NEWS FOREX

2008-11-11T19:22:00.001+08:00

Friday, Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), an unhedged producer of gold, revised down its production guidance by 2.7% for its first-quarter 2009, reflecting a slower than expected build-up of production at Cerro Corona.

For the first quarter, the company cut down the attributable production to be approximately 798 thousands ounces, from its previous guidance of 820 thousands ounces. However, it expects the cash costs to be in line with its earlier guidance of approximately R154,000/kg or US$618/oz. Notional Cash Expenditure or NCE, which includes all operating costs as well as sustaining and project capital, is expected to be approximately 6% better than previous guidance, at R227,000 /kg or US$910/oz. The first-quarter, gold production in South Africa operation is expected to be up by 2% with approximately 492 thousand ounces. The cash cost is expected to be R154,000/kg or US$618/oz, compared to a previous guidance of R157,000/kg or US$610/oz. The NCE for the South Africa operation is down to R213,000/kg or US$857/oz, from a previous guidance of R221,000/kg or US$860/oz. For the international operations, the company expects the first-quarter gold production to be approximately 306 thousand equivalent ounces. The cash costs and NCE for the international operations are expected to be approximately US$616/oz and US$983/oz respectively, compared with the previous guidance of US$570/oz and US$1,060/oz. CEO, Nick Holland said that despite the rehabilitation work in South Africa and international growth projects scheduled for completion, the company is in line to achieve the short term target of a run rate of approximately 1 million attributable equivalent ounces of gold, during the third quarter next year, at an NCE of approximately US$725/oz at R/US$8.00. Thursday, the stock closed at $8.31 on the New York Stock Exchange. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-08T13:06:00.001+08:00

New Zealand Dollar Strengthens To 4-day Highs Against Most Majors

Monday morning in Asia, the New Zealand dollar rose to 4-day highs against the currencies of US, Japan and Europe. On the other hand, the NZ dollar showed choppy trading versus the aussie.

The New Zealand stock market was trading higher today, led by top stocks, Telecom, Contact Energy and Fletcher Building. At 8.15 PM ET, the benchmark NZX 50 Index was advancing 34.74 points or 1.04% to 3,370.92, while the NZX All Capital Index was gaining 31.58 points or 0.93% to 3,418.87. The week ahead is busy for New Zealand with the Reserve Bank's monetary policy meeting on Thursday, taking center stage. With everyone expecting a 25 basis point-cut in interest rates from 8.00%, most interest was likely to focus on the accompanying macroeconomic and financial forecasts. The New Zealand retail sales report for July has been scheduled for release on Friday. The New Zealand dollar traded higher against its US and Japanese counterparts during early Asian deals on Monday. At about 5:45 pm ET, the kiwi reached 4-day highs of 0.6847 against the greenback and 74.64 against the yen, compared to Friday's close of 0.6673 and 71.64, respectively. The kiwi then weakened slightly but it rebounded shortly and is now worth 0.6826 against the greenback and 74.28 against the yen. If the NZ dollar gains further, it is likely to target the 0.722 level against the US currency and the 79 level against the yen. The Bank of Japan said today that bank lending in Japan increased by 2% on year, holding a steady rate of annual increase from the previous month. Including trusts, bank lending was flat on year at 1.8%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, bank lending increased 2.4% on year, easing from the 2.5% gain in July. The central bank also said that M3 money stocks were up 1.0% on year in August, higher than the 0.9% forecast and the 0.8% annual increase in the previous month. M2 money stocks jumped 2.4% on year, higher than the 2.1% percent forecast that also was July's reading. In early Asian trading on Monday, the New Zealand dollar also climbed to a 4-day high of 2.1020 against the euro. The next upside target level for the kiwi is seen around 2.085. The euro-kiwi pair closed Friday's deals at 2.1341. Against the Australian currency, the NZ dollar largely bounced between 1.2164 and 1.2263 in early Asian deals on Monday. The immediate support and resistance levels for the aussie-kiwi pair are seen around 1.211 and 1.236, respectively. The pair was worth 1.2181 at last week's close. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp said today that the volume of advertisements for jobs in Australian newspapers and on the Internet was down 4.9 percent in August from the previous month. The August figure marks the sharpest decline in seven years, and it follows a 0.3 percent monthly decline in July. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-05T19:59:00.001+08:00

US dollar climbs to new multi-month high against Polish zloty

Against the Polish zloty, the US dollar traded higher during early deals on Friday. At about 7:00 am ET, the dollar-zloty pair hit a new multi-month high of 2.4183, compared to 2.3835 hit late New York Thursday.

2008-09-05T16:58:00.001+08:00

Japanese market plunges on Wall Street losses, stronger yen

The Japanese stock market closed sharply lower on Friday, with the key indexes falling to their lowest levels since mid March, ahead of the U.S. non-farm payroll report for August scheduled for release later in the day.

Wall Street's sharp decline overnight and a stronger yen encouraged market players to sell a wide range of stocks. The key Nikkei index briefly fell more than 3% to 12,163.33 in the morning, but bargain hunting among trading houses helped the market to recoup some of the losses. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed down 345.43 points or 2.75% at 12,212.23, extending Thursday's losses. The key index has lost 6.6% over the week. The broader Topix Index of all First Section Issues lost 30.81 points or 2.56% to finish at 1,170.84. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar held steady in the upper 106-yen level in late afternoon trades in Tokyo, down 1.49 yen from Thursday's close of 108.33-108.36 yen. On Wednesday, the Dow and the broader S&P 500 indexes tumbled 3.0% each and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 3.2% after a government report showed that jobless claims rose more than analysts expected for the week ended August 30 and retailers reported sluggish same store sales for the month of August. Oil prices fell for a sixth day on Thursday, closing at their lowest level in five months, as a lower-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles raised concerns about slowing demand for oil. In the Asian session Friday, oil was down 46 cents at $107.43 a barrel by 2:23 a.m. ET. On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that Japanese capital investment spending, or capex, was down an annual 6.5% in the second quarter of 2008. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter of decline. Capex was down an annual 4.9% in the first quarter of the year. The ministry also said that Japan's foreign reserves fell for the first time in three months in August. The country's foreign reserves in August stood at 997 billion yen, down 7.92 billion yen from 1.00 trillion yen in the previous month. In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group dropped 2.3%, Mizuho Financial Group slumped 6.4% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group plunged 4.7%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings fell 3.1% and Daiwa Securities Group lost 3.3%. Exporters fell on the back of a stronger yen. Automaker Honda Motor declined 1.1%, Toyota Motor fell 2.5%, office equipment maker Canon lost 2.9%, and machinery maker Komatsu plummeted 4.4%. Electronics giant Sony plummeted 4.2% after the company announced a voluntary recall of 438,000 Vaio portable computers citing a potential hazard that could cause them to overheat. In the tech space, Advantest slid 2.5%, Kyocera declined 2.6%, Fanuc lost 2.8% and Matsushita Electrical Industrial shed 3.1%. Inpex Holdings pared early losses to finish 2.1% higher, while Nippon Oil shed 1.0% and Nippon Mining Holdings plunged 3.3%. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp closed flat, Mitsui & Co slipped 0.2%, and Itochu gave away 1.7%. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-05T15:29:00.001+08:00

Slovak koruna Recovers From 5-month Low Against Dollar

The Slovak koruna that declined to a 5-month low of 21.3080 against the dollar at 5:20 pm ET Thursday gained ground thereafter. The pair moved to 21.1580 by about 1:20 am ET compared to 21.1440 hit late New York yesterday. As of now, the dollar-koruna pair is trading at 21.19.

2008-09-05T15:26:00.001+08:00

US dollar falls from 2-month high against Turkish lira

The US dollar that climbed to a 2-month high of 1.2485 against the Turkish lira at 10:55 pm ET Thursday weakened thereafter. The dollar-lira pair that closed yesterday's North American session at 1.2427 is currently trading at 1.2391.

2008-09-05T13:40:00.001+08:00

Chinese yuan sets new multi-year high against euro

Against the European currency, the Chinese yuan edged higher to 9.7276 during early Asian deals on Friday. This set the highest point for the yuan since April 2006.

If the yuan strengthens further it may likely target the 9.74 level. The euro-yuan pair that closed Thursday's North American session at 9.7909 is currently trading at 9.7732. People's Bank of China today set the central parity rate for euro-yuan pair at 9.7692. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-04T16:12:00.001+08:00

NZ dollar recovers early losses against most majors

The New Zealand dollar recovered the losses it incurred in early Thursday's Asian trading against the US dollar, the European single currency and the Japanese yen. Meanwhile, the kiwi remained down against the Australian dollar.

Today, the focus of the currency market will be on interest rates decisions by the European Central Bank. Analysts expect the ECB to keep rates steady at 4.25%.

The ECB is expected to hold the key-lending rate, which is the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations, at 4.25%. The central bank had maintained the rate at a six-year high of 4% since June last year, before hiking it in July.

The New Zealand currency declined to 0.6804 against the US dollar before gaining ground at about 1:35 am ET Thursday. The kiwi-dollar pair is currently trading at 0.6877, compared to 0.6853 hit late New York Wednesday.

Against the European single currency, the NZ dollar touched a low of 2.1291 at about 11:55 pm ET Wednesday. Thereafter, the kiwi gained ground and is currently quoted at 2.1150 against the euro. The euro-kiwi pair closed yesterday's North American session at 2.1159.

The New Zealand currency edged down against the Australian dollar during early deals on Thursday. At about 11:45 pm ET, the kiwi slipped to 1.2243 against the Aussie, compared to Wednesday's close of 1.2209. The Aussie-kiwi pair is now worth 1.2211.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics in its report released earlier today said that the nation posted a seasonally adjusted trade deficit of A$717 million in July, contrasting sharply with analyst expectations for a surplus of A$150. The country saw a surplus of A$351 million in June, and it posted a deficit of A$964 million in July 2007.

Imports were up 4 percent in July compared to the previous month, standing at A$23.6 billion. That's up from A$22.7 billion a month earlier and from A$19.29 billion a year earlier. Exports eased 1 percent on month to A$22.88 billion, down from A$23.05 billion in June but up from A$18.33 billion in July 2007.

The New Zealand dollar that hit a low of 73.57 against the Japanese yen at about 1:35 am ET Thursday strengthened thereafter. The kiwi-yen pair that closed Wednesday's New York deals at 74.23 is now worth 74.55.

At 6.00am ET, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is scheduled to publish the latest report on German factory orders, which is predicted to rise 0.3% month-on-month in July, after falling for the seventh consecutive month in June.

The ADP employment change, second quarter non-farm productivity, August ISM non-manufacturing composite, initial jobless and continuing claims are the major economic releases expected from US in the New York session. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-03T13:27:00.001+08:00

European Markets likely to open higher; global cues mixed

The major European index futures are pointing towards a higher opening for the European markets on Wednesday, as oil is extending its slide. Global cues are mixed, as the U.S. market finished lower overnight and the major Asian markets are a mixed pack on Wednesday.

Stock markets in Europe may focus on a few key Euro-Zone economic reports scheduled for release today. That said, caution is likely to prevail ahead of the interest rate decisions by the ECB and the Bank of England on Thursday and the U.S. non-farm payrolls report to be released on Friday. The Brent North Sea crude futures were down 31 cents at $108.03 a barrel by 11:03 p.m. ET after the contract fell by $1.07 on Tuesday to settle at $108.34 a barrel, its lowest close since April 10, on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Oil prices fell for a fourth day as Hurricane Gustav caused minimal damage to the refineries and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico region. On Tuesday, Wall Street started off firm on the back of falling oil prices, but the major averages pared their gains in late trade as sentiment turned negative due to weakness in the resource and tech sectors. The Dow closed down 26 points at 11,516, the Nasdaq lost 18 points to 2,349 and the broader S&P 500 dropped 5 points to 1,277. In Asia Wednesday, Australia's All Ordinaries index is losing 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is down 1.3%, and China's Shanghai composite index is down 0.9%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index is advancing 0.9% and South Korea's KOSPI is gaining 1.1%, The major economic reports scheduled for release in Europe are the Euro-Zone second quarter GDP and July retail sales reports. In the U.S., the factory goods orders report and the Fed's beige book on current economic conditions are due for release today. The European markets rose on Tuesday, as a drop in crude oil prices eased inflation concerns and lifted airlines and retailers. Strength in banking and insurance stocks also contributed to the gains. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European blue chips closed up 0.9% at 1,200 and the narrower DJ Stoxx 50 index rose 0.8% to finish at 2,925.11. In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 10 index rose 0.32% to finish at 5,620, France's CAC 40 index jumped 1.50% to close at 4,539 and Germany's DAX index climbed 1.51% to end at 6,518. In the Asian session Wednesday, the euro traded near a seven-month low against the U.S. dollar and a five-month low against the yen. The euro was quoted at $1.4496 and at 157.76 yen in early deals. Against the pound, the euro weakened to 0.8136 pound from Tuesday's close of 0.8151 pound. In the Eurpean markets, Allianz SE may react to a report that Europe's biggest insurer may take writedowns of about EUR1.2 billion after the sale of its Dresdner Bank division to Commerzbank AG, while Iberdrola SA, the world's largest owner of wind parks, may move as New York state officials are expected to rule on its $4.5 billion bid to buy U.S. utility Energy East Corp. InBev NV, the Belgian brewer, is likely to move as it is reportedly planning to sell its Korean unit for $52 billion. Michelin & Cie. may rise after the world's second-largest tiremaker said that it will increase prices on tires for cars, trucks and buses by an average 3% to 5% due to rising raw material costs. UniCredit SpA may rise after Italy's Treasury Ministry said that Italy's largest lender has an option to buy Poland's remaining 4% stake in Bank Pekao SA by the end of next year. UniCredit bought control of Poland's largest lender in 1999 Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-03T12:39:00.001+08:00

UK Job Market Weakens Further, Survey Shows

The UK job market weakened further in August, the Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG showed Wednesday. Permanent placements declined at the sharpest rate since November 2001 and temp billings fell at a survey-record pace.

Decrease in placement signals fall in demand for staff. Meanwhile, the availability of staff to fill vacancies climbed significantly in August. Citing weak demand for staff, recruitment consultants reported modest rise in wage growth. The Report on Jobs, produced by Markit Economics on behalf of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, provides the most comprehensive guide to the UK labor market, based on original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies. Alan Nolan, Director at KPMG said, "UK employers are continuing to control payroll costs through redundancies - and by refusing to take advantage of a growing (but increasingly unused) pool of skilled labor. These workers are starting to drift abroad in search of employment - and there is a risk that (when the market turns) the UK will be left behind by a skills shortage." Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-03T11:45:00.001+08:00

Rio Tinto signs JV deals with Codelco for copper exploration in northern Chile - Quick Facts

Rio Tinto plc announced signing of two exploration joint venture agreements with Codelco's subsidiary CCM Los Andes, in Chile. Rio Tinto noted that the two properties to be explored are the Esteli and Paloma prospects in northern Chile.

Rio Tinto said it has the option to earn a 55% interest in each prospect through stand alone exploration investments of US$20 million. The company has the provision to increased its ownership to 60%.

Rio Tinto noted that an exploration drilling programme is currently underway at Exploradora and will be followed by drilling at Paloma this year. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-02T20:05:00.001+08:00

Indian market soars; oil slide triggers buying interest

Tuesday, the Indian market soared as a sharp decline in the price of crude oil to near $105 a barrel eased inflation concerns. US crude oil fell to $107.17 a barrel by 5:07 a.m. EDT, down $8.29 from Friday's close on initial signs that a weakened Hurricane Gustav spared major US Gulf oil facilities.

It touched a session low of $105.46, its lowest since April 2. London Brent crude was down $3.46 at $105.95. A US public holiday on Monday meant the New York Mercantile Exchange did not issue an official settlement price. The Indian market opened higher this morning, but the gains were limited in early session as a subdued trend in the Asian markets weighed on sentiment. Subsequently, the market rallied as the price of oil probed new lows on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Stocks across the board witnessed fresh buying, while realty, banking and capital goods stocks led the rally. Oil marketing companies posted sharp gains following a retreat in the price of oil, while oil production/refinery companies ended down. After opening at 14.609, the BSE Sensex witnessed range bound trading in early session. The benchmark since then spurted to a day's high of 15,106, before paring some gains to finish at 15,050, up 552 points or 3.80% over Monday's close. The broad-based BSE 500 index rose 3.12%, the mid-cap index advanced 1.66% and the small-cap index added 1.32%. Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty ended at 4,504, up 3.57%. State Bank of India (up 7.44%), ICICI Bank (up 7.34%), DLF India (up 7.14%), ONGC (up 6.97%), Jaiprakash Associates (up 6.83%), Reliance Infrastructure (up 5.99%), Maruti Suzuki (up 4.84%), HDFC (up 4.66%), Larsen & Toubro (up 4.66%), TCS (up 4.23%), ACC (up 4.17%), Reliance Communication (up 4.15%), Wipro (up 3.99%), BHEL (up 3.68%)and HDFC Bank (up 3.50%) were among the major gainers. On the BSE, market breadth was extremely positive, with 1675 stocks gaining compared to 986 stocks that declined. Twenty-eight out of 30 Sensex stocks ended in positive territory. Ranbaxy Laboratories and Tata Motors are the only two stocks that declined. Stocks in news Cement makers ACC rose 4.17%, Ambuja Cements added 1.62%, JK Lakshmi Cement advanced 1.92% and Ultratech gained 1.74% after the companies reportedly raised cement prices in Mumbai by Rs.3 per 50 kilogram bag. Hero Honda Motors closed up 0.94% after the company reported a 26.84% jump in its domestic two-wheeler sales in August compared to same month last year. Great Offshore soared 7.69% after the company forayed into port management and single point mooring operations through acquisition of full stake in two domestic companies. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur advanced 5.0% after the company fixed record date for its proposed stock-split proposal. Reliance Industries added 3.41% following reports the company dropped its plans to acquire the polyester manufacturing unit of an US-based polyester maker Unifi, in which it planned to invest about $250 million. Kinetic Motor rose 3.98% after the company's board of directors approved an investment of Rs.29.5 crore in Mahindra Two Wheelers, its joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra. Valecha Engineering gained 4.20% after the company's board of directors fixed record date for a bonus issue to its shareholders. Tata Motors declined 1.82% after the company announced a rights issue in the ratio of 1: 6 to its shareholders. The company would raise Rs.4150 crore through two rights issues that are expected to open by the end of September. Bosch declined 2.96% to Rs.4048 after the company's board of directors agreed to buyback shares at a price not exceeding Rs.4500 per share. Archies rose 1.82% after the company secured an exclusive tie up with UK's leading brand 'Carte Blanche' to distribute and sell its renowned brand 'Me to you' in India. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-02T15:43:00.001+08:00

South African rand falls to 1-week low against US dollar

Against the US dollar, the South African rand edged down during early deals on Tuesday. At about 3:30 am ET, the rand declined to a 1-week low of 7.8276 per dollar, compared to 7.7555 hit late New York Monday.

2008-09-02T11:17:00.001+08:00

BOJ Shirakawa: Japanese Economy Likely To Stay Sluggish For Now

The Japanese economy is likely to remain sluggish in the near term, Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Tuesday, but was expected to gradually return to a path of moderate growth.

Speaking at a business meeting in Nagoya, Shirakawa said the economy needed to avoid secondary inflation risks, and that it was important to stay vigilant for downside risks to the economy and upside risks to inflation. Shirakawa also said that he expected the U.S. economy to remain weak in the near-term, and that he sees downside risks for the global economy. Shirakawa will appear in a press conference in the afternoon, followed by another speech at Nagoya University. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-01T22:18:00.001+08:00

Asia Round Up - Inflation Eases in S. Korea, Thailand, Indonesia

Monday, the week started with some encouraging numbers from major Asian economies. Data showed that inflation slowed in South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, while retail sales growth gained momentum in Hong Kong. Manufacturing survey results from some countries were also released during the day.

South Korea's consumer price annual inflation stood at 5.6% in August, slower than 5.9% recorded in July, the National Statistical Office revealed Monday. Economists were expecting annual increase in consumer prices to accelerate to 6.3% in August. Month-on-month, consumer prices dropped 0.2%. Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices, climbed 4.7% in August from the prior year.

Imports in South Korea increased 37% year-on-year in August, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. That was higher than the 33.5% annual gain that analysts had been expecting, but it was less than the 47.2% jump in July. Exports were up 20.6% year-on-year, coming in less than forecasts that had called for a 22.7% annual increase, the data showed. Exports were up 36% in July. The trade balance reflected a deficit of $3.23 billion in August, following a $1.94 billion shortfall in July.

Thailand's annual inflation slowed significantly to 6.4% in August, the Commerce Ministry reported Monday. Economists were expecting the consumer price inflation to ease to 8.7% from a ten ten-year high of 9.2% recorded in July. Excluding fresh food and energy prices, consumer prices rose 2.7% in August, slower than the 3.8% growth expected by economists.

Indonesia's inflation eased to 11.85% in August from 11.9% in July, data from the statistics bureau indicated Monday. Economists were looking for an inflation rate of 11.87% for August. Further, the statistical bureau announced that exports grew about 25% year-on-year and totaled $12.55 billion in July compared with a 34.9% growth in June.

The Census and Statistics Department said Hong Kong's retail sales value increased 13.8% year-over-year to reach HK$24.2 billion in July, faster than the revised 11.7% rise recorded in June. Initially, the June increase was reported as 11.6%. Economists were looking for a 11% rise for July. The retail sales volume rose 6.6% over a year ago in July, after rising 4.1% in June, revised up from the initial estimate of 4%. Economists had expected an increase of 4% for July.

Japanese auto sales declined 14.9% in August from the previous year to 193,902 units, the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association, or JADA said. Domestic sales of cars, truck and buses dropped in August for the first time in two months. According to JADA, car sales were down 12.8% in August, while bus sales declined 23.9%. Domestic car sales totaled 166,153 units and bus sales stood at 1,066 units.

In other news, the average cash earnings for workers in Japan increased by 0.3% on a yearly basis in July, the labor ministry said in a preliminary report, standing at 388,315 yen. That was slightly lower than the revised 0.4% annual increase in the previous month, and it was in line with analyst expectations.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index in China posted a score of 48.4 in August, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said, holding flat from the previous month. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while below 50 means contraction. Five individual components were higher in August, while five other components were lower.

The PMI for Hong Kong stood at 48.5 in August, according to data from Markit Economics. That's down from the reading of 49.4 posted in July, and it remained below the index score of 50 that indicates contraction.

India's manufacturing PMI rose slightly in August after falling in July, results of a survey by Markit Economics and ABN AMRO revealed. The ABN AMRO manufacturing PMI rose to 57.9 in August from 57.8 in July. The latest increase in PMI reflected the sharp rise in output and new orders. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-09-01T20:16:00.001+08:00

Dutch Consumer Spending Eases In June

Monday, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the Dutch consumer spending increased price adjusted 1.3% year-on-year in June, marking a slower pace than the 2.9% and 2.8% recorded in May and April, respectively.

According to the statistical office, spending on durable goods rose 1.1% in June, smaller compared with May's 6.7%. At the same time, spending on services grew 2.4%, after rising 3.2% in May.

2008-09-01T11:28:00.001+08:00

South Korean won declines to new multi-year low against US dollar

Against the US dollar, the South Korean won traded down during early Asian deals on Monday. At about 9:55 pm ET, the won touched 1102.90 per dollar, compared to 1081.50 hit late New York Friday. This set a new multi-year low for the South Korean currency.

Imports in South Korea increased 37.0 percent on year in August, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on today in a statement. That was higher than the 33.5 percent annual gain that analysts had been expecting, but it was less than the 47.2 percent jump in July. Exports were up 20.6 on year, coming in less than forecasts that had called for a 22.7 percent annual increase, the data showed. Exports were up 36.0 percent on year in July. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-29T20:45:00.001+08:00

Swedish current account surplus narrows in Q2

The Swedish current account surplus declined to SEK38.8 billion in the second quarter from SEK77.6 billion recorded in the first quarter, the latest report from the Statistics Sweden showed Friday.

According to the statistical office, the decline in the current account surplus was due to the negative return on capital. The capital account showed a deficit of SEK0.9 billion in the second quarter, the same as in the first three months of the year. In the second quarter, the trade in goods fell to SEK 32.4 billion, while trade in services was up by SEK 5.2 billion over the previous year and totaled SEK27.4 billion. Meanwhile, the financial account surplus was at SEK12.7 billion in the second quarter compared to an SEK8.4 billion deficit in the previous quarter. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-29T15:21:00.001+08:00

Israeli shekel falls to 15-day low against US dollar

Against the US dollar, the Israeli shekel edged down during early deals on Friday. At about 2:30 am Eastern Time, the shekel touched 3.5941 per dollar, compared to 3.5837 hit late New York Thursday. This set a 15-day low for the local currency. If the Israeli currency moves further down, it may test support around the 3.61 level. The pair is now worth 3.5920.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-29T14:30:00.001+08:00

Chinese Yuan Drops Against Dollar And Euro

During early deals on Friday, the Chinese yuan traded lower against the currencies of US and Europe. The Chinese yuan dropped against the European single currency in early trading on Friday and hit a low of 10.0947 at 1:05 am ET.

The immediate support for the Chinese yuan is seen around the 10.11 level. The euro-yuan pair closed Thursday's New York session at 10.0449.

In early trading on Friday, the Chinese currency edged down against the US dollar. At about 12:40 am ET, the yuan touched a low of 6.8427 per dollar, compared to Thursday's North American session close of 6.8301. The next downside target level for the yuan is seen around 6.86.

The People's Bank of China has set today's central parity rate of the euro-yuan and the dollar-yuan pairs at 10.0522 and 6.8345, respectively.

Investors now look forward to the Italian retail sales and CPI, Euro-zone unemployment rate, CPI, business and consumer confidence reports, which are expected to drive deals in the upcoming hours.

Turning to the US, the PCE deflator, personal income and spending, Chicago PMI and the University of Michigan's consumer confidence report are scheduled for release. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-29T12:09:00.001+08:00

US dollar climbs to 2-day high against Malaysian ringgit

Against the Malaysian ringgit, the US dollar showed strength during early Asian deals on Friday.

At about 8:45 pm ET, the dollar-ringgit pair hit a 2-day high of 3.3980, compared to Thursday's closing value of 3.3875. The pair is currently quoted at 3.3941. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T22:00:00.001+08:00

Oil Rallies As Gustav Approaches Gulf

Crude prices touched above $120 on Thursday morning amid concerns Tropical Storm Gustav could cause problems in the Gulf of Mexico's oil region. Light sweet crude for October delivery moved to $119.53, up $1.38 on the session.

Oil hit as high as $120.50 in the early going. Gustav is expected to become a hurricane again later today. Gustav is predicted to reach the Gulf of Mexico over Labor Day weekend, leading to concerns the oil supplies from the region could be disrupted. As a hurricane, Gustav reached landfall in Haiti on Tuesday afternoon, causing killer landslides. Crude oil gained for a third straight session on Wednesday, closing up $1.88 on the session. Traders considered the Department of Energy's mixed bag inventory report. Crude oil inventories decreased by about 170,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 24. Analysts were expecting to see a build of about 1 million barrels. At 305.8 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the middle of the average range for this time of year. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories decreased by 1.2 million barrels last week, and are below the lower boundary of the average range. Market players were expecting a drop of about 2.8 million barrels. Oil prices surged on Tuesday, adding $1.16 for the session. Prices had dropped as low as $112.36 in electronic trading, but later climbed as high as $117.89. Traders also considered a Department of Energy report that revealed lower year-over-year demand for crude oil in the month of June. On the economic front in the U.S., a Department of Commerce report showed that gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter compared to the advance estimate of 1.9 percent growth. Economists had been expecting GDP growth for the quarter to be revised up to 2.7 percent. Also Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended August 23rd, showing that jobless claims fell to 425,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 435,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 425,000 from the 432,000 originally reported for the previous week. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T21:16:00.001+08:00

Indian rupee slightly higher versus dollar as India's inflation declines to 12.40%

The Indian rupee gains a bit of ground versus the US dollar on Thursday morning in New York, following a government report showed that India's inflation, based on the wholesale price index fell to 12.40% during the week ended August 16 from 12.63% recorded during the week ended August 9.

Economists had expected the wholesale price index to grow 12.82% for the week under review. The Indian rupee that traded as low as 43.835 against the US dollar in early trading advanced to 43.445 by 8:45 am ET Thursday. As of now, the pair is trading near 43.73. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T21:07:00.001+08:00

Weekly Jobless Claims Slip To 425,000

Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended August 23rd, showing that jobless claims fell in line with economist estimates compared to an upwardly revised reading for the previous week.

The report showed that jobless claims fell to 425,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 435,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 425,000 from the 432,000 originally reported for the previous week. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T20:51:00.001+08:00

Dollar ticks up versus other majors following Q2 GDP, jobless claims reports

The US dollar gained ground against its major opponents in the early New York session on Thursday, following the release of second quarter GDP and weekly jobless claims reports. As of 8:35 am ET, the dollar was worth 1.0941 against the franc, 109.52 against the yen, 1.8329 against the pound and 1.4737 against the euro.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T20:35:00.001+08:00

Indian market plunges ahead of release of key economic data

Thursday, the Indian market plunged following intense selling in bank stocks and Reliance Industries in late trading. After opening flat, the market drifted down into negative territory within a few minutes.

Trading remained choppy for the next few hours in the early session. Subdued opening of the European markets and intense selling in select index heavyweights dragged the indexes sharply down in the afternoon. The rebound in the price of crude oil to above $119 a barrel in Asian trading affected investor sentiment. The price of oil rose led by reports that the Tropical Storm Gustav could head towards the Gulf of Mexico region, which if it does, will affect about 85% of the US offshore oil and gas production installations. Traders remained cautious ahead of the release of wholesale inflation data and the GDP report for the 1st quarter. Analysts' reports that predicted a decline in the first quarter GDP growth rate weighed on market movement. Investors were hesitant to make purchases ahead of the release of the GDP report on Friday. Meanwhile, traders were also cautious ahead of the release of wholesale inflation data in the evening. The wholesale price index is forecast to have risen to a fresh 16-year high for the week ended August 16th. On the BSE, stocks across sectors ended in the red. Oil/gas, capital goods, public sector and metal companies were among the major losers. The market breadth was extremely negative, with only 898 stocks gaining compared to 1721 stocks that declined. After opening at 14,290, the BSE Sensex rose to an intra-day high of 14,347 in the early session. Towards closing of the day, the benchmark drifted to an intra-day low of 14,002, before finishing slightly better at 14,048, down 248 points or 1.74% over Wednesday's close. The small-cap index ended down 1.13%, the mid-cap index declined 1.36% and the broad-based BSE 500 index plummeted 1.51%. Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty settled at 4,214, down 78 points or 1.82%. Reliance (down 3.45%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.15%), BHEL (down 3.12%), TCS (down 3.05%), Reliance Communication (down 2.98%), Larsen & Toubro (down 2.98%), Larsen & Toubro (down 2.91%), Wipro (down 2.67%), ICICI Bank (down 2.30%), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.17%), DLF India (down 2.08%), HDFC (down 1.97%), Tata Steel (down 1.65%), State Bank of India (down 1.61%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.53%), HDFC Bank (down 1.46%), Tata Motors9down 1.22%) and ACC (down 1.12%) were among the major decliners. Only 6 out of 30 Sensex stocks, namely Maruti Suzuki, Satyam Computers, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Tata Power and ITC finished in positive territory. The Apollo Hospitals rose 1.66% after the company reportedly said it is in talks to acquire a 30 percent stake in a hospital in Nigeria for about Rs.52 crore. Tata Motors declined 1.22% following reports that work at its plant in Singur came to a halt as workers couldn't turn up for duty following threatening by the activists from the Trinamool Congress party. Sterlite Technologies declined 0.82% even as the company bagged four new orders worth Rs. 278 crore for supply of power conductors. Asian Tea & Exports gained 4.99% after the company's board recommended a stock split in the ratio of 10-for-1 for its shareholders. Apollo Sindhoori Capital surged up 9.55% after the board of directors of Aditya Birla Nuvo approved the acquisition of a 56% stake in the company. Reliance Industries lost 2.88% after the company confirmed media reports that it is planning to transfer 80% of its participatory interest (PI) in the D6 block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin to four unlisted subsidiaries. Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.76% following reports that the company is in talks with Italian motorcycle and scooter maker Malaguti Moto for a possible takeover. Pyramid Saimira Theatre added 2.61% on reports the company is close to acquiring UK's oldest theatre chain Reel Cinemas, earlier Associated British Cinemas or ABC, for around Rs.200 crore. Oriental Bank Of Commerce declined 1.42% following an upward revision of 25 basis points in its prime-lending rate. Ram Kaashyap Investment shed 4.98% following the company's proposal to enhance its authorized capital to Rs.50 crore from the current Rs.25 crore. The company proposed to re-classify it existing capital by converting 4,00,000 (a part of) un-issued preference shares of Rs.100 each to 40,00,000 equity shares of Rs.10 each. Markets across the Asia-Pacific region finished mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index plunged 2.29% and South Korea's KOSPI Composite index declined 1.32%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.12% and China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.34%. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T20:03:00.001+08:00

Dollar Eases Versus Euro; Q2 GDP, Jobless Claims On Tap

The dollar lost ground versus the euro and extended its run of choppy dealing versus the yen Thursday morning as traders braced for the release of a preliminary reading on second quarter GDP.

In the wake of yesterday's hawkish comments from European Central Bank officials, the dollar eased to 1.4775 versus the euro. With the retreat the dollar pulled further away from Tuesday's 6-month high of 1.4629. Even with the Euro zone economy seen slowing in the second half of 2008, Bundesbank President Axel Weber told Bloomberg that talk of a rate cut was premature. Weber instead opened the door for more rate hikes next year, insisting that "the inflation outlook has not improved." The number of unemployed in Germany fell 40,000 in August from July after seasonal adjustments, the Federal Employment Agency reported Thursday. The dollar was steady versus the sterling Thursday morning, staying within a penny of yesterday's 2-year high of 1.8285. The Nationwide Building Society said Thursday that house prices in the UK declined 10.5% year-on-year in August, severe than the 8.1% fall in July. House prices fell more than the 9.6% expected by economists. The dollar continue to show a lack of direction versus the yen, slipping to 108.80 before rebounding back to 109.35. The pair has been bouncing back and forth between 108 and 110 since hitting a 7-month high of 110.65 two weeks ago. At 8:30 am ET, the Commerce Department will release its preliminary report on second quarter GDP, which is the broadest measure of economic activity. "Second quarter growth will probably be revised up sharply - to about a 2.9 percent annual rate from the already respectable 1.9 percent originally reported," predict the analysts at UBS. At the same time, the Labor Department will release its weekly jobless claims data. Analysts are expecting initial jobless claims to slip to 425,000 from the previous week's reading of 432,000. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T15:05:00.001+08:00

New Zealand Market Closes Higher

The New Zealand stock market closed higher on Thursday after a volatile trading session. The market opened slightly higher, boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street, but lost ground as crude oil continued to rise for a fourth day.

However, the major averages staged a recovery in the afternoon session and moved into positive terrain. The benchmark NZX 50 index closed up 6.27 points or 0.19% at 3,324.80, ending a two-day losing streak. Meanwhile, the NZX All Capital Index rose 10.28 points or 0.31% to finish at 3,369.86, extending gains for a second trading session. Wall Street posted modest gains on the back of better-than-expected durable goods data. The Dow closed up 0.8% at 11,502, the Nasdaq advanced 0.9% to end at 2,382 and the broader S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to finish at 1,281. Crude oil continued to rise for a fourth day Thursday on fears about Tropical Storm Gustav entering the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful hurricane and disrupting oil and natural gas production. By 00:08 a.m. ET, oil was quoted at US$118.97, up 82 cents, after the contract for October settlement gained $1.88 to settle at $118.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the currency market, the New Zealand dollar closed stronger against the U.S. dollar. The kiwi gained after the U.S. dollar slipped from its recent highs and following a recovery in business confidence reported by the National Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday. The local unit finished the session at US$0.7056 compared to US$0.7025 late Wednesday. On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reported that M3, the broadest measure of monetary aggregate, increased at a faster pace of 7.6% year-on-year in July compared to 7.4% in June. However, money supply rose less than the 9.4% growth reported in the prior year. Money supply amounted to NZ$203.66 billion in July. Top stock Telecom advanced 0.6% and Fletcher Building, the third best stock, added 0.4%, while second-ranked Contact Energy lost 0.5%. In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson gained 1.8% and Pumpkin Patch surged 5.8%, while Jewelry retailer Michel Hill fell 1.1% and The Warehouse Group declined 0.9%. In the energy sector Vector plunged 3.0% after surging 2.6% Wednesday on the back of robust results reported by the company. TrustPower climbed 1.2%. ANZ edged up 0.3% after the country's largest bank reported a 10% increase in after-tax earnings to NZ$870 million for the nine months to June. The increase came, despite a three-fold rise in bad debt provisions to NZ$167 million. Nuplex rose 1.6% after the resins maker reported an 84% jump in after-tax earnings to NZ$48.3 million for the year to June. The company also provided a confident view of future prospects. Among other major gainers, AMP surged 3.8%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare advanced 1.7%, Auckland International Airport rose 1.5%, Infratil climbed 1.8%, The New Zealand Refining Co added 1.0%, Pike River Coal jumped 2.2%, SkyCity Entertainment soared 3.5%, Tourism Holdings gained 2.8%, and Westpac Banking Group moved up 3.6%. Losers also included Rakon 2.1%, Property For Industry 2.6%, NZX 2.3%, Methven and Kiwi Income Property Trust 1.8% each, Lion Nathan 1.9%, ING Property Trust 2.5%, Guinness Peat Group 2.8%, Goodman Property Trust 2.6%, and Goodman Fielder and Fisher & Paykel Appliances 1.7% each. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T14:11:00.001+08:00

Indian market volatile in opening session

After opening flat, the Indian market is currently trading in negative territory. Trading remains range bound and analysts expect more volatility during the day ahead of the expiry of August series derivatives contract and the release of wholesale inflation data in the evening.

As of Wednesday, marketwise rollover of positions from August to September series reportedly stood at 62%, while that of Nifty was seen at 56%. The rollovers were in-line with those in previous month, but the premium on futures is considerably reduced. The market is volatile and is trading in a very narrow range amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. Realty, public sector and metal companies are leading the decliners, while consumer goods and auto stocks are showing notable gains. After trading in a narrow range of 14,347- 14,279, the BSE Sensex is currently at 14,244, down 53 points or 0.37%. The S&P CNX Nifty is trading at 4,274, down 0.41%. On the BSE, the mid-cap index is down 0.27%, the small-cap index is declining 0.13% and the broad-based BSE 500 index is down 0.28%. The market breath is slightly negative, with 748 stocks advancing compared to 787 stocks that are declining. Sterlite Industries (up 1.48%), Maruti Suzuki (up 1.21%), Tata Motors (up 0.88%), Reliance Communication (up 0.86%), Satyam Computers (up 0.83%), Jaiprakash Associates (up 0.80%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.74%) are among the major gainers. Meanwhile, DLF India (down 1.21%), Grasim Industries (down 0.70%), ONGC (down 0.58%) and ITC (down 0.54%) are the major decliners. Sun Pharmaceutical is up 0.16% after the company won a case in an Israel Court filed against it by Taro Pharmaceutical. Vishal Retail is adding 0.40% after the company said it has opened four new showrooms during the last week. Marksans Pharma is rising 4.90% after the company decided to acquire the entire shareholding of UK's leading generic pharma company M/s. Relonchem Marksans Pharma. BAG Films is up 0.63% after the board of directors allotted 46,00,000 equity shares of Rs.2/- each, by conversion of 46,00,000 warrants, to Anu Films and Communications Pvt. of New Delhi, at a price of Rs.13 per shares (including a premium of Rs.11 per shares). Sundaram Fasteners is up 1.49% after the company acquired a 52.94% equity share capital of Sundaram Non- conventional Energy Systems Ltd (SNES). Choksh Infotech is up 3.19% after the company said its board will meet on August 30th to consider the acquisition of a software company. K Sera Sera Productions is declining 0.24% after the company said its board would meet on August 28th to consider the issue of equity-linked instruments. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T13:59:00.001+08:00

Euro Open: EZ Consumer Confidence to Remain at 5-Year Low

Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Analyst

The Euro moved higher overnight, testing above the 1.48 level. Sterling retraced some of the heavy losses seen in US hours, rising to re-test the 1.84 level. Australian Private Capital Expenditure surprised to the upside, printing at 5.7% in the second quarter versus 2.0% expected. Tonight's calendar is laden with Euro Zone economic data releases, though forex traders are unlikely to see them produce substantial deviations from established themes. Interestingly, recent weeks have seen the Euro under pressure even though monetary easing seems far from imminent. This could suggest that price action is attempting to guide the ECB, acting as if the bank will soon be compelled to cut rates sooner.

2008-08-28T13:51:00.001+08:00

Indian rupee falls from 2-day high against US dollar

The Indian rupee that showed strength in early Thursday's Asian trading against the US dollar reversed direction after hitting a 2-day high of 43.4250 by about 8:10 pm ET.

2008-08-28T12:10:00.001+08:00

US dollar off 2-day low against South Korean won

The US dollar that hit a 2-day low of 1078.05 against the South Korean won at about 8:05 pm ET Wednesday strengthened thereafter.

2008-08-28T12:02:00.003+08:00

JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesian shares are expected to open higher on Thursday, supported by Wall Street's advance overnight as fresh data indicated the U.S. economy could be stronger than some investors thought.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 percent on Wednesday as investors cheered the bigger-than-expected increase in orders for big-ticket manufactured goods.

Commodity stocks are likely to lead the advance on the back of a rebound in some commodity prices such as crude palm oil and nickel in line with a rise in crude oil.

'I see a good chance for the market to go up today. The rise in commodity prices such as CPO and nickel should revive interest in commodity stocks,' Recapital Securites analyst Poltak Hotradero said.

Oil prices surged Wednesday as tropical storm Gustav appeared headed for the Gulf of Mexico and its oil and gas installations. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October,

climbed 1.88 dollars to close at $118.15 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the Jakarta composite index closed up 23.52 points or 1.1 percent at 2,131.63.

roffie.kurniawan@thomsonreuters.com

2008-08-28T12:02:00.001+08:00

New Zealand July M3 Money Supply Growth Improves

Thursday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reported that M3, the broadest measure of monetary aggregate, increased at a faster pace of 7.6% year-on-year in July compared to 7.4% in June.

However, money supply rose less than the 9.4% growth reported in the prior year. Money supply amounted to NZ$203.66 billion in July. The central bank said M3, excluding funds from non-residents, moved up 9.8% annually, the same as in June. Meanwhile, M3, excluding repurchase agreements climbed 7.9%, following a 7.8% rise in June. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2008-08-28T12:01:00.001+08:00

2008-08-28T11:39:00.001+08:00

Euro soars to 4 1/2-month high against UK's sterling

Thursday in Asia, the European currency showed strength against its major counterparts. The euro thus rose to a 4 1/2 - month high against the British pound, 3-day highs against the currencies of US and Japan and a 2-day high versus its Swiss counterpart.

Against the US dollar, the European single currency traded higher during early Asian deals on Thursday. At about 10:10 pm Eastern Time, the euro hit a 3-day high of 1.4793, compared to 1.4728 hit late New York Wednesday. The European currency rose to a 4 1/2-month high of 0.8062 against the British pound at about 9:55 pm ET Wednesday. The euro-pound pair that closed yesterday's North American session at 0.8025 is now worth 0.8053. Against its Swiss counterpart, the euro gained ground after hitting a low of 1.6147 at about 7:30 pm ET Wednesday. The euro-franc pair is currently trading at a 2-day high of 1.6178, compared to yesterday's closing value of 1.6166. The single currency showed strength against the Japanese yen during early Asian deals on Thursday. At about 10:00 pm Eastern Time, the euro- yen pair reached 162.04, up from Wednesday's close of 161.28. This set a 3-day high for the pair. As of now, the pair is worth 161.76. Traders will have a busy European session today, in which German ILO Unemployment Rate, Italian Producer Price Index for July and the Euro -Zone Consumer Confidence for August are expected. Across the Atlantic, the US Q2 GDP is expected to influence trading in the New York morning. Data released since the advance (first) estimate of Q2 GDP has implied stronger growth in the quarter. We look for GDP to be revised up 1.0pp to 2.9 percent q-o-q ar, predict the economists at Lehman Brothers. The majority of the upward revision should be in trade and inventory, leaving domestic final sales unchanged at 1.3 percent. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserv

2008-08-28T11:28:00.001+08:00

Look For Small Changes in GDP: Lehman Brothers

Data released since the advance (first) estimate of Q2 GDP has implied stronger growth in the quarter. We look for GDP to be revised up 1.0pp to 2.9 percent q-o-q ar, predict the economists at Lehman Brothers.

The majority of the upward revision should be in trade and inventory, leaving domestic final sales unchanged at 1.3 percent. The trade deficit narrowed considerably more than expected in June, suggesting an even bigger contribution from trade of 3.4pp versus previously reported 2.4pp. The monthly inventory data imply a slightly smaller drop in inventories which should bring the drag to GDP to a still-high 1.7pp.

Elsewhere, we expect a few small revisions. Most notably, consumption is likely to be revised slightly higher while non-residential investment in structures looks likely to be revised lower.

A significant contribution from trade was the main driver of growth in the second quarter. However, looking ahead to the next few quarters, we expect the contribution from trade to fade as the dollar strengthens and the global economy weakens.

In addition, we expect even weaker domestic demand with an outright decline in consumption in the second half of the year.

Corporate profits, which will also be released with the Q2 GDP revisions, are expected to have declined by 6 percent q-o-q ar, or 6.2 percent y-o-y. Operating earnings were actually up slightly for S&P 500 companies on the quarter, but we believe smaller and non-public firms will keep economy-wide profit growth in negative territory.

Initial jobless claims likely fell to 420,000 in the week ending August 22, down from 432,000 in the previous week. The distortion to claims from the recently enacted extension of unemployment insurance benefits appears to be gradually fading. We expect claims to gradually drift down to around 400,000 over the next two to three weeks. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-28T11:14:00.001+08:00

Philippines Q2 GDP +4.6 on Year

The economy of the Philippines increased by 4.6 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, the National Statistics Office said on Thursday. That's down sharply from the 5.2 percent annual expansion in the previous quarter, and it also came in below the wide range or forecasts that predicted an increase of between 5 and 5.9 percent on year.

Agricultural output in the Philippines, which makes up about 40 percent of total GDP, climbed 5.4 percent on year in the second quarter as production of the country's main rice crop was boosted by early rains. Overseas remittances were up 17 percent on year in the first half, with annual remittances in June alone climbing a record 30 percent. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2008-08-27T23:20:00.001+08:00

APD Chief Economist Says Slowing Growth Overseas Poses Biggest Risk To US Economy

The chief economist for industrial giant Air Products & Chemicals (APD) said Wednesday that the primary external risk to the U.S. economy was faltering growth overseas.

Speaking at an Economic Outlook Conference at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Duncan Meldrum also noted possible risks from inflation throughout the world, global credit contraction and political risks such as Russia's recent invasion of its neighboring nation of Georgia.

Meldrum said the growth outside the U.S. was slowing more than had been previously thought. As examples, he noted that Spain was "at risk" and Ireland was probably in a recession.

Meldrum stated that over recent years, the economic growth outside the U.S. has been substantially higher than domestic growth - with the gap between the two of a size not seen since at least 1995.

This stronger overseas growth has provided a boost to U.S. exports, which has helped to mitigate the impact of the decline in the housing industry.

On inflation, Meldrum said that increases in Asia were more worrisome than elsewhere in the world, as the inflation increase seems to be moving into wages.

The uptick in inflation in the European Union is less a source of concern, the economist said, largely as the result of high confidence in the European Central Bank to maintain price stability. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T21:34:00.001+08:00

Franc advances to multi-day high versus yen

Extending its recent uptrend, the Swiss franc advanced to a multi-day high of 100.01 against the Japanese yen by 8:40 am ET. This may be compared to the previous session's low of 99.37. As of now, the franc-yen pair was worth 99.93.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T20:22:00.001+08:00

Yen shows weakness versus other majors

Extending its recent losses, the Japanese yen declined further versus the other major currencies during early New York trading on Wednesday. By 8:05 am ET, the yen drifted lower to 161.07 against the euro, 109.14 against the U.S. dollar and 99.90 against the Swiss franc.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T17:35:00.001+08:00

Taylor Wimpey Do Not Expect UK Housing Market Recovery In Short Term

Wednesday, the UK's largest homebuilder Taylor Wimpey said the current operating condition in the UK housing market is very challenging. The company does not anticipate any recovery in the short term and expects conditions to possibly remain tough in the UK as well as US housing markets.

Taylor Wimpey said margins in the second half are expected to be considerably affected by pricing pressures. During this tough time, the company said its focus is on cash management, cost reduction and sales rates that are helping to retain its momentum. The homebuilder noted that the US housing markets remain weak, though it was more stable than in 2007. Taylor Wimpey now anticipates no material recovery until 2009 at the earliest. Further, Taylor Wimpey said its housing business in Canada remained comparatively stable, adding that the economy has not experienced the same levels of house price inflation as in the U.S. and UK. However, the company said it remains convinced of the fundamental value of the business over the medium and long term. Taylor Wimpey expects both the UK and North American housing markets to remain attractive in the medium and long-term due to the positive demographic trends in both markets. Constrained land supply is expected to underpin the UK housing market, while the company's ability in an improved market is expected to help increase volumes profitably in the U.S. According to the Group Chief Executive, Pete Redfern, Taylor Wimpey's experience of the downturn in the US housing market has enabled it to identify the early signs of market weakness in the UK and act swiftly to position its UK housing business for a difficult trading environment. The company also said it experienced very challenging conditions across Spain along with UK and U.S. markets in the first half. Though the company views the market in Mallorca as more stable, it said the housing market in Spain remained weak on the mainland. Additionally, the company announced that it is planning to exit its business in Gibraltar, which is expected to be completed in 2009. While stating that its liquidity position is currently strong, Taylor Wimpey said it would possibly breach its existing interest cover covenants when tested for the full year. The company also revealed that they are in discussions with the relevant lenders on amendments to certain of its existing borrowing agreements and hopes to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T16:45:00.001+08:00

Japanese market closes lower, led by property stocks and exporters

The Japanese market closed lower on Wednesday, extending Tuesday's losses. Investors remained cautious ahead of a series of key economic data scheduled for release on Thursday and Friday in the U.S. and Japan.

The market traded weak in the morning session after Wall Street provided a mixed lead, but recovered some ground in the afternoon session. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 25.75 points or 0.2% at 12,752.96 and the broader Topix index slipped 5.66 points or 0.5% to finish at 1,223.69. In the currency market, the dollar fell to lower 109-yen levels in late Tokyo deals from mid 109-yen levels in early trade and upper 109-yen levels late Tuesday. On the economic front, traders had little economic data to digest on Wednesday. In the U.S., traders await durable goods orders and GDP numbers on Thursday and Friday respectively, while Japan will announce its July consumer price index, jobless rate, household spending and other data on Friday. Property stocks fell after home builder Sohken Homes said Tuesday that it had filed for court protection and exporters declined as the yen strenghtened agains the dollar. Sohken Homes tumbled 12. 4 %, Nomura Real Estate Holdings lost 2.8%, Mitsubishi Estate dropped 2.1% and Sumitomo Realty & Development plunged 2.9%. Among exporters, Toyota Motor fell 2.7%, Nissan Motor plummeted 4.7%, Minebea lost 1.0%, Komatsu lost 2.6%, Sony gave away 1.4% and Canon slipped 0.2%. In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined 0.4%, Mizuho Financial Group lost 0.7%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group dropped 0.8%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings closed unchanged, while Daiwa Securities Group gave away 2.2%. Sompo Japan Insurance gained 1.5% and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance surged 3.9%. Oil and gas miner, Inpex Holdings advanced 1.2%, Nippon Mining Holdings gained 1.6% and Nippon Oil added 0.3% on higher oil prices. In the tech sector, Advantest closed flat, Fanuc gained 1.0%, and Kyocera edged up 0.3%, while Matsushita Electrical Industrial dropped 1.6% and NEC fell 1.6%. Mitsubishi Electric gained 0.8% after a Nikkei report said that Japan's third-largest integrated maker of electronics products plans to invest more than 10 billion yen and nearly triple its production capacity for highly efficient solar cells by the end of March 2012. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T16:31:00.001+08:00

Australian market closes slightly higher; Macquarie Group plunges nearly 10%

The Australian stock market closed slightly higher on Wednesday after posting marginal losses on Tuesday. Wall Street provided a mixed lead, as an increase in oil prices offset positive sentiment from better than expected numbers on U.S. consumer confidence.

Energy stocks gained on higher oil prices, but financial stocks were weak on credit crunch concerns. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 3.7 points or 0.07% at 5,011.2 after losing 0.2% on Tuesday. The broader All Ordinaries index lost 5.5 points or 0.11% to finish 5,087.8. In the currency market, the Australian dollar closed higher after dropping to an eleven-month low during offshore trading. The Aussie finished the local session at US$0.8580-0.8582, up from Tuesday's close of US$0.8559-0.8563. In the U.S., the Dow Industrials rose 0.23% and the broader S&P 500 advanced 0.37%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.15% on Tuesday. Oil prices rose Tuesday on concerns that Hurricane Gustav could cause problems for the Gulf of Mexico's oil region. Light sweet crude for October delivery closed at $116.27 a barrel, up $1.16. Oil continued to rise in the Asian session Wednesday and was gaining 33 cents to $116.60 a barrel by 2:23 a.m. ET. On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the value of total construction work done in Australia fell 2.6% in volume terms in the second quarter of 2008. The total construction work done for the quarter was valued at A$30.137 billion, compared to an upwardly revised A$30.947 billion in the March quarter. On a seasonally adjusted basis, total value of building work done in the June quarter rose to A$16.797 billion from an upwardly revised A$16.756 billion in the March quarter. Among banking stocks, Commonwealth Bank lost 1.7%, ANZ Banking Group slipped 0.3% and Westpac and National Australia Bank declined 0.2% each. St. George bank dropped 1.0%, while investment bank Macquarie Group slumped 9.6% after broker UBS downgraded its recommendation on the stock to "Neutral" from "Buy". In the resources sector, index leader BHP Billiton added 0.3% and Rio Tinto rose 0.8% after the miner reported a 55% increase in first-half underlying net profit on Tuesday, beating analysts' forecasts. Gold miner Lihir Gold surged 3.1%, while Newcrest Mining closed unchanged. Energy stocks were higher, with Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search jumping 3.4% each and Santos gaining 3.1%. Woodside posted an 86% jump in first-half underlying earnings, on the back of record crude prices during the period, and reiterated its production outlook. In the retail sector, David Jones advanced 1.4%, Coles owner Wesfarmers gained 2.1%, and Woolworths jumped 2.7%. Westfield Group, the world's largest shopping mall owner, fell 3.4% on concerns about a weak U.S. economic outlook though the group reported a 10% rise in first-half operating earnings, which was in line with expectations. Centro Properties tumbled 8.6% on ongoing concerns about its ability to refinance its debt and Toll road investor Transurban Group fell 2.4% as the company reiterated that it would halve its distribution in fiscal 2009 to shore up its balance sheet after reporting a 19% rise in full-year underlying earnings. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T15:53:00.001+08:00

US dollar bounces back against Indian rupee

The US dollar bounced back against the Indian rupee after being down during Wednesday's early Asian trading. The dollar-rupee pair is now worth 43.8150, moving up from its early Asian session low of 43.5450.

2008-08-27T15:40:00.001+08:00

New Zealand dollar extends uptrend against majors

The New Zealand dollar extended Wednesday's Asian session uptrend against its major counterparts during early European deals also. The NZ dollar rose to 2-day highs against the Aussie and the euro.

The latest monthly business outlook survey from the National Bank of New Zealand, or NBNZ said today that New Zealand's business confidence balance improved to minus 20.5 in August from minus 43.2 reported in July. The balance of activity outlook recovered in August to 4.7 from minus 8.2 in the prior month.

The kiwi hit highs of 0.7035 against the US dollar and 76.79 against the Japanese yen by about 2:30 am ET Wednesday, compared to previous day's closing values of 0.6977 and 76.48, respectively.

At about 11:10 pm ET Tuesday's, the NZ dollar hit a 2-day high of 1.2226 against the Australian currency, which may be compared to Tuesday's New York session closing value of 1.2277.

In trading against its European counterpart, the New Zealand kiwi showed strength during Wednesday's early trading. At about 2:35 am ET, the kiwi climbed to a 2-day high of 2.0903 against the euro, up from Tuesday's closing value of 2.1008.

The Federal Statistical Office announced that the German import price inflation rose to 9.3% year-on-year in July from 8.9% recorded in June. This was the fastest growth since November 2000, when import prices climbed 10.6%. Economists were expecting an annual increase of 9.2% in July. Compared to June, import prices were up 0.6%, faster than the 0.5% growth expected.

Apart from the release of the Italian August consumer confidence index at 3:30 am ET, the traders have nothing to digest in today's European session. From US, the July durable goods orders and Federal Reserve board member Lockhart's speech on Inflation at Georgia State are scheduled in the New York session. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-27T12:55:00.001+08:00

Soybean prices fall on stronger dollar

NEW YORK (AP) - Soybean prices fell slightly Tuesday, dropping below $13.45 a bushel after the dollar gained against the euro and weakened demand for commodities as an inflation hedge.

Soybeans for November delivery fell 2.5 cents to settle at $13.445 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.

A stronger dollar usually encourages investors to sell commodities, which are often bought as hedges against inflation or weakness in the U.S. currency.

2008-08-27T11:37:00.001+08:00

Greenback ticks down versus loonie

The greenback edged lower versus its Canadian counterpart in the early Asian session on Wednesday. By 8:20 pm ET Tuesday, the dollar fell to 1.0460 versus the loonie.

2008-08-26T23:22:00.001+08:00

Canadian dollar sets fresh multi-month highs versus euro and Aussie

In trading against its major counterparts, the Canadian dollar staged a sharp rise on Tuesday morning in New York as oil prices inched higher on concerns over Hurricane Gustav.

The loonie surged to new multi-month highs versus the Australian dollar and the euro. At the same time, the Canadian dollar rose to near a 3-week high versus the greenback and a 25-day high versus its Japanese counterpart in the mid-morning trading on Tuesday. Light sweet crude for October delivery added $2.29 to reach $117.40 a barrel on Tuesday morning. Prices had dropped as low as $112.36 in electronic trading. The oil prices climbed on concern that Gustav strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane as it headed towards Haiti on Tuesday morning. Some forecasts see the storm heading into the Gulf of Mexico, which could threaten the oil region. The Canadian dollar advanced to near a 3-week high of 1.0415 against the US dollar by 10:15 am ET. This may be compared to the previous session's 5-day high of 1.0564 that hit around 5:40 am. The greenback-loonie pair is currently quoted at 1.0431. According to a latest report from the U.S, the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index dropped a record 15.4% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. The Case-Shiller 10-city posted a record year over year decline of 17% and 20-city indexes were down 15.9%. Economists were expecting the second quarter home price index to drop 16.2%. At the same time, the Department of Commerce released its report on new home sales in July, showing that new home sales surged up 2.4% to an annual rate of 515,000 in July from the revised June rate of 503,000. Economists had expected sales to fall to a rate of 525,000 from the rate of 530,000 originally reported for June. Meanwhile, the US Conference Board said today that its consumer confidence index jumped to 56.9 in August from an unrevised 51.9 in July. The increase came in well above the expectations of economists, who had expected the index to edge up to 53.0. Against the yen, the Canadian loonie edged up to a 25-day high of 105.46 by 10:40 am ET. This may be compared to today's early Asian session low of 103.76. As of now, the loonie-yen pair is worth 105.36. The Bank of Japan said today that the corporate service price index, which measures corporate prices of communications, transportation and advertising, climbed 1.3% on year in July. The figure fell slightly below analysts expectations that were looking for an increase of 1.4% on year and it was up from the 1.2% annual increase in June. On month, the index eased 0.1%. The Canadian dollar surged to a 5-1/2 month high of 1.5267 versus the euro by 10:35 am ET, compared to today's early European session low of 1.5428. The pair traded as German business confidence declined to 94.8 in August from 97.5 in July. Economists had expected the index to fall to 97.2. As of now, the euro-loonie pair is trading at 1.5308. Traders also weighed a detailed report from the Federal Statistical Office that the German economy contracted 0.5% sequentially in the second quarter, after expanding 1.3% in the first quarter. Against the Aussie, the loonie ticked up to a 6-1/2 month high of 0.8925 by 10:15 am ET. The Aussie-loonie pair that closed yesterday's trading at 0.9074 is currently quoted at 0.8945. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T22:54:00.001+08:00

FOREX-Dollar extends gains on consumer confidence data

(Updates with latest market moves, adds reaction to U.S. consumer confidence report for August)

NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar extended gains on Tuesday after a report showed U.S. consumer confidence was higher than expected in August.

The euro was last trading at $1.4637 <EUR=> compared with 1.4645 before the report. The dollar was last trading at 109.50 yen, up 0.2 percent on the day, from 109.40 yen <JPY=> before the release of the data. (Reporting by Nick Olivari; Editing by James Dalgleish)

2008-08-26T22:36:00.001+08:00

Europe Round Up - German Economic Outlook Turns Gloomier

Tuesday, several key data released during the day added to the gloomier outlook for the German economy. Business confidence in the largest Eurozone economy fell to a three-year low, while consumer confidence declined further.

Further, the contraction in the economy during the second quarter was confirmed. Eurozone The German business confidence deteriorated more than expected in August, reaching the lowest level in three years, as the economy experiences a more difficult situation. Firms have assessed the current business situation as clearly unfavorable and projected further negative development in the coming half year. The business survey results released by the Munich-based Ifo research institute revealed that the business confidence index fell to 94.8 in August, declining for three consecutive months. Economists had expected the index to fall to just 97.2 from July's 97.5. Elsewhere, a monthly survey from the GfK Group showed that German consumer confidence, which was depressed by subdued economic outlook reached the weakest level since 2003. Consumer confidence for September dropped to 1.5 points from August's 1.9 points. A detail report from the statistical office showed that the German economy shrank in the second quarter for the first time in almost four years on reduced investment in construction as well as machinery and equipment. The economy contracted 0.5% sequentially in the second quarter, after expanding 1.3% in the first quarter. On a yearly basis, the economic growth stood at 3.1%, larger than the 1.8% in the first quarter. The calendar adjusted Gross Domestic Product, or GDP rose 1.7% compared with 2.6% in the prior quarter. France's Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Planning and Development said in a report that housing starts declined 11.8% in the three-month period to July. This was slower compared to a 28.2% fall recorded in the three-month to June. Meanwhile, housing permits dipped at a faster pace of 16.6%, compared to a 15.3% decline seen during three-month period to June. Spain's National Statistics Institute lowered its gross domestic product, or GDP growth for 2007 to 3.7% from initially reported 3.8%. At the same time, the statistical office kept the growth figures for 2004, 2005 and 2006 unchanged. According to the statistical office, weak contribution of domestic demand led to a downward revision of growth. The Statistics Finland announced that the country's unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% in July from 6.8% recorded in June. The rate also eased from the 5.9% recorded in the previous year. Economists were looking for a jobless rate of 5.3% for July. The number of jobless stood at 144,000 in July, smaller than the 161,000 in previous year. Rest of Europe The British Bankers' Association said mortgages approved for house purchase continued to be low in July, indicating that the housing market is unlikely to start recovering in the near term. The number of mortgages approved in the UK for house purchases rose to 22,448 in July from 22,369 in June. Approvals for house purchase fell 65% over the previous year. The Swiss UBS consumption indicator decreased significantly in July after recording a temporary increase in June. According to a report from the investment bank UBS, the consumption indicator fell to 1.85 in July, marking the largest correction seen during a single month for just under a year. The indicator fell from 2.22 in June, revised from 2.25 reported earlier. At its current level, the UBS consumption indicator signals that Swiss consumer spending remains healthy, though the outlook is deteriorating. UBS expects real private consumption to grow 1.8% in 2008. However, the UBS said the recent hike in inflation coupled with the economic downturn tarnished this outlook. Denmark's finance ministry lowered its economic growth outlook for 2008 and 2009, citing higher commodity prices fueling inflationary pressures. The ministry projects the economy to grow 1.1% in 2008, down from 1.2% estimated in May. The economic growth is forecast to decrease to 0.5% in 2009, revised from 0.7% initially predicted. At the same time, the government hiked inflation forecast for the current year to 3.5% from 3.3% due mainly to higher prices for energy and food. However, the rate of inflation is expected to slow to 2.7% in 2009. Inflation outlook for 2009 was raised from an earlier prediction of 2.6%. The Statistics Sweden reported that the Producer Price Index or PPI rose 3.3% year-on-year in July, quicker than the 3% rise recorded in June. Economists expected the rate to remain unchanged at 3% for July. On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 0.7% in July, following a monthly growth of 0.5% in June. The consensus forecast was for a monthly increase of 0.4%. The Central Statistical Office announced that the Poland's unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% in July from 9.6% recorded in prior month. A year ago, the rate was 12.1%. The jobless rate declined for the sixth month in a row, falling from 11.7% in January. The jobless number stood at 1.42 million persons, down from 1.46 million recorded in June. The jobless number fell 32,400 from June. The statistical office also reported that Poland's retail sales rose 14.3% year-on-year in July, a notch higher than the 14.2% rise recorded in June. Economists had expected the growth to decline to 14% for July. Month-on-month, overall retail sales increased 1.8% in July versus 2.4% rise seen in the previous month. The rate stood well below the 2.1% rise expected by the economists. In a widely expected move, the National Bank of Slovakia maintained its two-week repo tender limit rate at 4.25%. The central bank also retained its overnight sterilization rate at 2.25% and the overnight refinancing rate at 5.75%. This is for the 16th consecutive month the central bank is holding its rates. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T22:18:00.001+08:00

Consumer Confidence Index Jumps To 56.9 In August

Consumer confidence increased by much more than anticipated in the month of August, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday, with the improvement reflecting a notable increase in confidence in the outlook for the next six months.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 56.9 in August from an unrevised 51.9 in July. The increase came in well above the expectations of economists, who had expected the index to edge up to 53.0. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T21:30:00.001+08:00

Dollar erases early gains versus loonie as oil rebounds

The dollar fell sharply versus the loonie Tuesday morning in New York, moving well off its early highs after the price of oil jumped back above $115. The dollar slipped to 1.0486 from an early high of 1.0560.

With the mid-morning plunge, the dollar moved back toward last Friday's multi-week low of 1.0420. The dollar eased across the board following the release of the latest S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index for June, which showed that nationwide home prices dropped 15.4 percent in June. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T21:25:00.001+08:00

U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index Drops 15.9% in July Yr-on-Yr

2008-08-26T19:39:00.001+08:00

Slovak Central Bank Holds Rates at 4.25% Ahead of Euro Adoption in January 2009

(CEP News) - As expected, the Slovakian Central Bank held its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.25% on Tuesday, in line with the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate and ahead of Slovakia's adoption of the euro on Jan. 1, 2009.

The moves comes as the country experiences an annual 4.8% inflation rate - 4.4% when harmonized with the euro zone - and a preliminary 7.6% annual growth rate in Q2 2008.

Should the European Central Bank continue to hold rates as expected by both markets and economists, it is unlikely the Slovak Central Bank will deviate from the ECB until its adoption of the euro.

By Erik Kevin Franco, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it, edited by Nancy Girgis, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

2008-08-26T19:34:00.001+08:00

Euro Breaks 1.4600 After German IFO Disappointment, Will U.S. Data Keep Dollar Rally Going?

Previous Articles

Aug 26 - Euro Breaks 1.4600 After German IFO Disappointment, Will U.S. Data Keep Dollar Rally Going?
Aug 26 - Euro Open: German Economy to Shrink, Threatening Recession
Aug 25 - British Pound Speculative Shorts (COT) Highest on Record
Aug 25 - Forex Forecast: 5 Key Events for the Market This Week 08-25-08
Aug 22 - Forex Trading Weekly Forecast - 08.25.08
Aug 22 - British Pound Vulnerable to Sharp Pullback Next Week
Aug 22 - Pound Plummets As Growth Stalls, Euro Follows Suit
Aug 22 - Euro Open: UK Gross Domestic Product to Print at 15-Year Low
Aug 21 - Forex Emerging Markets Weekly - August 21, 2008
Aug 21 - Forex Trading Forecast: US Dollar to Weaken Before Further Rallies
Aug 21 - Euro Open: Will Switzerland Follow the EU into Recession?
Aug 21 - Pound Reverses Despite U.K. Retail Sales Rebound, Euro Heavy As PMI Remains In Contraction
Aug 20 - Can Chinese Demand Keep Japan Out of Recession?
Aug 20 - Dollar May Drop Without Action From The Fed
Aug 20 - Australian Dollar Could Fall Like a Rock
Aug 20 - BoE Voted 7-1-1 to Leave Rates Unchanged, Besley Votes For Hike.
Aug 20 - Euro Open: Is The Bank of England Closer to Cutting Interest Rates?
Aug 19 - Forex Seasonality Update: We Forecast USDCAD Declines
Aug 19 - Euro Falls As German ZEW Shows Current Conditions Worsening
Aug 19 - A Drop in U.S. Housing Starts Would Validate EURUSD Technical Outlook

Written by John Rivera, Currency Analyst

The Euro broke below 1.4600 after the German IFO Survey fell to a three year low. German business confidence fell to 94.8 from 97.5 in July and far below the expected 97.2. The EURUSD was already trading heavy having fallen over 100 points in Asian trading ahead of the German GDP report which showed the country's economy contracted 0.5% in the second quarter.

Talking Points
•    Japanese Yen: Back Above 109.80
•    Swiss Franc: Consumption Lowest In Almost A Year
•    Euro: German Growth Contracts As Business Confidence Falls To 3 Year Low
•    British Pound: Falls On Declining European Outlook
•    US Dollar: Housing Data and U.S. Consumer Confidence On Tap

Euro Breaks 1.4600 After German IFO Disappointment, Will U.S. Data Keep Dollar Rally Going? .

The Euro broke below 1.4600 after the German IFO Survey fell to a three year low. German business confidence fell to 94.8 from 97.5 in July and far below the expected 97.2. The EURUSD was already trading heavy have fallen over 100 points in Asian trading ahead of the German GDP report which showed the country's economy contracted 0.5% in the second quarter. The outlook for Europe's largest economy is now expected to continue to decline in 3Q, which was evident by the fall in the expectations component of the IFO indicator to 87.0 from 90.0, which was the lowest since February, 1993. Additionally, consumer confidence in the country fell to 1.5, the lowest in five years, declining the prospects of domestic growth.

The German economy shrinking for the first time in four years may be a clear sign for the ECB, that a more accommodative monetary policy is needed to prevent the region from falling into a recession. German efficiency and emerging market demand helped it withstand the head winds from the U.S. longer than expected, but the subprime crisis's impact on global growth has finally taken its toll. The central bank's decision to raise credit costs in July has only accelerated the decline and may have brought the region to the brink of a recession, as German growth has masked weakness in other European leaders like Spain and Italy.

The Pound fell to a 25 month low of 1.8368 on the German news, as its prospects for growth declined with its major trading partner's economy heading for a recession. The outlook for the U.K. economy has become bleaker as it is contending with a housing slump in addition to slowing global growth. Although the BBA report showed home loans increasing to 22,448, it was a minor improvement from the lowest on record reading of 22,369 in July. Despite inflation well above their 3% threshold at 4.4%, the BoE may be forced to consider a rate reduction by year's end as export demand and domestic growth continue to slow.

The U.S. calendar is full of releases today with housing, manufacturing and sentiment data on tap. The S&P Case/Schiller housing report is expected to show that home prices fell another 16.2% in June, which is expected to cause new home sales to decline another 0.9%. Although yesterday's existing home sales report showed a rebound, the gain was mainly due to foreclosure, short sales and price reductions, signaling the housing woes are far from over. Nevertheless, as the European and Asian economies continue to slow, the U.S. economy has become increasingly more attractive for investors which should continue to contribute to the dollar's recent strength. An expected improvement in the U.S. consumer confidence report and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index will also add bullish sentiment.

2008-08-26T19:32:00.001+08:00

Euro Plummets To Fresh Multi-month Lows Against Dollar and yen

During early deals on Tuesday, the Euro plunged to new multi-month lows against the US dollar and the Japanese yen on disappointing economic reports released from German economy today.

The euro also declined to multi-day lows against the British pound and the Swiss franc. German business confidence declined to 94.8 in August from 97.5 in July, the Munich-based Ifo research institute showed. Economists had expected the index to fall to 97.2. The index that measures current situation in the largest Eurozone economy fell to 103.2. The indicator stood below July's revised 105.6 and 104.5 expected by economists. Further, the expectations index came in at 87 in August, below the expected reading of 90.5. German consumer confidence for September dropped to 1.5 points from August's revised 1.9 points, a monthly survey from the GfK Group revealed. The indicator last marked a comparable reading in summer 2003. The index stood below the expected reading of 1.9% for September. The German economy contracted 0.5% sequentially in the second quarter, after expanding 1.3% in the first quarter, a detailed report from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The economy shrank for the first time in almost four years. On a yearly basis, the economic growth stood at 3.1%, faster than the 1.8% growth in the first quarter. The German economy shrinking for the first time in four years may be a clear sign for the ECB, that a more accommodative monetary policy is needed to prevent the region from falling into a recession. The European Central Bank left its interest rates unchanged at 4.25% on August 7. The central bank had maintained the rate at a six-year high of 4% since June last year, before hiking it last month over inflation concerns. The interest rate on the marginal lending facility was held at 5.25%, while the interest rate on the deposit facility was retained at 3.25%. Citing prevailing downside risks to growth, Trichet said in his post-ECB-decision press conference that current information has underlined the reasons for the 25 basis point hike delivered in July. During his speech, Trichet added that inflation would remain at high levels for a protracted period of time. With regard to the future direction of interest rates, Trichet reiterated that policymakers had no bias and never pre commit. He asserted that policymakers would do what is needed to fight inflationary pressures. He expressed "very strong concern" over price and wage-setting behavior in the 15-nation economy. The European currency declined to a new multi-month low of 1.4586 against the US dollar during early deals on Tuesday. If the euro-dollar pair weakens further, it may test support around the 1.444 level. The pair closed Monday's trading at 1.4755. The euro reversed direction against the dollar after hitting a record low of 1.6040 on July 15. The euro extended its downtrend in early August and rose beyond the 1.50 level on August 10 for the first time since late February. Since then, the euro has depreciated 9% against the dollar. In early trading on Tuesday, the European currency touched a 3 1/2 month low of 160.07 against the Japanese yen, compared to Monday's closing value of 161.29. The next downside target level for the euro is seen around 158.6 against the yen. The yen strengthened today as the weakness in stocks prompted investors to sell higher-yielding assets funded in Japan. The euro-yen pair has been in a downward channel since July 23 when it reached a record high of 170.00. Since July 23, the euro has lost around 6% against the yen. In economic news from Japan, the corporate service price index climbed 1.3 percent on year in July the Bank of Japan said today. That came in slightly below analyst expectations that were looking for an increase of 1.4 percent on year, and it was up from the 1.2 percent annual increase in June. The data also represented the 24th straight month of increase for the index. On month, the index eased 0.1 percent. The euro-pound pair fell to a 4-day low of 0.7941 by about 4:05 am ET Tuesday and this may be compared to yesterday's close of 0.7965. On the downside, the euro-pound pair is likely to target the 0.785 level. The pound gained as the number of mortgages approved in the UK for house purchases rose to 22,448 in July from 22,369 in June, the British Bankers' Association, or BBA, announced today. However, mortgage approvals recorded a decline of 65% on an annual basis. Approvals for re-mortgaging dropped around 21% from the prior year to 54,232 in July. The euro gained around 9% against the pound earlier this year to hit a record high of 0.8101 on April 16. Thereafter, the euro-pound pair weakened but rebounded in early May, and since then the pair has been moving between 0.784 and 0.804. Against the Swiss franc, the euro slumped to a 5-day low during early trading on Tuesday. At about 4:05 am ET, the pair reached 1.6153, down from yesterday's New York session close of 1.6172. If the euro-franc pair slips further, 1.610 is seen as the next target level. The Swiss UBS consumption indicator decreased significantly in July falling to 1.85, marking the largest correction seen during a single month for just under a year. The indicator fell from 2.22 in June, revised from 2.25 reported earlier. Further, the UBS said the July reading fell below the average for the past 12 months though the indicator showed a decreasing trend since February. Investors now look forward to the New York session, in which the US consumer confidence, Richmond Fed manufacturing index and the new home sales report are expected to influence trading. At 2:00 pm ET, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its August 5th meeting. As expected, the Fed left the fed funds target rate unchanged at 2% at its August meeting. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher cast the only dissenting vote against the decision to pause. The post-meeting policy statement relayed a balanced outlook on growth and inflation, but it did not provide much clarity on the future rate outlook. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T16:50:00.001+08:00

Euro Slumps To Fresh Multi-month Low Against Dollar

The Euro trended lower against the dollar during early deals on Tuesday and hit a new multi-month low of 1.4598 at 4:05 am ET. If the euro-dollar pair weakens further, it may test support around the 1.444 level. The pair closed Monday's trading at 1.4755.

2008-08-26T16:19:00.001+08:00

Canadian dollar hits new multi-month high against euro

Against the European single currency, the Canadian dollar staged a sharp rise at about 4:00 am Eastern Time Tuesday. The loonie reached a new multi-month high of 1.5389 against the euro, compared to 1.5515 hit late New York Monday.

2008-08-26T14:38:00.001+08:00

Euro mixed against majors amid German GDP data

The German Q2 GDP data was released at 2:00 am ET. Amid the release, the euro showed weakness against the dollar, the pound and the yen but was higher versus franc. At about 2:05 am ET, the euro traded at 1.4688 against the dollar and 0.7966 against the pound. Against the yen and the franc, the euro was worth 161.10 and 1.6164, respectively.

2008-08-26T14:28:00.001+08:00

German Q2 GDP Expected To Match Flash Estimate

Tuesday, Germany's Federal Statistical Office is slated to release the detailed national accounts report for the second quarter at 2.00 am ET.

According to the preliminary report released on August 14, the German economic growth had fallen a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 0.5% in the second quarter from the prior quarter. The last time the German economy recorded a decrease was in the third quarter of 2004. At the same time, the statistical office had revised the first quarter GDP sequential growth to 1.3% from an initial estimate of 1.5%.

Further, the preliminary report had shown that the GDP growth on a yearly basis eased to 3.1% in the second quarter from 1.8% in the first quarter. At the same time, the calendar adjusted GDP rose 1.7% compared with 2.6% in the prior quarter.

Economists are expecting the German GDP figures to match preliminary estimates. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T13:40:00.001+08:00

Euro Open: German Economy to Shrink, Threatening Recession

The Euro reversed US session gains overnight, falling to challenge the 1.47 level, while the British Pound dipped below 1.85 once again. A busy calendar awaits in the forthcoming European session. Most notably, Germany's economy is expected to shrink in the second quarter, putting the metric at the worst in three years and taking the Euro Zone's biggest economy within 3 months of recession.

2008-08-26T13:24:00.001+08:00

South korean won drops to new multi-week low against Japanese yen

The South Korean won showed weakness against its Japanese counterpart during early deals on Tuesday. At about 10:50 pm Eastern Time, the won declined to a new multi-week low of 9.9275, compared to 9.8545 hit late New York Monday.

2008-08-26T11:27:00.001+08:00

House Prices Still Falling, Says Lehman Brothers

The S&P Case-Shiller June report will contain Q2 home prices for the 10- and 20-city composites as well as a national index. The composite measures are released on a monthly basis, but since the data are calculated using a three-month average, the June index represents the average for Q2.

Home price depreciation likely accelerated on a y-o-y basis but slowed on a q-o-q basis relative to Q1, note the analysts at Lehman Brothers. We expect the national composite to decline 14.5 percent q-o-q annualized, considerably slower than the 26.9 percent decline in Q1. This should translate to a 16.4 percent decline on a y-o-y basis. We expect the 20-city composite to fall 16.3 percent y-o-y or 12.4 percent q-o-q annualized and the 10-city composite to fall 16.5 percent y-o-y or 14.7 percent q-o-q annualized. We advise some caution when interpreting the quarterly pattern since the data are not seasonally adjusted and typically homes are priced higher in the spring. Our forecast for Q2 home prices would bring national prices down 19 percent from the peak in summer 2006 and back to mid-2004 levels. We judge it likely that home prices still have further to fall, likely not finding a bottom until the end of next year. We expect between a 25 percent and 30 percent peak-to-trough decline in national home prices. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) will release its home price measures for Q2. The data are based on homes with conforming mortgages, thereby largely excluding the jumbo and subprime markets. As such, OFHEO home prices have witnessed a much smaller decline than other measures, such as S&P Case-Shiller, National Association of Realtors or Radar Logic. We expect the all-transactions index, which includes data from home sales and appraisals for refinancing, to decline 0.5 percent q-o-q which would turn the y-o-y rate slightly negative. The seasonally adjusted purchase-only index is likely to fall 2.1 percent q-o-q or 5.6 percent y-o-y. In addition to the national aggregates, OFHEO releases home prices at the state and MSA level. We expect new home sales to fall about 2 percent to 520,000 in July. Builders have reported feeble demand with a record low print on the NAHB buyer traffic index. Mortgage rates have increased over the past few months and, according to the latest Federal Reserve Senior Loan Officer Survey, banks have continued to tighten lending standards for virtually all types of mortgages. Home sales have already fallen 62 percent from the peak and are at the lowest level since 1991. In response to weak demand, builders have pared back aggressively, successfully reducing inventory. Inventory of homes for sale have fallen 22 percent from the peak last spring, but are still too high relative to the dismal sales pace. We expect consumer confidence to improve slightly to 55 in August from 51.9 in July. While economic conditions are still bleak, with rising unemployment and falling home values, the drop in energy prices should provide some comfort to consumers. Other more timely measures of consumer confidence, such as the University of Michigan sentiment and IBD/TIPP index, have ticked higher in August. Attention will be on the conference board's measure on labor conditions which should show that jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to find. The statement from the 5 August FOMC meeting gave a balanced assessment of conditions with no indication of the potential future path of policy. Moreover, only one member, Dallas Fed president Fisher, dissented. The FOMC minutes should provide some insight into whether the revisions to the statement and the fewer-than-expected dissents reflect a new-found consensus or an uneasy compromise - and thereby some possible insight into the likely path of policy over the next few quarters. There are two possible ways a consensus may have arisen among the FOMC members in early August. One would involve some of the more hawkish voting members (specifically Philadelphia Fed president Plosser and Minneapolis Fed president Stern) conceding to the majority's more balanced view, in light of both the relative worsening in the growth outlook and the marginal improvement in inflation expectation measures since the June meeting. In this case, we expect that the near-term balanced set of risks is likely to give way to a preference for easing should the labor market worsen more quickly than the committee currently projects (as we forecast), or additional dislocations occur in financial markets. We view this case as most likely. A second possible way a consensus could have arisen would be if the majority shifted in a slightly more hawkish direction, implicitly conceding a bias towards hikes to insure against high headline inflation becoming embedded in expectations. Subsequent recent speeches by several of the more hawkish committee members, however, suggest a general acceptance of the view that inflation should soon peak and then decline, which would eliminate most of the rationale for rate hikes in the near future. Alternatively, neither might budge, and the statement would then be revealed as an uneasy compromise in an extremely uncertain economic environment. This scenario carries with it a greater chance of (multiple) future dissents, but also would mean that the majority view of roughly balanced risks should dominate the next several policy decisions. In our opinion, the majority has no desire to raise rates for the foreseeable future, barring a significant (but unlikely) deterioration of the projected inflation outlook. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T10:54:00.001+08:00

Philippines June Trade Deficit $791 Million

The Philippines posted a trade deficit of $791 million for June, according to information released Tuesday. The government said imports to the Philippines increased 12.7 percent from one year earlier. Imports of electronics parts, assembled into finished products for export, fell 20.3 percent on year in June.

The decrease for May was revised to 15.5 percent. The government said lower purchases of electronics parts were offset by the rising costs of imported fertilizer, rice and fuel. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-26T00:14:00.001+08:00

Claymore Launches First Shipping ETF (SEA)

First ETF to Provide Investors Access to 30 Companies in Fast Growing Shipping Sector

LISLE, Ill., Aug 25, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Claymore Securities, Inc., the third-fastest growing exchange-traded fund provider in 2007*, today announced the launch of the Claymore/Delta Global Shipping Index ETF (NYSE Arca: SEA) on NYSE Arca. SEA is the first shipping ETF that provides investors with a cost-efficient means of accessing the rapidly growing global shipping sector.

"Maritime shipping is the primary means of international transportation for raw materials and finished goods, and we are pleased to be the first ETF provider to offer investors access to a global portfolio of 30 maritime shipping stocks with a current combined market cap near $50 billion," said Christian Magoon, President of Claymore Securities, Inc. "As the latest in our series of industry firsts, SEA exemplifies the innovation Claymore strives to deliver to the marketplace."

The ETF will seek to replicate the Delta Global Shipping Index (Index Ticker: DGAGSI), which was developed and is maintained by Delta Global Indices, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Global Advisors, Inc. The Delta Global Shipping Index includes companies that derive at least 80% of their revenues from the seaborne transport of goods or the operating and/or leasing of ships. Additionally, constituents must have market capitalizations of at least $250 million and a 30-day average daily trading volume of at least $2 million.

"The maritime shipping industry has been growing exponentially thanks to increased participation in global trade by emerging economies like China, India and Brazil," said Chip Hanlon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Delta Global Indices, LLC. "With approximately 80% of all shipments being transported by water, the increase in demand has pushed shipping activity up considerably and gained significant interest among investors."

SEA is listed on NYSE Arca and trades the same way as shares of a publicly traded company. SEA and other Claymore ETFs can be purchased through most brokerage accounts. They can be bought and sold throughout the day on NYSE Arca or the American Stock Exchange, depending on the ETF listing, during normal trading hours. The Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks of 80,000 of Shares (each block of Shares called a "Creation Unit") or multiples thereof. Only broker-dealers or large institutional investors with creation and redemption agreements and called Authorized Participants ("APs") can purchase or redeem these Creation Units.

*Source: Claymore Securities, Inc., Bloomberg 2007 ETF data

2008-08-25T23:55:00.001+08:00

Major Averages Set Fresh Intraday Lows

Stocks are seeing additional selling pressure in late morning trading on Monday after posting substantial gains in the previous session. Weakness in the financial markets is once again fueling the sell off, as investors have shrugged off a better than expected report on existing home sales.

Bank and brokerage stocks are seeing significant selling pressure after Fitch Ratings put AIG's (AIG) credit ratings on negative watch. The S&P Bank Index is down 2.4 percent, while the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index is falling 2.3 percent. Health insurance, steel and disk drive stocks are lower as well. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index is down 2.7 percent, the Amex Steel Index is down 2.4 percent and the Amex Disk Drive Index is down 2.1 percent. The major averages have continued to show weakness in recent trading, falling to fresh intraday lows in the past few minutes. The Dow is currently down 140.04 at 11,488.02, the Nasdaq is down 39.58 at 2,375.13 and the S&P 500 is down 16.14 at 1,276.06. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T20:31:00.001+08:00

Euro declines to new multi-month low versus Canadian dollar

The European common currency fell to a fresh multi-month low of 1.5433 against its Canadian counterpart on Monday morning in New York. This may be compared to last Friday's North American session closing value of 1.5486. If the pair drifts further lower, the near term support level is seen around 1.5316. Currently, the euro-loonie pair is quoted at 1.5439.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T20:12:00.001+08:00

Bank of England's Bean Says Economy Will Recover as Commodity Prices Stabilize

CEP News) - Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean said he expects the British economy to recover as commodity prices stabilize.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC following a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bean said he nevertheless continues to see the financial market turmoil as dragging on for some time.

Bean was attending a meeting of top central bank officials over the weekend - one year after the start of the financial crisis that has led to more than $500 billion in losses and writedowns - to discuss how to prevent such a collapse from happening again.

2008-08-25T19:57:00.001+08:00

Indian market retreats from higher levels

Monday, the Indian market ended almost flat after paring gains in the afternoon session. The market opened higher helped by a sharp retreat in the price of oil and firm cues from the rest of the global markets.

After trading firm in the opening session, the market pared the initial gains, led by selling pressure in Reliance and banking stocks at higher levels. Additionally, weak opening of the European markets weighed on investor sentiment. Stocks of real estate, banks and auto companies, which rose sharply in the morning, pared gains in the afternoon. Metal and power stocks led the decliners. Fertilizer stocks attracted fresh buying interest, while sugar stocks ended on a mixed note. Stocks of oil marketing companies rose, while shares of oil exploring and refining companies declined. Indian airline stocks ended firm following reports that the companies are contemplating a rise in fares by 10% to 20%, despite some possible downward revision in the price of aviation turbine fuel. There were reports that airlines could reduce fuel charges in-line with a retreat in the price of crude oil recently. Deccan Aviation (up 3.86%), Jagson Airlines (up 2.72%), SpiceJet (up 1.70%) rose sharply. After opening at 14,643, the BSE Sensex held to its ground firm in the morning, but pared gains to finish at near day's low. After touching an intra-day low of 14,416, the market finished slightly better at 14,450, up 49 points or 0.34% over Friday's close. Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty ended at 4,335, up 0.18%. On the BSE, the mid-cap index closed up 0.25% and the broad-based BSE 500 index rose 0.30%, while the small-cap ended down 0.05%. The market breadth was slightly positive, with 1347 stocks gaining compared to 1287 stocks that declined. Seventeen out of 30 Sensex stock ended on a positive note. HDFC (up 3.63%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.62%), DLF India (up 2.32%), Tata Motors (up 2.04%), Satyam Computers (up 1.79%), ICICI Bank (up 1.76%), Grasim Industries (up 1.47%), HDFC Bank (up 1.12%) were among the major gainers. However, Tata Power (down 2.84%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.74%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.05%), BHEL (down 1.60%), Tata Steel (down 1.49%), Sterlite Industries9down 1.32% and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.16%) declined sharply. Jet Airways rose 1.34% following reports the company could merge its wholly owned subsidiary, JetLite, into Jet Airways this fiscal year. ONGC declined 0.39% over reports that the company may not be able to acquire Russia-focused Imperial Energy Oil, as the Indian firm has already exhausted its investment limit. JK Lakshmi Cement advanced 2.85% over reports that the company is planning to invest Rs.1000 crore for setting up five ready-mix concrete plants by March 2009. Banco Products India rose 1.02% after the company proposed to merger Ganga Investments, a promoter group company with the company. Gujarat Apollo Industries surged up 4.64% after the company recommended a bonus issue to its shareholders in the ratio of 1:2. Hindustan Construction Company declined 0.32% following reports that HCC Real Estate, the real estate arm of the company would invest Rs.1000 crore to develop townships across India. Silver Smith India ended flat after the board of directors approved the company's proposal to acquire silver mines in various countries. Tata Motors ended up 2.04% despite protests from Trinamool Congress, which demanded 400 acres of land back, taken for the Tata Nano project in Singur, West Bengal. MM Forgings added 5.98% after the company fixed the record date for a proposed bonus issue to its shareholders. Ranbaxy Laboratories declined 2.05% following reports the Indian government will re-examine Daiichi Sankyo's plan to buy a controlling stake in the company. Era Infra Engineering drifted down 0.56% after the company bagged new orders worth Rs.42.35 crore from Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation. Markets across the Asia-Pacific ended higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 3.50%, China's Shanghai Composite index added 0.34%, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.68% and South Korea's KOSPI Composite index advanced 0.35%, while the Malaysian KLSE Composite index ended down 0.63%. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T19:48:00.001+08:00

Estonia June trade deficit narrows

Estonia's trade deficit shrank from a year ago in June, a report by Statistics Estonia said Monday. This was mainly due to a slower fall in exports compared with imports. However, the trade gap widened from the previous month.

The trade deficit of this Baltic country narrowed to EEK (Estonian kroons) 3.5 billion in June from EEK 4.2 billion from the same period last year. This represented a decline of 15% from last year. In May, the deficit totaled EEK 2.9 billion, which was the smallest deficit since February 2006. Exports fell 1% in June, same as the fall in May. Total exports were valued at EEK 10.7 billion, down from EEK 11.7 billion in May. Total imports declined 5% in the month, compared with a 10% fall in the preceding month. Imports were valued EEK 14.3 billion, down from EEK 4.3 billion in May. Among the commodity groups, exports of machinery and transport equipment rose 5% to EEK 2.4 billion. This category had the highest share in total exports. And, exports of metal products rose 33% to EEK 1.6 billion. Exports increased 11% for agricultural products, 17% for raw materials and products of the chemical industry, and 24% for other items. However, exports of mineral products, the third most important item in the category, declined 27% in June. Exports also fell in double digits for wood and wood products, paper and related articles, textile products, transport equipment, and miscellaneous manufactured articles. Among the trading partners, exports to EU countries comprised 73% of the total exports. Exports to EU rose 5% to EEK 7.8 billion. Exports to the CIS countries, with a share of 13%, rose 28% to EEK 1.4 billion. Within import of goods, those of mineral products and raw materials from the chemical industry increased 16% each, while that of agricultural products was up 15%. On the other hand, import of machinery and equipment, the main imported item, fell 5% to EEK 3 billion. Imports of transport equipment and metals, the second largest category of imports, fell 28% and 6% respectively. Import of wood products was down 43%. Import of most other commodities declined in the month. Among the trading nations, imports from the EU, comprised 82% of all imports. Those from this region fell 1% to EEK 11.6 billion. Imports from the CIS countries, with a share of 11%, fell 25% to EEK 1.5 billion. It is widely viewed that the Estonian economy is in recession. In a report published last month, the statistical office said the Baltic economy posted a negative economic growth of 1.4% in the second quarter, which was the first annual decline since the third quarter of 1999, when the economy shrunk 1%. Analysts with Danske Bank had said the latest data showed that the Estonian economy was clearly sliding into recession, with the bank projecting the negative growth of 1% for this year, with the possibility of some rebound next year. Moreover, the International Monetary Fund warned in May that the Estonian economy was undergoing its first significant slowdown in nearly ten years and that growth for this year as a whole could be negative. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T18:11:00.001+08:00

Oil advances on supply jitters

Crude prices top $115 a barrel amid tension between the U.S. and Russia.

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices rose above $115 a barrel Monday in Asia as tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the conflict in Georgia raised concerns about supplies in the region.

U.S. crude for October delivery was up 88 cents at $115.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract tumbled $6.59 on Friday to settle at $114.59 a barrel.

Tensions over Russia's brief war in the former Soviet republic Georgia has supported oil prices, as investors speculate whether oil-rich Russia will use supplies to punish the West.

Russia pulled the bulk of its troops and tanks out Friday under a cease-fire agreement, but built up its forces in and around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist region. They also left other military posts at locations inside Georgia proper.

A U.S. Navy destroyer loaded with humanitarian aid reached Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday, a move that a Russian general suggested would worsen tensions between the former Cold War foes.

The war erupted Aug. 7 as Georgia launched a massive artillery barrage targeting the Russian-backed separatist province of South Ossetia. Russian forces repelled the offensive and drove deep into Georgia, taking crucial positions across the country.

The U.S. and EU say both those moves violated Russia's commitments.

Weighing on crude prices was the U.S. dollar, which has risen as oil has declined since reaching a record of $147.27 on July 11.

"If the U.S. dollar is rising, commodities take a hit. It's been a huge factor." said Gavin Wendt, head of mining and resources research at consultancy Fat Prophets in Sydney.

Speaking at an economic conference Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he would "act as necessary" to control inflation comments which helped strengthen the dollar against rival currencies.

A falling dollar encourages selling from investors who bought crude oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation and weakness in the U.S. currency. The euro fell to $1.4746 on Monday.

Wendt said he expects oil prices to rise this year as global demand for energy, led by developing economies such as China and India, outstrip supplies.

"We may see this rally in the U.S. dollar continue in the short-term, but you have to differentiate between speculation and the underlying demand for commodities," Wendt said. "The majority of the increase in commodities over the last five years has been driven by demand from China and the emerging economies being so great that supplies haven't been able to keep up."

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 0.95 cent to $3.141 a gallon, while gasoline prices fell 0.83 cent to $2.86 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 4.2 cents to $7.885 per 1,000 cubic feet.

2008-08-25T17:10:00.001+08:00

Denmark's August Consumer Confidence Indicator Lowest Since November 1990

Denmark's consumer confidence indicator plunged to its lowest level since November 1990 as indicators measuring the current economic situation and the expectation decreased.

Monday, the Statistics Denmark said the nation's consumer confidence indicator for the month of August declined to minus 12.2 from minus 9.7 in July. The indicator measuring general economic situation of the country over the last 12 months deteriorated to minus 22.8 from minus 17.3. Meanwhile, expectations over the next 12 months improved to minus 20.7 from minus 21.9. The indicator for household's financial situation over the previous 12 months fell to 2.5 from 6.7 in July. Similarly, the expectation index fell to 9.2 from 10.4. Further, the statistical office said consumers felt now is not the best time to make major purchases and the corresponding indicator slumped to minus 29.2 from minus 26.4. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T16:37:00.003+08:00

India gold futures down on strong dollar, weak crude

MUMBAI, Aug 25 (Reuters) - India's gold futures were down on Monday tracking the overseas markets, where a strong dollar and weak crude oil made investors pull out of precious metals.

"It is not a correction... it is a bearish trend altogether," said Subodh Gupta, analyst at Anand Rathi Commodities.

Foreign gold, that guides the local markets, slumped by one percent, losing its safe haven appeal as the dollar rose to a two-year high against the sterling and crude oil steadied after its biggest one-day drop since December 2004.

Gold generally moves in tandem with crude oil as the latter signals inflation, while the metal negates it. But the metal has an inverse relation with the dollar as the two compete for funds.

The benchmark October contract on the MCX was expected to trade within 11,530 rupees and 11,700 rupees per 10 grams, said Harish Galipelli, head of research at Karvy Comtrade Ltd.

Open interest for October gold was at 10,459 lots, down from 10,508 on Saturday. Volume in the last session was 1.99 kg. Silver futures were also expected to fall on the back of gold, analysts said.

September silver on MCX MSVU8 was expected to range within 19,500 rupees and 20,100 rupees per kg, Galipelli said.

The contract traded at 19,955 rupees.

2008-08-25T16:37:00.001+08:00

ECB's Trichet, Fed's Miskin & Others Discuss Preventing Repeat of Market Crisis

CEP News) Frankfurt - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, former central bank officials and head economists all met in Jackson Hole, Wyoming over the weekend, one year since the start of the financial crisis that has led to more than $500 billion in losses and writedowns, to discuss how prevent such a collapse from happening again.

Unfortunately, it seems that an agreement could not be made on how to do so.

As noted in a speech at the end of the two-day conference, "it didn't settle a whole lot," Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fisher said.

One of the main debates was how much responsibility for financial stability should be placed on the shoulders of the central banks, as well as how much help should be offered to struggling firms.

ECB President Trichet and Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin were both defending the central banks and their results over the past year. Meanwhile, former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter argued that the central banks' enthusiam in assisting investors in trouble was "unhealthy and dangerous".

Meanwhile, ECB Governing Council member Mario Draghi stressed that the additional responsibility off financial stability on the shoulders of monetary policy makers could limit the latter's ability to control inflation.

Nevertheless, all participants were in agreement that a change in the system was forecoming, despite not agreeing on its form.

However, one thing that all participants were united on was the fact that the crisis was not yet over and that ongoing turmoil was expected in both the housing and banking sectors.

"It was clear from what was said that most people here don't believe the financial crisis is necessarily over or close to being over,'' Fischer said in his closing speech.

By Todd Wailoo, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

2008-08-25T16:31:00.001+08:00

Japanese market ends up on Wall Street gains; stronger dollar

The Japanese market closed sharply higher on Monday, ending a four-day losing streak. Wall Street's sharp gains on Friday and a stronger U.S. dollar boosted investor sentiment.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 212.62 points or 1.68% at 12,878.66 after losing nearly 500 points during the previous four sessions. The broader Topix index of all the First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange advanced 22.83 points or 1.88% to finish at 1,239.25. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 109-yen levels, down slightly from lower 110-yen levels in early trade. The local unit finished Friday's session at 109.10-109.11 yen. The U.S. dollar strengthened on gains in the U.S. stocks on Friday and a plunge in crude oil prices. The U.S. market rallied Friday on the back of a sharp drop in oil prices. A report that state-run Korea Development Bank is considering the acquisition of Lehman Brothers and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that inflationary pressures are likely to moderate also added to the positive sentiment. The Dow Industrials jumped 1.7% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.4%. Oil prices rose in late Asian session Monday, trading at $115.10 a barrel, up 51 cents, by 3:08 a.m. ET after plunging US$6.59 to US$114.59 a barrel on Friday as Russia pulled troops out of Georgia. On the economic front, traders had little to digest in terms of economic data. While banks and exporters led the gainers, mining stocks and trading houses fell on lower commodity prices. Major exporters rose on a weaker yen. Toyota Motor gained 2.9%, Sony and Honda Motor surged 4.4% each, machinery maker Komatsu advanced 0.9%, and Canon climbed 2.8%. Among financials, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group jumped 4.8% each, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 4.2%, top brokerage Nomura Holdings gained 3.0%, and Daiwa Securities Group added 2.3%. Sea transporters were higher, with Kawasaki Kisen rising 3.5%, Mitsui OSK Lines gaining 3.2%, and Nippon Yusen adding 2.4%. Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings plunged 4.5% and Nippon Mining Holdings slipped 0.2%, while Nippon Oil rose 1.1% after oil prices plummeted Friday. Among trading houses, Marubeni fell 1.5%, Itochu lost 1.1%, Mitsubishi Corp declined 0.7%, and Mitsui & Co. gave away 0.9%. Sanyo Electric gained 1.4% after a report said that the company would disband Sanyo BPL, a 50-50 Indian joint venture that manufactures cathode-ray tube for televisions, in the current fiscal year to March 2009. Nippon Steel rose 1.4% after a Nikkei report said that the leading steelmaker and other major Japanese steelmakers plan to jointly acquire overseas mining rights for iron ore. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T15:38:00.001+08:00

Swedish July Trade Balance Report Due

Monday, Sweden's trade balance report for July is scheduled to release from the statistical office at 3.30 am ET. In June, the Swedish trade surplus had narrowed to SEK8.2 billion from SEK10 billion in May. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the net trade surplus had stood at SEK6.6 billion in June compared to SEK7.5 billion of the previous month.

On an annual basis, export value of goods were up 5% to SEK102.2 billion in June. On the other hand, import value increased 12% to SEK94 billion. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T15:08:00.001+08:00

Hungary June Retail Sales Forecast To Decrease

Monday, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office is expected to release the retail sales report for June at 3.00 am ET. Retail sales are forecast to decline calendar adjusted 1% year-on-year in June, at a slower pace than a 1.6% decline recorded in May. Month-on-month, retail sales had decreased 0.2% in May, reversing a 0.4% rise logged in April.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T15:00:00.001+08:00

Oil steady as dollar offsets Russia tension

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices were steady Monday in Asia above $114 a barrel as a strengthening dollar offset continuing tensions between the U.S. and Russian over the conflict in Georgia.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery was down 5 cents at $114.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract tumbled $6.59 on Friday to settle at $114.59 a barrel.

"If the U.S. dollar is rising, commodities take a hit. It's been a huge factor." said Gavin Wendt, head of mining and resources research at consultancy Fat Prophets in Sydney.

A falling dollar encourages selling from investors who bought crude oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation and weakness in the U.S. currency. The euro fell to $1.4760 on Monday.

Wendt said he expects oil prices to rise this year as global demand for energy, led by developing economies such as China and India, outstrip supplies.

Supporting oil prices are ongoing tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Russia's brief war in the former Soviet republic Georgia.

The U.S. and EU say both those moves violated Russia's commitments.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 0.39 cent to $3.135 a gallon, while gasoline prices fell 1.86 cent to $2.85 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 3.0 cents to $7.873 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, October Brent crude rose 22 cents to $114.10 a barrel.

2008-08-25T14:52:00.001+08:00

USD Slumps as Oil Spikes by Korman Tam

The dollar tumbled across the board in the Thursday session on the heels of a rally in oil, which jumped to its highest level in 2 ½-weeks to $121.94 per barrel. The spike higher in crude prices was prompted by a combination of heightened geopolitical uncertainty stemming from Russia's decision to halt cooperation with NATO and warnings that Saudi Arabia may scale back its recent increase in production amid declining prices. The move higher in oil sent the greenback lower, falling near the 1.49-level against the euro and 108.10 versus the yen.

The US economic reports released today saw improvements in both weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey. Weekly jobless claims improved to 432k, down from 450k a week earlier. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey was better than expected at -12.7 in August, versus calls for an improvement to -14.0 from -16.3 in the previous month. The July leading indicators deteriorated to -0.7%, compared with -0.1% from June.

Traders will look ahead to tomorrow's speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke slated for 10:00 AM. His speech will be closely scrutinized for hints on future policy moves and any indications of support for troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

2008-08-25T14:37:00.001+08:00

Forex Forecast: 5 Key Events for the Market This Week 08-25-08

Monday, 25 August 2008

Previous Articles

Aug 25 - Forex Forecast: 5 Key Events for the Market This Week 08-25-08
Aug 22 - Forex Trading Weekly Forecast - 08.25.08
Aug 22 - British Pound Vulnerable to Sharp Pullback Next Week
Aug 22 - Pound Plummets As Growth Stalls, Euro Follows Suit
Aug 22 - Euro Open: UK Gross Domestic Product to Print at 15-Year Low
Aug 21 - Forex Emerging Markets Weekly - August 21, 2008
Aug 21 - Forex Trading Forecast: US Dollar to Weaken Before Further Rallies
Aug 21 - Euro Open: Will Switzerland Follow the EU into Recession?
Aug 21 - Pound Reverses Despite U.K. Retail Sales Rebound, Euro Heavy As PMI Remains In Contraction
Aug 20 - Can Chinese Demand Keep Japan Out of Recession?
Aug 20 - Dollar May Drop Without Action From The Fed
Aug 20 - Australian Dollar Could Fall Like a Rock
Aug 20 - BoE Voted 7-1-1 to Leave Rates Unchanged, Besley Votes For Hike.
Aug 20 - Euro Open: Is The Bank of England Closer to Cutting Interest Rates?
Aug 19 - Forex Seasonality Update: We Forecast USDCAD Declines
Aug 19 - Euro Falls As German ZEW Shows Current Conditions Worsening
Aug 19 - A Drop in U.S. Housing Starts Would Validate EURUSD Technical Outlook
Aug 19 - Euro Open: Will Producer Prices Help the ECB Cut Interest Rates?
Aug 18 - Japanese Yen Forecast Ahead of BoJ Meeting
Aug 15 - Forex Trading Weekly Forecast 08.18.08

Written by Terri Belkas, Currency Strategist

Forex traders should beware of event risk for the US dollar this week, as most economic releases will be out of the US. Indeed, house prices, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, and Q2 GDP will all hit the wires. However, the minutes from the Federal Reserve's August meeting may be the event to watch, especially if any commentary signals any sort of bias within the FOMC. The Euro will not be spared either, though, as Euro-zone CPI is on tap on Friday.

• US S&P/Case Schiller Home Prices, Consumer Confidence – August 26
On Tuesday, the release of US economic data may highlight some of the reasons why traders are ramping up speculation that the country is in midst of a recession. Indeed, at 9:00 EDT, the S&P/Case-Schiller index of home prices is likely to fall sharply for the twenty-first consecutive month in June. Later in the morning at 10:00 EDT, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index is forecasted to edge up to a reading of 53.0 in August from 51.9. While US economic conditions haven't improved in any way, shape, or form, we saw last month that a drop in oil prices helped to boost sentiment and lower inflation expectations. Since commodities plunged for much of August, there is potential for there to be a similar increase in confidence which would be bullish for the US dollar. However, since the US housing, services, and manufacturing sectors all remain weak while labor market conditions deteriorate, there is certainly downside risk for this release as well.

• FOMC Meeting Minutes from August 5 – August 26
The release of the minutes from the FOMC meeting on August 5 at 14:00 EDT. During that meeting the Fed left rates steady, though one member – Richard Fisher – dissented for the fifth consecutive time as he remains the most hawkish of the bunch. The key thing to watch for in the release of the minutes is the commentary amongst the FOMC members regarding inflation, especially in light of July's record oil prices. Currently, fed fund futures are betting that the Fed will raise rates by over 50bps within the next 12 months. However, if the FOMC members brush off the inflation factors and focus instead on shaky financial market conditions and the significant US economic slowdown, futures may start to become more aggressive in pricing in either steady rates or even a cut, which could weigh heavily on the US Dollar.

• US Durable Goods Orders – August 27
Can Boeing help the US durable goods orders figure to rebound? Unlikely, as airline orders only improved very slightly in July to 70, up from 62 in June. While the headline will have the most impact on forex trading, the markets should keep an eye on non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, as this number serves as a leading indicator for business investment. The reading has fallen negative during 4 of the past 6 months, though it did rise 1.4 percent last month. Overall, though, durable goods are forecasted to rise a tepid 0.1 percent, which could ultimately lead the greenback lower.

• US Gross Domestic Product (2Q P) – August 28
On Thursday, the second reading of Q2 GDP for the US will hit the wires at 8:30 EDT. The figure is anticipated to be revised all the way up to a whopping 2.7 percent from initial estimates of 1.9 percent, thanks to stronger-than-expected exports in the month of June. Likewise, surprisingly large increases in wholesales and business inventories in June could provide a positive lift. While I remain skeptical of this sudden "rebound" in economic expansion in light of the contraction in business activity for the services and manufacturing sectors, along with the broad deterioration in the labor markets, a reading in line with or more than forecasts should ignite a US Dollar rally.

• Euro-zone Consumer Price Index Estimate – August 29
Eurostat estimates for Euro-zone CPI are projected to show at 5:00 EDT that inflation held at a 4.0 percent pace in August. Given European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet's more bearish stance on economic growth, a weaker-than-expected CPI reading could exacerbate the market's speculation that the central bank will cut rates within the next year. On the other hand, a jump in CPI could be just the thing to get traders to remember just how hawkish Mr. Trichet can be and send the euro higher.

2008-08-25T14:18:00.001+08:00

Singapore Annual Inflation Slows in July

Monday, the Statistics Singapore announced that the country's consumer price index, or CPI increased 6.5% year-over-year in July, slower than the 7.5% rise recorded in June.

Food prices increased 8.5% in July over a year ago period, while housing costs rose 12.5%. At the same time, transport and communication climbed 3.4%.

On a monthly basis, the CPI moved up 1.2% in July, and it grew 0.4% on seasonally adjusted basis. Food prices rose 0.7%, while transport and communication cost decreased 0.6% compared to prior month.

For January to July period, consumer prices increased 7% on an annual basis. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T11:22:00.001+08:00

Pound Falls To Two-Year Low

By Dan Molinski

The U.K. pound fell to a fresh two-year low against the dollar Friday after U.K. economic growth rates hit their lowest level since 1992, signaling a looming recession.

Broad strength in the U.S. dollar also pushed sterling lower, as a decline in oil prices Friday improved the overall U.S. economic outlook and hopes for a recovery, sending the dollar higher virtually across the board. Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $114.59 a barrel, down $6.59.

The pound fell to as low as $1.8507 Friday, its lowest point since July 2006, and down 14% from a 27-year ...

2008-08-25T11:17:00.001+08:00

Sinopec first-half Profit declines - Update

Sunday, Sinopec Corp. reported a fall in its profit for the first-half, compared to last year.Net profit attributable to shareholders in accordance with IFRS standards declined 77.3% to RMB 8.26 billion or RMB 0.064 per share, compared to RMB 36.38 billion or RMB 0.420 per share in the same period last year.

Operating profit was down 86.5% at RMB 7.22 billion versus RMB 53.59 billion in the prior year.

Net profit in accordance with PRC accounting standards was down 73.4% in the period at RMB 9.34 billion or 0.076 RMB per share, compared to RMB 35.11 billion or RMB 0.405 per share last year.

In the first half, the Company produced 147.38 million barrels of crude oil and 144.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas, up 2.4% and 3.3% respectively over the same period of last year.

International crude oil prices rose high during the six-month period, and the average Platt's Brent spot price was US$109.14 per barrel, up 72.53% over prior year.

For the second half, Sinopec expects lower demands for chemical products and domestic refining business to be under continued pressure. The company plans to produce 21.24 million tonnes of crude oil and 4.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the coming six-month period.

SNP last traded at $100 on the NYSE. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-25T10:59:00.001+08:00

Thai baht drops to 4-day low of 34.1050 versus dollar

The Thai Baht weakened to a 4-day low of 34.1050 against the US dollar on Monday morning in Asia.

2008-08-22T22:10:00.001+08:00

India's Official Reserves Fall

Friday, the Reserve Bank of India said in its weekly report that the nation's official reserves accounted for US$296.21 billion as on August 15, down from US$300.01 billion recorded as on August 8.

Foreign currency reserves accounted for US$285.97 billion, down from US$289.76 recorded in the previous week. Gold reserves amounted to US$9.7 billion, unchanged from the previous week. Special drawing rights decreased to US$4 million from US$11 million. India's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund fell to US$496 million from US$504 million. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-22T18:40:00.001+08:00

LONDON, Aug 22 (Reuters) - STOCKS NEWS Reuters Results diary

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-time Equity News [E] [WEU/EQUITY]

06:46GMT 22Aug2008-European shares set to edge up, commodities eyed

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European shares are set to open higher, steadying after falls in the previous session, with commodity stocks benefitting from strong metal and crude prices and exporters lifted by a slight weakening in the euro.

Futures for the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 , Germany's DAX and France's CAC <.FCEc1> add 0.2 to 0.5 percent.

With the corporate and economic diaries thin, investors are looking to a second release of UK second quarter GDP, eurozone industrial orders and a speech on financial stability by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas Economic Symposium.

2008-08-22T18:35:00.003+08:00

South African Rand Heads for Weekly Gain as Commodities Rally

By Garth Theunissen

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand was poised to snap two weeks of losses against the dollar as gains in gold and platinum boosted revenue prospects for world's biggest producer of precious metals.

The rand was the best performer of the 16 most-actively traded currencies monitored by Bloomberg this week as gold headed for its biggest weekly advance in almost seven years and platinum surged for a third day. The metals rose with other commodities as a weaker dollar and higher oil prices spurred demand for alternative investments and hedges against inflation.

``Commodities are a strong theme for the rand at the moment,'' said Kay Muller, a currency researcher at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg. ``Strong gains in oil and a weaker dollar are fueling gold and platinum, which is positive for the rand.''

The rand was 0.2 percent lower at 7.6700 per dollar by noon in Johannesburg, parings its weekly advance against the U.S. currency to 2.6 percent. It climbed 1.6 percent versus the euro on the week, to 11.3801.

``Positive momentum has returned to commodities, which along with a dollar correction, is keeping the rand buoyant,'' said Tolga Ediz an emerging-markets currency strategist in London at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ``There's still enough risk appetite to help high-yielding currencies.''

Commodities headed for their biggest weekly gain in 33 years as the dollar traded near the lowest level in more than two weeks against the yen and was set to drop in the week versus the euro.

Gold climbed 5.6 percent in the week to $834.08 an ounce, the biggest advance since May 2001 and the first in six weeks. Platinum surged 5 percent from Aug. 8 to $1,440.20 an ounce. South Africa produces almost 80 percent of the world's platinum and about 10 percent of its gold, typically causing the rand to move in tandem with the metals' prices.

Crude oil rose 6 percent this week to $120.62 a barrel, headed for its biggest weekly increase in more than two months.

Government bonds fell this week, with the yield on South Africa's benchmark 13.5 percent security due September 2015 adding 13 basis points to 9.27 percent. Yields move inversely to bond prices.

2008-08-22T18:35:00.001+08:00

Pound Plummets As Growth Stalls, Euro Follows Suit

Previous Articles

Aug 22 - Pound Plummets As Growth Stalls, Euro Follows Suit
Aug 22 - Euro Open: UK Gross Domestic Product to Print at 15-Year Low
Aug 21 - Forex Emerging Markets Weekly - August 21, 2008
Aug 21 - Forex Trading Forecast: US Dollar to Weaken Before Further Rallies
Aug 21 - Euro Open: Will Switzerland Follow the EU into Recession?
Aug 21 - Pound Reverses Despite U.K. Retail Sales Rebound, Euro Heavy As PMI Remains In Contraction
Aug 20 - Can Chinese Demand Keep Japan Out of Recession?
Aug 20 - Dollar May Drop Without Action From The Fed
Aug 20 - Australian Dollar Could Fall Like a Rock
Aug 20 - BoE Voted 7-1-1 to Leave Rates Unchanged, Besley Votes For Hike.
Aug 20 - Euro Open: Is The Bank of England Closer to Cutting Interest Rates?
Aug 19 - Forex Seasonality Update: We Forecast USDCAD Declines
Aug 19 - Euro Falls As German ZEW Shows Current Conditions Worsening
Aug 19 - A Drop in U.S. Housing Starts Would Validate EURUSD Technical Outlook
Aug 19 - Euro Open: Will Producer Prices Help the ECB Cut Interest Rates?
Aug 18 - Japanese Yen Forecast Ahead of BoJ Meeting
Aug 15 - Forex Trading Weekly Forecast 08.18.08
Aug 15 - Carry Trade Plunges, But Yen Pairs Testing Support
Aug 15 - US Consumer Confidence Improves For Second Consecutive Month, Dollar Gains
Aug 15 - Forex Emerging Markets Weekly - August 15, 2008

Written by John Rivera, Currency Analyst

The pound reversed yesterday's gains after the second reading for 2Q GDP was flat. After reaching as high as 1.8797 during the U.S. session the sterling dropped over two hundred points to 1.8573. Growth in the U.K. was unexpectedly revised lower to 0.0% from the first reading of 1.5%.

Talking Points
•    Japanese Yen: USDJPY Climbs Back Above 109
•    Euro: Current: Account Deficit Widens
•    British Pound: Second Quarter Growth Stagnates
•    US Dollar: Bernanke To Speak Today

Pound Plummets As Growth Stalls, Euro Follows Suit

The pound reversed yesterday's gains after the second reading for 2Q GDP was flat. After reaching as high as 1.8797 during the U.S. session the sterling dropped over two hundred points to 1.8573. Growth in the U.K. was unexpectedly revised lower to 0.0% from the first reading of 1.5%. Rising inflation has sapped consumer's purchasing power leading to a 0.1% decline in personal consumption and a 1.4% fall in imports. A 0.5% drop in exports and services remaining at 0.2%-the weakest since 2002 contributed to growth stalling.

The lack of growth from the service industry which accounts for three-quarters has put the U.K. economy at the door step of a recession. The decline in the manufacturing sector continues to worsen as July's PMI reading was the third straight month that it contracted and lowest on record. Although retail sales rebounded 0.8% in July, inflation at 4.4% and rising and a labor market which has lost over 40,000 jobs the past two months combined will weigh on consumer spending going forward. The dour growth story for the U.K. may force the BoE to put aside their concerns about inflation and take measures to foster growth.

The Euro gave back some of its gains from yesterday as well, after the June's current account reading showed the deficit widening to 8.2 billion from a revised -5.5 billion the month prior. Pound selling and the industrial new orders report showing the biggest drop in six years also weighed on the currency. Although manufacturing demand declined 7.4% on an annualized basis, June's 0.3% decline was better than the -1.5% that was expected.

The major event risk for the U.S. dollar today other than oil prices is the scheduled speech today at 10:00AM EST by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. As DailyFX analyst Terri Belkas commented yesterday, "Given the uncertainty surrounding the health of US financial institutions, commentary on the financial markets will be watched closely and bearish sentiment by Mr. Bernanke could weigh heavily on risk-appetite." If the chairman's testimony proves uneventful the current easing of oil prices following yesterday's jump on geopolitical concerns could add to dollar strength.

2008-08-22T18:31:00.001+08:00

Euro Zone Industrial Orders Continue Their Decline in June

(CEP News) Frankfurt - Euro zone industrial new orders fell 7.4% on a yearly basis in June, overshadowing the 6.3% decline expected as well as the 4.4% annualized fall seen in May, according to figures released by Eurostat on Friday.

Among the euro zone states for which there is data, orders in France saw the most notable falls, slipping 16.9% in June 2008 compared to the same month one year ago, followed by Spain, which saw a 6.5% decline in new orders over the same period. Conversely, Portuguese industrial orders shot up 19.7% in the year ending in June as Greece saw its industrial orders' level rise 10.9% year-over-year.

In monthly terms, industrial new orders' levels slipped 0.3% in June. However, economists had expected a more pronounced decline of 1.1% after orders had fallen 5.4% from April to May. Meanwhile, May's monthly figure was revised down from an initial reading of -3.5%.

By Todd Wailoo, twailoo@economicnews.caThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Nancy Girgis, ngirgis@economicnews.ca

2008-08-22T17:17:00.001+08:00

UK Q2 GDP Growth Rev. Down

The UK economy expanded 1.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, revised down from the initial estimate of 1.6%, a report released by the Office for National Statistics, or ONS showed Friday. Economists had expected the annual growth to ease to 1.5% from 2.3% recorded in the first quarter.

Compared to previous quarter, real Gross Domestic Product, or GDP remained flat in the second quarter. The initial growth estimate was 0.2% and economists were looking for a sequential increase of 0.1%.

In the second quarter, the implied GDP deflator rose 2.6% compared with 2007. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-22T16:58:00.001+08:00

Eurozone June industrial orders expected to decline at a faster pace

Friday, the Eurostat is expected to release the Eurozone industrial new orders data for June at 5.00 am ET. Industrial new orders are predicted to decline 6.1% annually in June, a bigger decline compared to May's 4.4% fall. On a monthly basis, industrial new orders are forecast to decline 1.1% in June compared to a 3.5% fall recorded in May.

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-22T15:51:00.001+08:00

Pound Declines To 8-day Low Against Euro

In early deals on Friday, the British currency weakened against the euro. The euro-pound pair that closed yesterday's trading at 0.7935 is now worth 0.7957. This set an 8-day low for the UK currency.

If the pound falls further, it may test support around the 0.803 level. Investors now look forward to the Euro-zone June current account, industrial new orders and the UK Q2 GDP reports, which are expected to drive deals in the upcoming hours. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-22T10:26:00.001+08:00

ANZ Bank Says Review Found "Inadequate" Controls In Opes Crisis

Australia and New Zealand Bank said Thursday that a review of its securities lending business found a series of inadequate controls. In addition, the ANZ said two senior executives would be terminated and a number of others faced punitive measures following the probe of procedures that led to the Opes Prime crisis.

Opes Prime Group was a broker specializing in margin lending. The company, which went under in March, had obtained loans totaling A$616 million from ANZ.

The bank said it failed to adequately indentify and manage risks involving the securities lending business. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the bank said that a "range" of management and operational issues had arisen in the review, with "action involving a number of employees" already taken. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-21T23:06:00.001+08:00

Stocks Pare Losses In Late Morning Trading But Remain Negative

Moving into Thursday's late morning trading, stocks have come off their lows of the day but remain mostly negative. With a rise in crude oil prices, airline stocks are showing some of the day's widest losses.

The Amex Airline Index is down nearly 6%. At the other end of the spectrum, gold stocks are performing well, with the Amex Gold Bugs Index up over 6.5%. Currently, the Dow is down 81.99 at 11,335.44, the Nasdaq is down 27.08 at 2,362.00, and the S&P 500 is down 8.16 at 1,266.38. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-21T22:38:00.001+08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices surged Thursday, rising to within one cent of $120 a barrel, as a falling dollar and renewed concerns over the credit crunch motivated investors to move their assets back to commodities.

U.S. crude for October delivery rose $4.07 to $119.63, having reached as high as $119.99. But it was $4.49 above Wednesday's $114.98 settlement price for the September contract, which ended active trading.

Oil has not traded above $120 since Aug. 8, when crude futures touched $120.08 a barrel during the session. The last time crude oil settled higher than $120 a barrel was Aug. 7, when oil closed at $120.02 for the day.

"The investor class is buying back oil as a hedge because the value of the dollar is weak," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron Trading.

Another analyst echoed the same sentiment. "All else equal, people would think that in a stable commodity market and a negative financial market - people would have more faith in the commodity place," said Neal Dingmann, director of equity research at Dahlman Rose.

Weaker dollar: Oil prices were supported by the declining value of the U.S. dollar. The dollar was down against both the euro and the yen on Thursday.

Crude oil is traded in U.S. currency around the globe and so when the dollar weakens, crude oil becomes cheaper for foreign investors.

"If the dollar does fall off, a lot of these guys (foreign investors) are able to consume more and buy more on a pure dollar-per-dollar basis," said Dingmann.

In addition, when the dollar weakens, investors move their assets to commodities as a hedge against inflation.

Investors were "running back to gold, running back to oil, so it seems we are seeing some of the running-back-to-safe-haven" behavior, said Flynn.

With Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) stocks near historic lows and rumors of a federal bailout making Wall Street jittery, investors were "running back to oil as a hedge against this risk again," said Flynn.

"The risk factors are back on the rise with the latest fears about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that seems to have captured the imagination of the market," said Flynn.

Supply report: The government's weekly energy supply report, released Wednesday, showed a much bigger-than-expected increase in crude oil stockpiles and a surprise drop in gasoline stockpiles.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories climbed by 9.4 million barrels. Gasoline inventories fell by 6.2 million barrels, which came on the heels of a 6.4 million barrel drop in the prior week.

Two consecutive weeks of gasoline stockpiles tumbling may work to prop the price of oil up, as well. But Flynn does not think the fall off in gasoline inventories is the main reason for this most recent runup.

With the summer driving season nearly finished, "the reason why gas supplies are so tight is because refineries are not making any - demand is not there," said Flynn.

"The summer driving season is coming to an end, and if the refineries chose to, they could ramp up the production of gas because they have plenty of crude, but there is no desire to ramp up," said Flynn.

Shooting for $120: The last time the market watched crude futures race up to a record-high price of $147.27 on July 11, the market was fueled by fears of economic weakness.

"We are going up for the same reasons we went to the highs - concerns about the dollar, the economy, the Fed's ability to raise interest rates," said Flynn.

"It looks like we could potentially test the $120 area - that would be the big number that everybody would be looking at," added Flynn.

But another analyst said that concerns about slumping demand would come back and temper any run to $120 a barrel.

"There would have to be another event to push it that much higher - whether that would be the dollar breakdown or an additional uprising with Russia, arms buildup in Poland," said Dingmann. "I think you would have to have something a bit out of the ordinary to get there."

2008-08-21T21:22:00.001+08:00

Greenback falls to 1-week low versus Swiss franc

The US dollar fell to a weekly low of 1.0888 against the Swiss franc on Thursday morning in New York. This may be compared to yesterday's close of 1.0993. Currently, the dollar-franc pair is trading at 1.09.

The latest economic report from U.S. showed that jobless claims fell to 432,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 445,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 438,000 from the 450,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Traders also weighed early morning reports that the Swiss producer and import prices rose 4.9% year-on-year in July, faster than 4.5% increase recorded in June due to rising oil and metal prices. This for the second consecutive month, the producer and import price annual growth is exceeding 4%. Economists had expected prices to rise 4.6%.

At the same time, the Swiss trade surplus remained almost unchanged at CHF2.37 billion in July, the Federal Administration of Customs announced today. Economists had expected the surplus to fall to CHF2 billion in July. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2008-08-21T16:48:00.001+08:00

NZ Dollar Eases From 2-week High Against US Currency

The New Zealand dollar declined against the US currency after hitting a 2-week high of 0.7165 at 2:55 am ET Thursday. Currently, the kiwi-greenback pair is trading near yesterday's close of 0.7130.

2008-08-21T16:14:00.001+08:00

Euro Open: Will Switzerland Follow the EU into Recession?

Previous Articles

Aug 21 - Euro Open: Will Switzerland Follow the EU into Recession?
Aug 20 - Can Chinese Demand Keep Japan Out of Recession?
Aug 20 - Dollar May Drop Without Action From The Fed
Aug 20 - Australian Dollar Could Fall Like a Rock
Aug 20 - BoE Voted 7-1-1 to Leave Rates Unchanged, Besley Votes For Hike.
Aug 20 - Euro Open: Is The Bank of England Closer to Cutting Interest Rates?
Aug 19 - Forex Seasonality Update: We Forecast USDCAD Declines
Aug 19 - Euro Falls As German ZEW Shows Current Conditions Worsening
Aug 19 - A Drop in U.S. Housing Starts Would Validate EURUSD Technical Outlook
Aug 19 - Euro Open: Will Producer Prices Help the ECB Cut Interest Rates?
Aug 18 - Japanese Yen Forecast Ahead of BoJ Meeting
Aug 15 - Forex Trading Weekly Forecast 08.18.08
Aug 15 - Carry Trade Plunges, But Yen Pairs Testing Support
Aug 15 - US Consumer Confidence Improves For Second Consecutive Month, Dollar Gains
Aug 15 - Forex Emerging Markets Weekly - August 15, 2008
Aug 14 - US Inflation Climbs To 17-Year High - What Does It Mean For The Dollar?
Aug 14 - Euro Consolidates Despite Negative GDP and Flat CPI
Aug 14 - Euro Open: EZ GDP to See First-Ever Negative Result, Threatening Euro
Aug 13 - Australian Dollar Forecast Improves After Record Consecutive Declines
Aug 13 - US Retail Sales Contracts For The First Time In 5 Months, US Dollar Pulls Back

Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Analyst

Japan's Merchandise Trade Balance saw the surplus shrink further in July, registering at 91.1 billion yen versus 235 billion expected and 138.6 billion in the preceding month. Australia's New Motor Vehicle Sales contracted -4.1%, the worst reading in 24 months. Forex traders will be focused on the wealth of Swiss data set to hit the tape in European trading. Acute deterioration in top EU countries threatens to spill over into the mountain nation as the regional bloc is the destination for nearly 60% of all Swiss exports.

2008-08-21T15:52:00.001+08:00

Estonian kroon rises to 1-week high against US dollar

The Estonian kroon rose to a 1-week high of 10.5070 against the US dollar by about 10:15 pm ET Wednesday. This may be compared to Wednesday's New York session closing value of 10.6240. Currently, the pair is quoted at 10.56.

Statistics Estonia said in its report that the Producer Price Index, or PPI rose 7.8% year-on-year in July, marking a faster pace than the 7.5% rise recorded in June. According to the statistical office, producer price inflation was higher due to the rise in the prices of energy supply. On a monthly basis, producer prices increased 0.8% in July, quicker than the 0.4% rise seen in the previous month.