Taiwan stocks rise ahead of TSMC; HTC surges

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

TAIPEI, July 29 (Reuters) – Taiwan stocks rose 0.18 percent
on Thursday with smartphone maker (2498.TW) rising by its maximum
daily limit after comments from Sprint (S.N) on strong demand for
one of HTC’s phones.

The main TAIEX share index .TWII ended up 14.18 points at
7,798.99, lifted by a 7 percent jump in HTC.

U.S.-based Sprint Nextel (S.N) said on Wednesday it lost
fewer valuable contact customers in the second quarter than
analysts expected, helped by its most advanced smartphone, the
EVO from HTC. [ID:nN28190638]

Heavyweight TSMC (2330.TW) reported a record quarterly profit
after the close of the market [ID:nTPV001793].

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BlackBerry poses social, security risks, UAE warns

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

DUBAI, July 25 (Reuters) – The BlackBerry, made by Canada’s Research In Motion (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O), is open to misuse that poses security risks to the United Arab Emirates, which said on Sunday it would seek to safeguard its consumers and laws. Gulf state Bahrain in April warned against the use of BlackBerry Messenger software to distribute local news, drawing criticism from media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which called it an act of censorship.

That sparked concerns that other Gulf countries might also consider curbing the use of certain applications on the BlackBerry, which holds around 20 percent of the global smartphone market behind Nokia (NOK1V.HE) but ahead of Apple APPL.O.

BlackBerry was operating “beyond the jurisdiction of national legislation”, the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“As a result of how BlackBerry data is managed and stored, in their current form, certain BlackBerry applications allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions.”

The UAE was working to resolve “these critical issues with the objective of finding a solution that safeguards our consumers and operates within the boundaries of UAE law.”

Earlier this month, RIM said it was preparing to launch an applications store and consumer Internet services in China as part of its push into the world’s top mobile market. [ID:nN09260322]

A long-running censorship dispute between Beijing and Google Inc (GOOG.O) was only recently resolved. Google had said it might be forced to abandon the Chinese market because of hacking attacks and censorship concerns. (Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Jason Neely)

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Hungary bond yields jump as IMF/EU talks shelved

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – Hungarian government bond yields jumped by 20-25 basis points across the curve in illiquid trade at the open on Monday after government talks with international lenders ended inconclusively at the weekend.

Dealers said yields could rise further still and prevailing uncertainty in the absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union would continue to weigh on the market. [ID:nLDE66G0AP]

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs; editing by John Stonestreet)

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Romania – Factors to Watch on July 13

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 13 (Reuters) – Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Tuesday.

PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ends a two-day official visit to Romania. He is expected to meet the speaker of parliament’s lower house.

CURRENT ACCOUNT

The central bank is expected to release current account data for May.

ROMANIA JUNE INFLATION FLAT AT 4.4 PCT AS EXPECTED

Romania’s annual inflation ROCPI=ECI held steady at 4.4 percent in June, in line with market expectations, data from the National Statistics Board showed on Monday. [ID:nBCR000049]

ROMANIA JAN-MAY TRADE DEFICIT SHRINKS 3.2 PCT Y/Y

Romania’s trade deficit ROTBAL=ECI shrank by 3.2 percent to 3.8 billion euros in January-May from the previous year, as exports’ growth rate outpaced that of imports, data showed on Monday. [ID:nBCR000050]

* For an instant view of analysts’ comments on the date releases, please see [ID:nLDE66B0DM].

ROMANIA SELLS LITTLE DEBT, EVEN AT HIGHER YIELD

Romania sold a fraction of what it had planned at a tender for one-year treasury bills on Monday, sticking to a self-imposed cut-off yield of 7 percent and heightening concerns over budget funding. [ID:nLDE66B1OG]

ROMANIA INDICTS CHAIRMAN OF BANCA TRANSILVANIA

Banca Transilvania (BATR.BX), Romania’s second-largest listed bank, has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing after the bank’s chairman was indicted by prosecutors on charges of money laundering and manipulating the market. [ID:nLDE66B0XV]

CZECH GROUP CEZ QUITS ROMANIA GAS-FIRED POWER PROJECT

Czech power group CEZ (CEZPsp.PR) has withdrawn from a partnership with Romania to build a new 400 megawatt gas-fired power plant citing unforseen costs, central Europe’s biggest utility said on Monday.

[ID:nLDE66B180]

CHINA THE ANSWER FOR BALKAN POWER REVAMP

Faced with dwindling interest from cash-strapped and cautious European investors, the Balkans’ creaking electricity infrastructure is happily soaking up more money from China. [ID:nLDE6660I5]

CARS

New car registrations dropped 42 percent on the year in January-June in Romania, to about 37,000 units.

Ziarul Financiar, page 12

LAYOFFS

Romania’s farm ministry plans to lay off about 3,500 people out of its total 13,300 employees, according to a government draft bill.

Ziarul Financiar, Page 2

NOTE- For a diary of forthcoming Romanian events, double

click [RO/DIARY], and a calendar of east European economic indicators, see [CONV/DIARY].

For other related news, double click on: ————————————————————— Romania Market Debt [RO-DBT] Romanian forex [RO-FRX] Romania Market Report [ROL/] Romanian money [RO-M] Emerging Market Debt [EMRG/DBT] Emerging forex [EMRG/FRX] All Emerging Markets news [EMRG] CEE indicators [CONV/DIARY] All East Europe News [EEU] E.Europe equities [.CEE] TOP NEWS — Emerging markets [TOP/EMRG] TOP NEWS — Convergence watch [TOP/EAST] Romanian indicators [RO/ECI] Main page of Reuters poll —————————————————————

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Allied Irish mulls placing of M&T stake -report

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 27 (Reuters) – Allied Irish Banks (ALBK.I) plans an institutional placing of its minority stake in M&T Bank Corp (MTB.N) if merger talks between M&T and Spain’s Banco Santander (SAN.MC) cannot be revived, the Sunday Times newspaper said.

Stocks | Mergers & Acquisitions | Global Markets | Financials

A spokesman for Allied Irish declined to comment.

Santander has confirmed it has held talks on merging its U.S. operations with M&T and a separate media report last week said Santander was trying to revive those talks after initial discussions fell apart over the issue of control. [ID:nN21259474]

The Sunday Times, quoting unnamed sources, said Allied Irish was preparing a placing of its 22.5 percent stake in M&T at a “single-digit” discount to the prevailing market price, with no single buyer allowed to take more than 2 percent of the shares on offer, should there be no deal with Santander.

Allied Irish needs to raise 7.4 billion euros ($9.93 billion) this year to meet new regulatory capital requirements and plug the hole after loan sales to Ireland’s “bad bank” scheme.

Besides the M&T stake, it wants to sell its majority holding in Polish Bank Zachodni WBK BZWB.WA and its British businesses.

Last week Ireland’s head of banking supervision said Allied Irish was on track to raise some fresh capital through disposals but may struggle to minimise state ownership by selling in an uncertain market. [ID:nLDE65K0LO] (Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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REFILE-UPDATE 1-Merck KGaA again seeks U.S. nod for MS pill

June 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

FRANKFURT, June 8 (Reuters) – Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) has resubmitted its request for U.S. regulatory approval for its cladribine drug as it tries to catch up in the race for the first multiple sclerosis (MS) pill.

Merck in February had said it met with U.S. regulators in January about the approval for cladribine but had so far not given a timetable for resubmitting the drug, which is also under review in Europe.

Merck’s shares were indicated unchanged before the German market opens at 0700 GMT on Tuesday.

Rival Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) on April 13 moved closer to bringing the first oral MS treatment to market after new data showed its Gilenia pill cut relapse rates in the disease. [ID:nZAT010805]

Gilenia had earlier been given U.S. priority review status. U.S. experts are set to vote this week on whether to recommend approval. [ID:nLDE6530NT]

Merck KGaA had slipped behind Novartis in November after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration held up its application to bring cladribine to market. [ID:nGEE5AT1KS]

Merck had said its bid to bring the pill to European markets remained on track.

The head of Merck’s drug unit, Elmar Schnee, said on April 9 that advisers to European regulators would probably issue an assessment of the drug in the third quarter, adding he was confident about an approval. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Michael Shields)

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Google CEO says Apple helped AdMob deal

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) – Apple’s (AAPL.O) plunge into the advertising market announced this past week gave Google (GOOG.O) a big boost in arguing for regulators to approve its acquisition of mobile advertising leader AdMob, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on Sunday.

U.S. antitrust enforcers are apparently concerned the AdMob purchase could hurt applications developers, who often sell their apps for very little and make their money by selling advertising space on them.

But Schmidt, speaking after a speech at the American Society of News Editors, said Apple’s plan to make a foray into the advertising market with iAd, was “evidence of a highly competitive market.”

“It just seems obvious to me,” said Schmidt. “I hope it (Google’s purchase of AdMob) gets approved.”

Apple’s new advertising platform for the iPhone and iPad — dubbed iAd — marks Apple’s first move into a small but growing market. [ID:nLDE6380JB]

With iAd, applications developers will pocket 60 percent of the revenue. Apple will sell and host the ads.

Apple’s entry into the mobile ad arena had been widely expected. It paid $270 million for Quattro Wireless, an advertising network that spans both mobile websites and smartphone applications.

Google, the online search leader, announced a $750 million deal in November to buy AdMob, which controls about one-third of the market for putting ads on mobile applications and web pages.

FTC staff have been canvassing app developers to try to line up support to fight the deal, said one developer, who asked to remain unidentified because he had been interviewed by FTC attorneys.

“It’s been really interesting talking to them because they are so dead set against this,” said the developer. “They have been clearly positioning to try to stop this.”

Google, which generated 97 percent of its $23.7 billion in 2009 revenue from advertising, has faced growing antitrust scrutiny.

The company walked away from a search deal with Yahoo (YHOO.O) in 2008 when the Justice Department said it would challenge the tie-up. And Schmidt was forced to step down from Apple’s board last year after his dual roles came under FTC review.

The U.S. Department of Justice has been sharply critical of Google’s settlement with book publishers and authors’ groups that would allow the search giant to create an online digital library. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Valerie Lee)

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China stocks close higher on earnings prospects

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SHANGHAI, April 9 (Reuters) – China’s main stock index closed 0.85 percent higher on Friday, buoyed by a buying spree in new listings, but it remained captive to range-bound trade as strong corporate earnings offset official liquidity tightening efforts.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC finished the day at 3,145.347 points, largely recouping a 0.94 percent fall on Thursday. For the week, the index edged down 0.4 percent.

“The market seems to have accepted stability as its keynote for now,” said Zheng Weigang, head of investment at Shanghai Securities. “Strong corporate and economic fundamentals are largely offset by continuous official liquidity tightening.”

The People’s Bank of China resumed issuance of longer-term three-year bills in its open market operations on Thursday for the first time since mid-2008, stepping up its efforts to drain excessive liquidity from the market. [ID:nTOE63702X]

A string of listed companies have recently issued estimates of gains in first-quarter earnings, which are pending auditor scrutiny before actual numbers are published, and they typically cite China’s strong economic recovery as the key factor.

SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS), China’s biggest automaker, said on Friday its first-quarter net profit rose to more than four times the year-ago result, boosted by government steps to bolster car purchases. [ID:nTOE63800V]

SAIC Motor’s Shanghai-listed, yuan-denominated A shares closed up 1.24 percent, a relatively modest performance as investors had expected its earnings to jump.

Market newcomer Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (002384.SZ), a hardware producer, was Friday’s biggest gainer by far, jumping 168 percent from its initial public offering price of 26 yuan. ($1 = 6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Lu Jianxin and Edmund Klamann)

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China shares barely higher, short-selling weighs

April 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

* Index extends rally to 2-mth highs after strong data

Financials

* Short selling of major companies helps to cap gains

* Hong Kong share market closed for Good Friday

By Farah Master

SHANGHAI, April 2 (Reuters) – China’s key share index edged up 0.1 percent in sluggish trade by midday on Friday, extending the previous day’s rally to a two-month high although short selling of major issues such as Huatai Securities (601688.SS) under a newly launched pilot programme helped to cap the gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning at 3,150.268 points after rising 1.23 percent on Thursday, boosted by positive economic data and confirmation from the central bank that it would maintain a loose monetary policy.

Several key global markets including Hong Kong and the United States were closed for Good Friday.

Turnover from Shanghai’s pilot programme for margin trading, which started on Wednesday, totalled 6.59 million yuan ($965,400) on the first trading day, according to local media.

Under that programme, investors also sold 13 companies’ shares short on the first day, including China Merchants Bank (600036.SS), which fell 0.49 percent on Friday, and Huatai Securities, which eased 0.50 percent.

“The margin trading pilot programme is what is driving the market today,” said Cheng Yi, analyst at Xiangcai Securities.

Shares in SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS), China’s biggest automaker, fell 0.38 percent after it said it returned to profit in the fourth quarter as policy incentives bolstered automobile demand in China, the world’s fastest growing major auto market. [ID:nTOE62203P]

Beverage manufacturer Kweichow Moutai Co (600519.SS) was the morning’s biggest loser, falling 5.04 percent after it announced a 2009 net profit of 4.3 billion yuan, up 13.5 percent on the year.

China’s XD Electric (601179.SS) was the morning’s most actively traded stock, pulling back 1.2 percent after surging its 10 percent daily trading limit on Thursday. The company, which listed in Shanghai in January, had been the first mainland stock to drop below its IPO price on its listing debut in five-and-a-half years. [ID:nTOE60Q0AJ]

The CSI300 Index .CSI300, which will serve as the basis for China’s first stock index futures to be launched on April 16, outperformed the broader market, rising 0.34 percent on Friday morning.

News of the launch date for index futures trading helped to spur a market rally early this week. The index covers the 300 largest companies by daily turnover and market capitalisation on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Shanghai A-share turnover rose to 82 billion yuan ($12.01 billion) from 70 billion yuan on Thursday morning. Losing Shanghai stocks edged out gainers by 441 to 430. ($1=6.825 Yuan) (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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Toyoda apologises to Chinese consumers for recalls

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BEIJING, March 1 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) President Akio Toyoda on Monday offered a sincere apology to Chinese consumers over its massive global recall, which has had limited impact in the Chinese market.

Stocks | Cyclical Consumer Goods

Consumers in China need not worry about the Prius or Lexus brands as the faulty parts behind the recalls on those models are not being used in China, Toyoda told a roomful of more than 300 reporters in Beijing.

Toyota’s China woes have been relatively limited so far, with the company recalling 75,552 RAV4 vehicles there due to faulty accelerators. [ID:nTFA006576]

Toyoda is reported to have flown directly from the United States to China to meet with government officials and local reporters, underscoring the importance of an auto market that surpassed the United States last year to become the world’s largest. [ID:nTOE620076]

Toyoda was grilled by U.S. lawmakers last month for a series of recalls that have tarnished the carmaker’s brand and reputation for quality, particularly in the United States, its largest market. [ID:nN24146527]. (Reporting by Michael Wei and Ben Blanchard; Writing by Jason Subler; Editing by Ken Wills and Jacqueline Wong)

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Nikkei gains 1.7 pct as banks, high-techs lead

April 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Banks climb amid growing hope US lenders stabilising

* High-tech exporters up on industry hopes after Google, Nokia

* Nippon Steel surges on smaller-than-expected price cut

TOKYO, April 17 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei average rose 1.7 percent on Friday as financial stocks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) climbed after reassuring earnings results from JPMorgan (JPM.N) fuelled hopes that the banking sector is stabilising.

Sony Corp (6758.T) and other high-tech shares gained after Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) quarterly profit topped expectations, while the world’s top cellphone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) said it saw signs of stabilising demand in the handset market. [ID:nN16272680] [ID:nLG183354]

Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T) surged after a newspaper said the steelmaker and its peers had agreed with Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) to cut steel prices by more than 10 percent this business year, a smaller-than-expected price cut. [ID:nT286976]

“Investors are beginning to harbour hopes that the high-tech industry may be bottoming out. Although demand hasn’t exactly turned positive, there are signs that contractions are slowing,” said Takahiko Murai, general manager at Nozomi Securities.

“At least until the announcement of the results of (bank) ‘stress tests’ on May 4, the market probably won’t sell off bank shares. Also, considering what we have seen so far about U.S. banks earnings, the market doesn’t expect Citigroup to post surprisingly bad figures.”

Citigroup (C.N) is due to post quarterly results on Friday.

A U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Thursday that results of “stress tests” designed to see how the 19 largest U.S. banks would fare should the recession prove unexpectedly severe, would be made public on May 4. [ID:nN16267186]

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 climbed 146.70 points to 8,901.96, while the broader Topix .TOPIX added 1.5 percent to 844.53.

On Wall Street on Thursday, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index .SPX climbed 1.6 percent after JPMorgan’s results beat analysts’ expectations as debt trading and underwriting revenue surged. [ID:nN16542451]

That added to a string of encouraging results from other banks, including Wells Fargo’s (WFC.N) strong preliminary figures last week.

Japan’s banking shares gained, with top lender Mitsubishi UFJ advancing 2 percent to 515 yen and No.2 Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) rising 1 percent to 194 yen.

Nomura Holdings (8604.T), the top brokerage, added 1.7 percent to 592 yen.

Exporters gained after Google’s (GOOG.O) results, though Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the economic environment remains tough with users still searching but buying less.

Sony Corp (6758.T) jumped 4.5 percent to 2,555 yen, after Google’s YouTube said it had reached a deal to post Sony films and TV shows and was talking with other big studios to ramp up content and attract more advertising. [ID:nN16520771]

Canon Inc (7751.T) advanced 2.2 percent to 3,050 yen, while Panasonic Corp (6752.T) gained 2.4 percent to 1,343 yen.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) gained 3 percent to 3,820 yen and Honda Motor Co (7267.T) also rose 3 percent to 2,780 yen.

Shares of Nippon Steel shot up 8 percent to 338 yen. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi)

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