained strength on Tuesday as jewellery makers resurfaced after the price dropped to its weakest in nearly two months, while investors looked to movements in other markets for further cues. [GOL/]

AQUARIUS PLATINUM (AQPJ.J)

The company was reassured it will have some flexibility on how to improve safety at its mines, following a meeting with South African regulators, it said on Tuesday, a day after its shares were hammered in Australia and London. [ID:nSGE66I0KZ]

KUMBA IRON ORE (KIOJ.J)/ARCELORMITTAL (ACLJ.J)

South Africa’s government said Kumba Iron Ore (KIOJ.J) and ArcelorMittal (ACLJ.J) were committed to reaching an agreement regarding their dispute over the price of iron ore. [ID:LDE66I1YV]

AFRICA FUNDS

A 44-week streak of inflows to funds investing in emerging and frontier equities in Africa has ended while inflows to South Africa have risen, fund tracker EPFR Global said. [ID:nLDE66J02W]

MONETARY POLICY

The SARB monetary policy committee starts 2-1/2 day meeting on interest rates on Tuesday.

BOND AUCTION

South Africa will issue 1.5 billion rand of its 2017 bond ZAR203= and 600 million rand of its 2021 bond ZAR208= at its weekly debt auction.

MAIZE DATA

South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS) releases data on weekly maize imports and exports.

NIGERIA BANKS

Nigeria’s president on Monday signed into law legislation creating an asset management company to soak up bad bank loans and revive private sector lending in sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy. [ID:nLDE66I1OV]

MIGRANT ATTACKS

South African residents have attacked migrants from African countries in a Johannesburg township, injuring at least five people hurt and increasing concerns of a wave of xenophobia after the soccer World Cup. [ID:nLDE66J024]

PINNACLE TECHNOLOGY (PNCJ.J)

The IT company said it would pay 170.9 million rand to buy Axiz Technology. [ID:nWEA0116]

SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS

The South African rand weakened against the dollar on Monday after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the government would allow central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market, while miners and banks dragged stocks lower. [ID:nLDE66I1UL]

WALL STREET

U.S. stocks rose on Monday, spurred by optimism ahead of earnings from key technology companies and after Dow component Boeing announced strong orders.

But shares of IBM fell nearly 4 percent after the closing bell after its revenues missed expectations, and Texas Instruments slumped 6 percent as its revenue failed to impress. [.N]

EMERGING MARKETS

For the top emerging markets news, double click on [nTOPEMRG]

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Some of the main stories out of the South African press:

BUSINESS DAY

- OECD warns SA on strong rand threat to economy

- Battle to lure diners after Cup binge

- Tough half-year will be seen in bank results

BUSINESS REPORT

- Famous Brands (FBRJ.J) outscores McDonald’s in Cup month

- Hudaco (HDCJ.J) poised for acquisition splurge (Reporting by David Dolan)

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Israel’s Gazit-Globe raises $130 mln in bond issue

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 13 (Reuters) – Israeli real estate investment company Gazit-Globe (GLOB.TA) raised 500 million shekels ($130 million) in a public offering of bonds which it will use to pay down debt, it said on Tuesday.

The company expanded its series 9 unsecured debentures, which bear interest of 5.30 percent, are adjusted to the consumer price index and mature in 2018. The offering was underwritten by a syndicate led by Leader Capital Markets.

The debentures carry a credit rating of “A+/A1″ with a stable outlook by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s domestic subsidiaries — Maalot and Midroog, respectively.

Midroog upgraded Gazit-Globe’s rating outlook for the company’s bonds to “stable” from “negative” in April, saying there had been substantial improvement in the company’s liquidity and financial flexibility and that it had been successful in lowering its level of leveraging. [ID:nLDE63B0L4]

Net proceeds from the bonds will be used to pay down some of the company’s revolving credit facilities.

Gazit-Globe develops income-producing properties throughout the world, focusing on supermarket-anchored shopping centres.

It operates in the United States through Equity One (EQY.N) and in Canada through First Capital Reality Inc (FCR.TO). It is the largest shareholder in Finland’s Citycon (CTY1S.HE) and together with Citigroup (C.N) controls shopping mall developer Atrium European Real Estate ATRV.VI. (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Sharon Lindores) ($1 = 3.865 shekels)

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Indian shares drag as Infosys disappoints

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MUMBAI, July 13 (Reuters) – Indian shares were trading 0.1 percent lower on Tuesday, led by technology stocks, as investors ignored a guidance upgrade by Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) and concentrated on a rare drop in its June quarter earnings.

Weak Asian shares also added to the negative sentiment, led by Chinese stocks which fell 2 percent on reports Beijing will not ease tougher property measures any time soon. [MKTS/GLOB]

Shares in Infosys, which scaled new peaks in the last two sessions, were down 3.1 percent, after it said net profit in the June quarter fell to 14.9 billion rupees ($318 million) from 15.3 billion rupees a year ago. [ID:nSGE6680B5]

“People will now adjust their expectations for other IT majors like TCS and Wipro,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance.

“The share prices of IT companies had run up on a lot of expectations … probably more than what was warranted.”

By 11:14 a.m. (0544 GMT), the 30-share BSE Index .BSESN was trading down 0.12 percent at 17,915.33 points with 13 of its components declining.

The benchmark which had rallied 81 percent in 2009, is up 2.6 percent so far in 2010.

Investors will watch out corporate earnings for April-June for cues in the near term.

“We expect a 22 percent to 25 percent growth in earnings for Sensex companies for the June quarter,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares.

“The direction for guidance is also likely to be positive.”

Foreign funds have invested $7.1 billion in Indian equities so far in 2010, after a record inflow of $17.5 billion in 2009.

Other software majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.BO) and Wipro (WIPR.BO) were down 2.4 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Leading mobile operators Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) and Reliance Communications dragged lower on continued concerns of margin erosion due to lower tariffs and growing competition.

The stocks were down 1.7 percent and 1 percent respectively.

Lenders continued to gain on expectations of better loan demand as the economy grows.

Late last week, Trade Minister Anand Sharma told Reuters India’s gross domestic product growth is expected to return to “9 percent plus” this year, led by strong corporate performance and rising savings levels. [ID:nSGE6680FV]

Top lender State Bank of India (SBI.BO) was up nearly 1 percent while private sector rivals ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO) and HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO) rose 0.5 percent each.

Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC.BO) climbed 1.7 percent.

In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers in a ratio of 1.4:1 in a volume of 130 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1 percent at 5,377.20 points.

STOCKS ON THE MOVE

* CMC (CMC.BO), which offers customer services like IT solutions and system integration, was up 2.4 percent at 1,520.05 rupees as it reported late Monday its June-quarter consolidated net profit was 464.5 million rupees [ID:nSGE66B0H6].

* Unichem Laboratories (UNLB.BO) rose 2.3 percent to 480 rupees after the drugmaker said on Monday said it will consider a stock split at its board meeting scheduled on July 22. [ID:nWNBS0473]

MAIN TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* Suzlon Energy (SUZL.BO) on nearly 5 million shares

* Idea Cellular (IDEA.BO) on 1.7 million shares

* IFCI (IFCI.BO) on 1.5 million shares

FACTORS TO WATCH * For technical analysis double click on www.reutersindia.net * Indian rupee report [INR/] * Indian bond report [IN/] * Euro steady after retreat, Greek auction eyed [FRX/] * Oil slides with equities;U.S. inventories seen mixed [O/R] * China stocks slide on property, weigh on Asia [MKTS/GLOB] * Wall St ekes out gain as caution rules before results [.N] * For closing rates of Indian ADRs INADR (Reporting by Ami Shah; editing by Malini Menon)

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HIV uses several routes to escape immune system pressure

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 19 (ANI): Researchers at the Emory Vaccine Center have shown that HIV relies upon a number of strategies rather than use any preferred escape route to escape immune system pressure.

The human immune system has the ability to temporarily overpower HIV in early infection.

Studies conducted in the recent past have shown that most newly infected patients develop neutralizing antibodies. These are blood proteins that glob onto the virus and would allow patients to defend themselves – if they were facing only one target.

However, the problem occurs when HIV mutates, and disguises itself enough to get away from the antibodies. The virus eventually wears down the immune system into exhaustion.

The Emory team’s findings attain significance as they suggest that even if any scientist succeeds in identifying a vaccine component that can stimulate neutralizing antibodies, HIV’s capacity for rapid mutation could still be a confounding factor.

Dr. Cynthia Derdeyn, associate professor of pathology at Emory University School of Medicine, Emory Vaccine Center and Yerkes National Primate Research Center, says that a single type of neutralizing antibody may not be enough to contain HIV.

“These neutralizing antibodies work really well – they hit the virus fast and hard. But so far, every time we look, the virus escapes,” she says.

During the study, the researchers took blood samples from the participants a few weeks after infection occurred, and then later as two participants’ immune responses continued.

They isolated individual viruses over the first two years of HIV infection, and tested how well the patients’ own antibodies could neutralize them.

“In one patient where we had very early samples, there was evidence that neutralizing antibody came up within weeks, and that’s earlier than what was previously thought,” Derdeyn says.

In both patients, some viruses mutated part of their outer proteins so that after the mutation, an enzyme would be likely to attach a sugar molecule to it.

Though the sugar molecule interferes with antibody attack, this tactic, known as the “glycan shield”, was not observed in all cases.

Other viruses mutated the part of the outer protein that the neutralizing antibodies stick to directly. In both patients, many changes in the virus’ genetic code were necessary for escape.

“We need to understand early events in the immune response if we are going to figure out what a potential vaccine should have in it. What we can show is that even in one patient, several escape strategies are going on,” Derdeyn says.

According to her, that means that in order to be immune to HIV infection, someone may need to have several types of neutralizing antibodies ready to go.

Seeing how the virus mutates will allow researchers to choose the best parts to put in a vaccine, she says.

The results are online and scheduled for publication in the September issue of the journal Public Library of Science Pathogens.(ANI)

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Gold little changed at $890/oz, eyes stock market

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Gold stays near $890 as investors wary about dumping gold

* Buying limited due to receding safe-haven demand

* SPDR Gold Trust GLD holdings unchanged at record

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO, April 15 (Reuters) – Gold was steady around $890 per
ounce on Wednesday as investors watched equity markets to gauge
risk appetite and awaited U.S. earnings and manufacturing data
for more clues on the health of the global economy.

Traders said current prices were unlikely to draw either
buying or selling interest as investors pondered whether to
shift money into equities or hold on to gold.

Stock market sentiment has improved since a G20 meeting of
global leaders this month and after government stimulus
packages from around the world.

“There is not much interest at the $900 level as equities
look more exciting than gold and people are not feeling so much
pain,” said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers
in Hong Kong.

“But investors don’t want to dump gold because they don’t
know where to put the money,” he said, adding that there was
still too much uncertainty over the global economic outlook to
let go of safe-haven assets.

He said gold would have to fall near $875 to draw buying
interest, including jewellery buying, or rise above $900 to
prompt selling.

Spot gold was trading at $891.05 per ounce, up 0.2
percent from New York’s notional close of $888.85 on Tuesday.

Bullion last closed above $900 on April 2 before hitting a
2-½ month low of $864.30 last week.

Holdings at the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, were unchanged at a record
1,127.68 tonnes as of April 14, a level first reached on April
9. [GOL/SPDR]

Japan’s Nikkei stock average .N225 was down 0.8 percent,
while MSCI’s measure of stocks elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific
region .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1.2 percent. [.T] [MKTS/GLOB]

Traders believe the precious metal’s strength is intact as
investors remain cautious about U.S. corporate results.

U.S. March data for consumer prices, real earnings and
industrial production will be released later in the day.
Precious metals prices at 0305 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 890.50 1.65 +0.19 1.18
Spot Silver 12.72 0.00 +0.00 12.37
Spot Platinum 1214.00 10.00 +0.83 30.26
Spot Palladium 233.00 3.00 +1.30 26.29
TOCOM Gold 2844.00 -41.00 -1.42 10.53
12622
TOCOM Platinum 3855.00 -88.00 -2.23 45.36
15219
TOCOM Silver 401.40 -1.10 -0.27 25.71
176
TOCOM Palladium 750.00 -17.00 -2.22 36.36
191
Euro/Dollar 1.3242
Dollar/Yen 98.53
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Ben Tan)

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PREVIEW-Kuwaiti bank profits to rebound after Q4 losses

April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

* Profits seen falling year on year

* Expects to rebound from Q4 losses

By Ulf Laessing

KUWAIT, April 12 (Reuters) – First-quarter profits at Kuwaiti banks are expected to decline year on year, but improve from losses in the prior three months even as a global recession hits, analysts said.

Shares in the OPEC producer’s banks have risen since it approved a $5 billion stimulus aimed at helping the financial sector, mainly by giving state guarantees for new loans. It also allows the state to buy into banks unable to raise fresh funds. [ID:nLQ655621]

Analysts said the worst appeared to be over for now at Kuwaiti banks after several major players, such as Kuwait Finance House (KFIN.KW) (KFH) and Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBKK.KW) (CBK), plunged into the red in the fourth quarter after taking provisions.

Banks’ first-quarter profits would fall on average 30-35 percent from the year ago period, but that might still boost shares, said Naser al-Nafisi, general manager at the al-Joman Center for Economic Consultancy.

“The situation has improved compared to the fourth quarter, provided there are no more provisions we don’t know about,” he said. “Despite a profit fall the shares, which have fallen 50 percent in some cases, might benefit.” Gulf Bank (GBKK.KW) has already said it is expecting to post a profit in the first quarter, after diving deep into the red in the fourth quarter due to losses with derivatives. [ID:nLB15843]

Under a revamp ordered by the central bank the lender secured fresh funds from shareholders and the state’s sovereign wealth fund.

“Earnings will be under pressure. For National Bank of Kuwait (NBKK.KW) and CBK, profit will be subdued but I don’t expect they will be making losses,” said Naveed Ahmed, a financial analyst at Kuwaiti investment bank Global Investment House.

“I am a bit sceptical regarding KFH and Gulf Bank due to their low non-performing loans coverage ratio.”

In a Reuters survey, EFG-Hermes expected net profit at NBK to fall by 26 percent, KFH to fall by 51 percent and CBK by 30 percent. [ID:nEARNINGS]

Both KFH and CBK have warned of a tough first quarter but said profit would be good given the current economic situation.

INVESTMENT FIRMS EXPOSURE

Kuwaiti banks have also managed to diversify their income streams by expanding abroad — although to a much lesser extent than rivals in the United Arab Emirates — which has left them less exposed to international real estate or stock markets.

But local banks are exposed to the troubled investment sector, where several major players like Global Investment House (GLOB.KW) or Investment Dar (TIDK.KW) are struggling to raise new loans.

Fitch Ratings has cut its rating on KFH over risks in its loans to Kuwaiti investment firms, warning it may further downgrade the major Islamic lender after its first-half results. [ID:nL1274542]

“Further provisioning and equity mark-to-market losses will also be seen this quarter, though to a lower extent,” said Global Investment House’s Ahmed. (Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Sam Cage and Mike Nesbit)

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