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1 in 4 works for a casino
Op Thunderbolt lightening crime Page 7
Page 8 Photo by Manuel Cardoso
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China’s growth ‘under pressure’
Gaming manufacturing
plan for Hengqin Island A
locally-based maker of electronic casino games wants to help set up an industrial park on Hengqin Island serving the casino equipment sector. Jay Chun, chairman of LT Game Ltd, says the facility would be for new companies and established firms that want local manufacturing capability for gaming software and graphics. A new trade body he wants to establish – to be called the Macau Gaming Manufacturers’ Association would coordinate it. He says the incorporation of the trade body could happen “before the end of this year”. Outside casino circles LT Game is best known as the company in a protracted patent dispute with U.S.-based casino games maker Shuffle Master Inc. over multi-game
electronic table games in the Macau market. Mr Chun stressed to Business Daily however that the aim of the proposed Association was not to be a rival to either the American Gaming Association or the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers – two U.S.-based trade bodies. Many of the firms that currently supply gaming equipment to Macau casinos are members either of one or both. “…how to educate the young people is our association’s target. It’s not really like we want to organise [industry] exhibitions. That’s not our target,” Mr Chun told Business Daily.
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Govt to rein in cowboy builders Executive and legislature will work together to regulate for the first time the sale of unfinished flats. It’s an important piece of consumer protection. In Macau and Hong Kong, where new housing supply is constrained by the limited amount of available land, it’s common for investors to buy apartments ‘off plan’. That can lead to problems if developers later change the specifications, delay or even fail to complete the project. The draft law also sets out the professional standards required of real estate agents and introduces a licensing system for the sector to reduce the risk of mis-selling. Penalties including the termination of business licenses are included in the latest version, said Kwan Tsui Hang, president of the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee.
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Patane plots – consensus thickens
Name
Appeal on La Scala land grab Pages 4 & 5
%Day
TENCENT HOLDINGS
6.35
SANDS CHINA LTD
2.80
CATHAY PAC AIR
3.79
BELLE INT’L
2.97
HENDERSON LAND
2.69
CLP HLDGS LTD
-1.36
WHARF HLDG
-1.50
CHINA MERCHANT
-1.65
TINGYI HLDG CO
-1.83
CHINA MOBILE
-3.01
Source: Bloomberg
Bank boom in first half The banking industry’s loans were equivalent to 79.5 percent of its deposits at the end of June, a higher percentage than would be allowed in mainland China. Nonetheless the local banking sector had its best first half ever this year, making operating profits of 2.76 billion patacas (US$345 million). That’s despite new lending slowed in the second quarter. The Monetary Authority of Macau said yesterday the combined first-half operating profits of the banks were 27.1 percent higher than a year before. Page 2 www.macaubusinessdaily.com
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Year I - Number 100 Friday August 17, 2012 Editor-in-chief: Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief: José I. Duarte MOP 6.00
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business daily August 17, 2012
macau
Bank lending slows,reins in profit spurt The banks post record first-half earnings, but new lending is slowing Vítor Quintã vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com
The banking industry’s loans were equivalent to 79.5 percent of its deposits at the end of June, a higher percentage than would be allowed in the mainland
T
he banking industry had its best first half ever this year, making operating profits of 2.76 billion patacas (US$345 million), even though new lending slowed in the second quarter. The Monetary Authority of Macau said yesterday that the combined first-half operating profits of the banks were 27.1 percent higher than a year before. But profit growth was slowing. In the first quarter, the banks’ combined operating profits were 1.25 billion patacas, 50 percent more than a year before. The slower growth in profits was due
mostly a slow down in lending. Loans amounted to 381.1 billion patacas at the end of the second quarter, 8.1 percent more than a year before. At the end of the first quarter lending was 9.4 percent higher than a year before. Loans grew faster than deposits. Deposits amounted to 479.5 billion patacas at the end of the second quarter, 3.4 percent more than a year before. This meant lending was equivalent to 79.5 percent of all deposits at the end of June. At the end of March, the proportion was 76 percent. This proportion is above the ceiling of 75 percent imposed on commercial
banks in the mainland but below the average of 110 percent for banks in the European Union. High ratios of loans to deposits have caused problems for European banks but if the ratio is too low, banks may not earn as much as they should. Here, lending to residents was equivalent to 50.8 percent of all deposits by residents at the end of June, 0.6 percentage point more than at the end of March. Lending to non-residents was equivalent to 146 percent of deposits by non-residents. This means money kept in the bank by residents is increasingly being
lent to foreign investors, which may be risky. Banco Espírito Santo do Oriente, SA, chief executive José Morgado told Business Daily in May that it was not necessarily risky. He said that in most cases banks could get deposits at very low interest rates and that lending the money elsewhere, especially for casino operations, provided “much more attractive remuneration”. The capital adequacy of the banking industry had dropped to 13.95 percent by the end of June, its lowest since 1994, but was well above the 11.5 percent that the Basel III rules require.
business as usual
Same rule, different result Paulo A. Azevedo pazevedo@macaubusinessdaily.com
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here is often an unbelievable difference in the way the government treats wellknown businessmen and international investors – even if the latter contributes much more to Macau’s development and welfare. The difference becomes more pronounced if the local identities are well connected to the top of this or previous administrations. It is upsetting to acknowledge the public’s hope that Fernando Chui Sai On’s government would keep its promise to eradicate or diminish these unacceptable differences are fading fast. The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau is a clear example of what must change radically. The decision making regarding land deals is opaque and there appears to be a disregard for the public record. Recently, the government was quick to fine Sands China Ltd for failing to develop a piece of land. They are easy targets. For some reason, gaming operators seem to be the favoured target. The government, however, remains undecided on what to do with another 113 idle parcels of land, especially the 48 plots the government says it is considering taking back. The bureau has received replies from 26 concessionaires explaining why they have not developed their land. They are being reviewed by the bureau’s legal department.
If the decision to fine Sands China 900,000 patacas (US$112,500) for inaction on Lot 3 was swift, action over the land granted to Tin Wai Investment Co Ltd in 2008 is quite different. Tin Wai is headed by Executive Council member Liu Chak Wan. In this case, the bureau is, yet again, going to send the contract and give the company an opportunity to explain what it will do and when it will act regarding the land in Fai Chi Kei. Business Daily has requested repeatedly the list of 48 pieces of land that should revert to the government because they remain idle. This time, the answer was faster than usual – an improvement that we note with pleasure. But, yet again, the information we wanted was not offered. The department said the first phase of an evaluation was complete but some cases required more attention. The public would know when it was convenient. It is clear why it is taking longer for the government to reach a correct decision in some cases. Some pieces of land have been vacant for more then a decade. There are pieces of land that I cannot understand why they have not been developed, such as the big piece of land in Taipa in front of the Altira and Regency hotels. And there are others. For a city that must fight a lack of land, it is a luxury to wait years for the development of idle land. Either that or some people in the government are friendly and patient.
August 17, 2012 business daily | 3
MACAU
Casino equipment manufacturing hub for Hengqin Players are here, why not the manufacturing? LT Game boss Associate Editor
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locally-based maker of electronic casino games wants to help set up an industrial park on Hengqin Island focusing mainly on production of software and graphics for the casino sector. Jay Chun, chairman of LT Game Ltd, says the facility would be for new companies and established firms that want local manufacturing capability. A new trade body he wants to establish – to be called the Macau Gaming Manufacturers’ Association – would coordinate it. He says the incorporation of the trade body could happen “before the end of this year”. “In the gaming industry there are a lot of design elements in the products – graphics, computer software – lots of things. We want to create an environment for our next generation [of Macau workers],” Mr Chun told Business Daily. “It’s not just about working as a [casino] dealer or a pit boss. We want to create some new industry, so that young people, fresh graduates, can have a good career in say a software company or a graphic design company or an engineering design company, not just a job in a casino,” he added. The idea, he says, is to tap into the local supply of fresh graduate students that will become available when the University of Macau starts relocating to its new campus on Hengqin Island on the mainland next year.
people into post-18 education and thus create a more skilled workforce with more to offer outside investors. Technology development centres tend to form near to places of higher learning and can even spawn campus extensions as colleges look for funding. Silicon Valley in California – home to Apple Inc. and chip maker Intel Corp. – is within a few hours driving of 29 college campuses including Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley’s, campus extension. Aspect Gaming, a Macau-based supplier of casino slots and equipment, has its game development operation in Shanghai because of the good supply of university graduates in that city working at competitive
rates of pay. “We’re not saying working in casinos is no good,” says Mr Chun. “But we want as a community to see people going to university first – not just straight after high school going to a casino [to work]. That’s our thinking,” he adds. “Local labour costs even in Macau are quite high. A dealer’s [monthly] salary is over 10,000 [patacas] (US$1,250) already. For manufacturing industries that’s too much. So we had to find the right place to set up this operation. So we thought of Hengqin Island over the border in China could be used to set up an industrial park and we can hire freshly graduated students and cheaper labour from the mainland to manufacture some products there,” explains Jay Chun.
We’re not saying working in casinos is no good. But we want as a community to see people going to university first
Added value
Jay Chun, LT Game
At present, most of the saleable value of electronic gaming equipment is added to the products outside Macau or China. A single terminal for an electronic table game for example can sell to the casinos for as much as US$25,000 – though significant discounts are available for bulk purchases. If Macau-linked firms can gain access to more of that economic
Government aims Any gaming industry production on Hengqin would be heavily dependent on the casino sector for future jobs and growth. But the plan chimes with the stated aim of the Macau government to diversify Macau’s jobs market and worker skills away from a focus on casino floor work. It also tallies with the central government’s aim to integrate further the economies of Guangdong and Macau. Some economists argue Macau has become too dependent on casino floor jobs for school leavers because of the Macau government’s insistence that only residents can work as card dealers. That is being addressed in part by the government’s new law that will in November raise the casino entry and working age to 21 from the current age of 18. One aim is said to be to encourage local
Moving local workers up the value chain – Jay Chun of LT Game (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)
value it could create local jobs. BCC Research, a United States-based market research firm specialising in analysis of high-tech industries, estimated in a report last September that globally the games content and software component of all electronic gaming – including casino games – amounted to US$40.5 billion in 2010 and will grow to US$71.2 billion by 2016 – based on an annual compound annual growth rate of 10.5 percent between 2010 and 2016. The United Kingdombased company Global Betting and Gaming Consultants predicts that by 2015, Asia’s casinos will account for 48% of the global gaming machine market, thanks to continuing growth in Macau and Singapore as well as new operations in the Philippines and Vietnam. Macau had 17,035 slot machines in the second quarter of this year – 13 percent more than a year earlier according to Macau’s gaming regulator the Gaming Coordination and Inspection Bureau. As Macau is not yet a mature casino market much of that year-on-year growth is driven by new venues opening – such as Sands Cotai Central’s first phase and the new Mocha slot parlour sites. But with a government cap on the growth of live table numbers – possibly until 2023 – electronic slot and electronic table games are likely to play an increasing role in Macau casinos’ product mix said a recent report from Union Gaming Research Macau. Slots brought Macau casinos gross revenues of 11.4 billion patacas last year. If the mass-market continues to outperform VIP baccarat growth in the second half of 2012, then the contribution of slots to total GGR could rise this year. Andrew Macaulay, managing director of Aspect Gaming, a firm that already employs 65 people in casino game development in mainland China, told Business Daily the company would be following the development of Hengqin “closely”. “As a Chinese gaming technology company we have invested in employing locals, and in developing strong local talent bases. Hengqin should open opportunities for creating a dynamic Macau-Zhuhai gaming technology sector,” he stated. With Luciana Leitão
New trade assn to benefit community Not meant as rival to U.S.-based bodies, says LT Game boss
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utside casino management circles LT Game Ltd is best known as the company that has been in a protracted patent dispute with U.S.-based casino games maker Shuffle Master Inc. over multi-game electronic table games in the Macau market. That dispute flared again during the G2E Asia trade show in June – an event jointly organised by
the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Reed Exhibitions. During the event a Shuffle Master multigame product was covered for most of the first full day of the event on the orders of Macau customs officials, though a Macau court later lifted the requirement. The AGA threatened to expel LT Game from the show because of what the AGA’s president Frank Fahrenkopf described at the
time as an attempt by LT Game to “leverage” its litigation. Jay Chun, LT Game chairman, stressed to Business Daily however that the aim of the proposed Macau Gaming Manufacturers’ Association was not to be a rival to either the AGA or to the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers – another U.S.-based trade body. Many of the firms that currently supply gaming
equipment to Macau casinos are members either of one or both. “In the future we will need more technically-qualified people to understand the gaming business. And how to educate the young people is our association’s target. It’s not really like we want to organise [industry] exhibitions. That’s not our target,” Mr Chun told Business Daily. A.E./L.L.
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business daily August 17, 2012
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HOSPITALITY Travel agents’ blues The latest survey on package tours and hotel occupancy rates provides interesting figures on the changes that may be going on in the travel industry. There are two trends in the number of hotel guests and hotel classes, and the number of travel bookings made through the city’s agencies, that seem to be developing. Different dynamics seem to be at work if we compared June’s figures with the same time last year.
The total number of hotel stays is rising but 3-star hotels are losing guests. This class of accommodation is the only one in Macau that has not seen an increase in the number of rooms, but there is also, clearly, a trend away from these types of rooms. But the loss is even more striking when expressed in terms of the percentage of guests that used the services of travel agencies. They decreased by almost 20 percent. That is well above the average of minus 7.4 percent. So, although the number of guests keeps rising for all types of hotels – by an average of 10 percent – the use of travel agencies is declining. Also, there was a 15 percent decline in the number of 5-star hotel guests that use their services. The special case of guesthouses in not represented in the graph but the number of guests staying there rose by almost 36 percent and the use of agents to book those rooms grew by an amazing 152 percent. The number of beds available in this low-cost category has increased by about 20 percent but, overall, this class of room accounts for only a small proportion of all rooms – less than 3 percent of the total.
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Curiously, 3-star hotels are the only category that saw their average length of stay increase. Overall, length of stay declined by 0.16 nights, with the biggest fall of 0.26 nights in the 5-star category. J.I.D.
Govt, legislators meet halfway on housing bill The government and the Legislative Assembly set aside their differences over the bill on the sale of unfinished homes Tony Lai tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
The bill to regulate the sale of unfinished housing still does not say which arm of the government would enforce the law
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he government and the Legislative Assembly are willing to compromise on the bill to regulate the sale of unfinished housing, according to a leading member of the assembly. The assembly said in May that the bill should include penalties for breaking the law but the government thinks penalties should be stipulated in subsidiary legislation which would not require the assembly’s approval. The chairwoman of the assembly’s first standing committee, Kwan Tsui Hang, told reporters after a meeting with government officials yesterday that debate about what should be put in the bill and what should be put in subsidiary legislation had been going on since the bill was presented to the assembly in February last year. Ms Kwan said the differences between the government and the assembly had been so great at one point that a group of members led by the assembly’s president, Lau Cheok Va, had gone so far as to take up the matter with Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On. “This discussion was then initiated because the government and the Legislative Assembly are in conflict over their competences over this draft law,” said Ms Kwan. “But this issue cannot be resolved within a
short time period.” She did not say when Mr Lau’s group had approached the chief executive. Ms Kwan said the government and the assembly did agree, however, that the bill contained tools necessary for the government to regulate the property market. “The government and the Legislative Assembly strongly wish to put aside some of their differences,” she said. “And we should not let this problem affect the publication of this law.”
Unique legislation The bill seeks to regulate the sale of unfinished housing and to license estate agents. The government included some
This law is imperfect and has flaws. But it is still better than no regulation at all Kwan Tsui Hang, chairwoman of the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee
penalties, such as the revocation of business licences, in the latest version of the bill, which it submitted to the assembly on August 8. “The committee, of course, still hopes all the penalties could be listed in the law,” Ms Kwan she said. The assembly is also worried that the bill does not say which arm of the government would enforce the law. “The government is still unsure of the responsible department at this moment as the Housing Bureau is undergoing functional restructuring and already has competences in many areas,” said Ms Kwan. The original version of the bill said the Housing Bureau would be responsible. Ms Kwan said the bill was unique in failing to say which arm of the government would enforce the law. But she added: “There is definitely room for discussion on this point.” Ms Kwan described the latest version of the bill as an improvement. “This law is imperfect and has flaws,” she said. “But it is still better than no regulation at all.” Her committee will continue deliberating on the bill on Monday but no more changes are expected. Ms Kwan said the committee would leave it to the assembly to decide in a plenary sitting whether to pass the bill on its final reading.
August 17, 2012 business daily | 5
MACAU Galaxy to cooperate with tech body Galaxy Entertainment Group has become the first gambling operator to enter into a cooperation agreement with the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre to offer exclusive training courses to its workers. The Hong Kong-listed casino group has been working with the centre since 2008 and the new deal marks an even closer tie between the two parties. Over the next year, the programme will offer at least 350 hours of training on computer applications.
Legal wrangle Govt seeks way out of looming in La Scala Patane land stalemate annulment S ecretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io says the government will soon settle its differences with the owner of two plots of land in Patane which are lying idle. Mr Lau said after a meeting of the Legislative Assembly yesterday: “There is now a consensus between the two parties over the important issues. So I think the remaining problems can be solved quickly.” The Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau said on Tuesday it would send the developer, Tin Wai Investment Co Ltd, a copy of a new land concession contract stipulating that the two plots could not be merged for development purposes. Mr Lau said Tin Wai had accepted the terms of the contract. He said the only remaining bone of contention was the discarded motor vehicles littering the two plots.
The La Scala developer has 14 days left to appeal against the government’s decision (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)
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he Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io expects La Scala developer Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd will appeal the government’s decision to void a 2006 land grant. “About the declaration of the land concession in 2006 as invalid, we believe this case will very likely enter litigious proceedings or the relevant appeal procedures very soon,” Mr Lau said on the sidelines of yesterday’s Legislative Assembly meeting. Tuesday’s decision to scrap the land grant was made after the deal was mentioned in the third trial of corrupt former secretary Ao Man Long. The public prosecutor claimed Mr Ao was paid HK$20 million (US$2.5 million) in bribes to ensure the land went to Moon Ocean Ltd, a company that is now a full subsidiary of
Chinese Estates. Chinese Estates can file an appeal against the decision to the Chief Executive within 15 days or appeal directly to the Court of Second Instance. When reporters asked Mr Lau if the authorities would also seek to void a second land grant to Chinese Estates made last year, he said the government would follow the courts, Land Law and regulations “in any cases involving illegal practices”. The government said on Tuesday they would review last year’s second grant, which saw an additional eight parcels of land, with a combined area of 5,204 square metres, given to Chinese Estates. Mr Lau said the government would make no further comment until Chinese Estates had acted. T.L.
This was “not a major problem”, he said. Mr Lau’s staff said Tin Wai was responsible for removing the wrecks but that the government could help. Mr Lau did not say when the plots could be developed. He hoped that work would start quickly, so demand for private housing could be met. Tin Wai made the winning bid of 1.42 billion patacas (US$177.5 million) when the plots were auctioned in 2008. It originally wanted to develop them together. Executive Council member and former Tin Wai boss Liu Chak Wan said last week that the company had subsequently agreed in 2010 to develop the two plots separately but that the government had failed to turn over the land. The plots have therefore remained undeveloped. T.L.
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business daily August 17, 2012
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Driving credit growth The extremely rapid rise of credit cards denominated in yuan might suggest that their usage is becoming more widespread. Between 2007 and the end of the first half of this year, the number of cards issued by banks rose by 93 percent. In the same period, the number of yuan-denominated cards has seen a thirteen-fold increase. Most of latter are dualcurrency cards, with billing in either pataca or yuan. They are counted as two separate cards, which makes an accurate analysis of the use of credit cards billed in yuan difficult. The published figures do not distinguish between usage in different currencies.
Almost one-quarter of the workforce were employed in the gaming industry at the end of June
A set of leading indicators associated with credit card usage appears unaffected by the explosion in yuandenominated cards. The cumulative credit growth follows closely the number of issued cards that bill in patacas. Credit card receivables, the amount due for payment at the end of each month, show some seasonal variation but overall the figures follow a similar pattern of growth. That becomes even clearer if the data are smoothed with a moving average.
Gaming sector grip on labour tightens T he gaming industry is reinforcing its domination of the economy, with an evergrowing number of workers finding employment in casinos. Data released by the Statistics and Census Service yesterday show that at the end of June about 78,600 people were working full-time in the gaming industry, 700 more than at the end of March.
More than half were croupiers, floorpersons, cage cashiers or in other frontline positions. Theindustrynowemploys23.2percent of the 346,000-strong workforce, a proportion that has never been higher and which mocks the government’s moves to diversify the economy. One reason that the tide of casino employees keeps rising is the pay. The median monthly pay of casino
clerks increased by 500 patacas (US$62.60) to 15,500 patacas in the second quarter. This figure is much higher than the median monthly pay for all occupations, which remained unchanged at 11,000 patacas, and also higher than the median monthly pay of employed residents. The median monthly pay of employed residents dropped to 12,500 patacas in the second quarter from a record 13,000 patacas in the first, falling for the first time since 2008. The data show that 80.5 percent of the underemployed – people doing jobs they are overqualified for or that can find only part-time work – were working in the construction industry. V.Q.
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Deswell losses widen, sales fall
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Two other variables, cash advances and delinquency, also fail to reveal any connection to the increase in cards billed in yuan. The volume of cash advances don’t stray away from the evolution of cards issued in patacas. Cash advances appear to rise and fall in relation to the economic conditions. As the economy improved after 2010, the volume of cash advances has slowed. There is a similar trend with delinquent amounts. There is only a significant deviation in 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. The yuandenominated card boom appears to be the product of marketing drives and accounting procedures more than any real change in the way credit cards are used. J.I.D.
acau-based plastics manufacturer Deswell Industries Inc. has seen its operating losses widen to US$319,000 (2.5 million patacas) as sales tumbled in the second quarter of this year, the company announced on June 18. The results from the company – that has factories in mainland China – were far worse than the operating profit of US$114,000 it reported in the year-ago period, but still better than the US$713,000 loss it posted in the first quarter of 2012. The company says the step back was mainly due to lower revenue caused
by “softer demand” and weak profit margin due to increases in raw materials and labour cost. Total revenues for the quarter dropped 20.9 percent percent yearon-year to US$14.5 million, while gross profit margin decreased to 15.4 percent, which was still better than the 11.6 percent recorded in the previous quarter. “We still face the softening demand which reduced our sales significantly in this quarter,” said Franki Tse, Deswell’s chief executive officer. “The global economic situation is still one of our major business
concerns, he added. Despite the recurrent losses, the Nasdaq-listed company announced a cash dividend of US$0.05 per share for the second quarter of this year and it expects to declare similar dividends “in each of the coming three quarters”. Mr Tse also expressed optimism over the future of Deswell. “We believe we will be able to capitalise on some opportunities currently under development to drive improved revenue during the coming quarters,” the executive added. V.Q.
Weather Beijing 28/21o C Changchun 28/19o C
Harbin 27/19o C
Xian 32/20o C Shanghai 34/28o C Chengdu 33/24o C Kunming 26/17o C Haikou 27/23 o C Sanya 30/25o C
Guangzhou 30/25o C
MACAU (13-18 August) Day
Temperature
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75/95 %
08/14
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60/95 %
08/15
27/32o C
55/90 %
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27/31o C
60/95 %
08/17
27/31o C
60/95%
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27/32o C
60/95 %
Shenzhen 31/25o C
ASIA (today)
Hong Kong 30/26o C
Manila
TOKYO
Jakarta
31/24o C
30/27o C
32/28o C
31/24o C
Macau 33/27o C
Bangkok
SEOUL
K. lumpur
32/26o C
SINGAPORE
30/24o C
32/25o C
taipei
34/26o C
August 17, 2012 business daily | 7
MACAU
Thunderbolt 12 strikes Giordano profit drop against organised crime despite higher sales Police say more cross-border operations likely following success of monthlong crimefighting drive that has led to hundreds of charges Xi Chen xi@macaubusinessdaily.com
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he police have sought to reassure the city that it is safe from any resurgence of triad crime after detaining 150 people on August 6 in the climax of a monthlong operation. The police said yesterday that the territory was still safe and that crimefighting was a continuous battle. They said the operation, codenamed Thunderbolt 12, started on July 9 and was a joint effort by police forces here, in Hong Kong and in Guangdong. Public Security Police deputy commissioner Ma Io Kun said the operation was one of the largest of its kind in recent years. “The operation has met our expectations and we do not exclude the possibility that there might be a similar operation like this in the future,” he said. Mr Ma said the city was secure, even though more crimes have been reported recently. Three murders were committed in July. A mainland woman, who also held a Japanese passport, was found dead in Taipa on July 19, just days after two other mainlanders were murdered in the Grand Lapa hotel. The Macau phase of Operation Thunderbolt 12 was mounted jointly
by the Public Security Police and the Judiciary Police. Its main purpose was to counter triads, drug smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, organised robbery and money laundering. During the course of the operation the police questioned more than 9,500 people and detained more than 1,150 for further interrogation. The police threw three people who had outstanding warrants of arrest in jail. They have passed on 215 cases involving 303 people to the Public Prosecutions Office. Of the 303 people, 42 are suspected of assault and battery 38 are suspected of possessing illegal drugs, 25 are suspected of entering Macau illegally, 17 are suspected of organised fraud and 15 are suspected of serious theft. They also caught a 31-year-old man wanted by the police in Hong Kong for questioning in connection with a 2009 murder. The police say operation Thunderbolt 12 also busted a big cross-border gang suspected of defrauding casinos here of HK$100 million (US$12.9 million). They confiscated drugs, cash, weapons, forged documents and other physical evidence during the course of the operation.
Graft busters accuse housing civil servant
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he Commission Against Corruption has accused a Housing Bureau employee of abusing his powers in giving work worth more than 10 million patacas (US$1.25 million) to a company in which held a stake. The commission alleged yesterday that the employee had established an engineering company with a friend in February 2009 and helped it win maintenance work covered by the bureau’s subsidies for old buildings. The company had gotten more than 10 million patacas of work by the end of 2010. The commission said the civil servant took part of the payment each time and regularly received company dividends. The owner of a building more than
30 years old can apply to the bureau for a maintenance subsidy and if the application is accepted the government assigns a company to do the work. The commission said the suspect would help his company write proposals for the work and later suggest the approval of the company’s applications. It said the suspect had also transferred internal documents and computer files from the bureau to the company without authorisation. The commission alleged that company then used the information to persuade more building owners to apply for subsidies so the company could profit from them. The commission has passed the case to the Public Prosecutions Office. T.L.
Giordano says its net profit decreased to HK$309 million
C
lothing retailer Giordano International Ltd has seen its net profit drop 11 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, even though sales increase slightly, the company announced on August 15. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Giordano says its net profit decreased to HK$309 million (US$40 million), as its profit margin tumbled by 1.6 percentage points to 11.5 percent. The downturn came even as the company saw its sales grow by two percent to almost HK$2.7 billion in the first half. Sales in the Hong Kong market (which also includes Macau for accounting purposes) and Taiwan – rose by three percent to HK$859 million. Those markets account for almost one third of Giordano’s total sales. The company attributed the lower
sales to “a high base, following very strong sales growth [up 26 percent year-on-year] in the first half of 2011”. In addition, “competitor discounting has been aggressive as consumer demand has been declining,” the management board wrote. Giordano also stressed that during the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of this year its suppliers increased their prices by an average of 14 percent, due to rising fabric costs earlier in 2011. However, the company was still able to post a final profit of HK$352 million, up by two percent from the first half of last year, thanks to tax gains from the sale of part of a manufacturing business in Dongguan. The group operates two major stores in Macau through its Giordano (Macau) Limited subsidiary. V.Q.
8 |
business daily August 17, 2012
greater china Companies encouraged to increase dividends The Shanghai stock exchange has introduced new measures encouraging companies listed on China’s main bourse to increase dividend payouts, its latest effort to boost confidence in the ailing market. Companies whose dividend payout is lower than 30 percent of net profit attributable to shareholders will be required to publicly disclose this information, according to draft rules posted on the exchange’s website. At the same time, companies with a payout ratio higher than 50 percent will be given priority when they seek approval for refinancing and restructuring, it said.
Investment in China slides Premier Wen sees room for easing
F
oreign direct investment in China fell to the lowest level in two years in July, fuelling concern that waning confidence in the nation’s growth prospects may restrain any economic rebound. Investment declined 8.7 percent from a year earlier to US$7.58 billion, the eighth drop in nine months and the smallest inflow since July 2010. The Ministry of Commerce released the data at a briefing in Beijing yesterday. Chinese financial institutions sold a net 3.8 billion yuan (US$600 million) of foreign currency last month, indicating capital is flowing out as property curbs and weakness in exports slow growth and the yuan weakens. For the first seven months, China’s foreign direct investment inflows fell 3.6 percent to US$66.7 billion from a year earlier. Premier Wen Jiabao stoked speculation that the government may cut banks’ reserve requirements to support the economy when state media reported on Wednesday that he saw room to adjust monetary policy. “Boosting confidence is very important and it needs action,” said Shen Jianguang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist for Mizuho Securities. “The government needs to reduce the tax burden for companies and cut the reserve ratio and interest rates to support growth.” He sees at least two more reductions in reserve requirements this year and one in the benchmark lending rate. China’s slowdown may extend into a seventh quarter after export growth collapsed in July and industrial production and lending missed economists’ forecasts. The nation reported a US$71.4 billion capital account deficit in April-throughJune, the biggest quarterly shortfall
Wen Jiabao warns China’s growth is under pressure
to key investment projects. The nation’s biggest banks are currently required to park 20 percent of their deposits at the PBOC. The yuan has declined about 1 percent against the dollar this year.
Wen’s view
US$7.58 bln
Foreign direct investment in July
in data going back to 1998. The People’s Bank of China is likely to cut reserve requirements within the next two weeks, Nomura Holdings Inc. said in a note yesterday, saying that Mr Wen’s comments reinforced that view. UBS AG said that a reduction is likely “soon” and the central bank is likely to work with regulators to encourage more lending
Mr Wen has warned that the country’s economy is under pressure and that it is facing problems that may last for some time. However, he said that Beijing will be able to meet its growth target, despite those issues. He said that easing inflation had given more room to policymakers to introduce measures to spur growth. “We have the conditions and capabilities, and will be sure to fulfil this year’s economic and social development targets,” Mr Wen was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency. “In the recent months, especially since July, there are some positive changes in the economy.” Domestic demand is showing greater effect in supporting economic growth, industrial output in eastern regions is picking up and the job market is stable, he said. Four analysts forecasting foreign direct investment all predicted declines, ranging from a 2.2 percent
‘Grim’ trade outlook China’s trade outlook for the second half of 2012 will be more severe than in the first six months, darkened by the persistent European debt crisis and a slower than expected global economic recovery, the Commerce Ministry said yesterday. “In the second half, China’s foreign trade and export situation will be more grim, there will be more difficulties, harder tasks, and the pressure of achieving the full-year target will be bigger,” Shen Danyang, spokesman for the commerce ministry, said at
fall to a slide of 9.2 percent. China drew record US$116 billion in foreign direct investment last year. The Commerce Ministry aims to attract an average of US$120 billion in each of the next four years. It is roughly on course to hit the target in 2012. “Policy makers have made clear in recent weeks that supporting economic growth is their central
a briefing yesterday. The comments came as China revealed that growth in foreign direct investment into the country had extended its run of year on year declines, with inflows from the European Union down 2.7 percent to US$4.0 billion between January and July versus the same period in 2011. “Right now, the sharp drop of exports to EU countries is the biggest important factor weighing on China’s export growth,” Mr Shen said. China aims to grow total trade by an average of 10 percent through 2012.
concern,” Qinwei Wang, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London, said before today’s release. “We continue to think that more policy support will be announced soon, including a further cut to the required reserve ratio, and that more infrastructure projects proposed by local governments will be given the go-ahead.” Bloomberg/Reuters
August 17, 2012 business daily | 9
greater china
Lenovo profit rises 30pct Supported by its still-growing home market and from sales abroad
L
enovo Group Ltd, the world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, posted a 30 percent increase in first-quarter profit as it expanded market share to almost pull even with leader Hewlett-Packard Co. Net income climbed to US$141.4 million in the three months ended June 30, from US$108.8 million a year earlier, Lenovo said in a statement yesterday. Lenovo shares surged as much as 6.8 percent as the results reflect efforts by chief executive Yang Yuanqing to meet his goal of making Lenovo the world’s largest PC producer. The company increased shipments of computers including Thinkpad laptops by almost 15 percent in the quarter, even as industry levels fell 0.1 percent, according to researcher Gartner Inc. “The PC market is not doing well globally, but Lenovo’s market share gains are offsetting that weakness,” Kirk Yang, Hong Kong-based head of Asia technology research at Barclays Plc, said in a telephone interview yesterday. Lenovo advanced 5.3 percent to HK$6.60 in Hong Kong trading, the highest closing level since June 22. Lenovo has risen 26 percent this year, surpassing the 9.1 percent gain for the city’s Hang Seng Index. “This set of results reaffirmed Lenovo is executing well, and continues to deliver above industry growth despite the tough macro environment,” Jonathan Ng, an analyst at CIMB-
GK Pte., wrote in a report yesterday. “Lenovo will tighten its costs to ensure a balanced growth.”
Expanding share Lenovo’s market share rose two percentage points to 14.7 percent in the quarter, almost matching Hewlett-Packard’s 14.9 percent, Mr Gartner said on July 11. Revenue rose 35 percent to US$8.01 billion. Lenovo, which bought the PC division of International Business Machines Corp. in 2005, used acquisitions to help boost sales in the past year. The company bought control of Medion AG, an Essen, Germany-based computer maker, and the PC unit of Tokyo-based NEC Corp. in 2011. The PC maker is stepping up development of smartphones,
US$141.4 mln
Lenovo’s net income in the second quarter
Sina warns on earnings outlook Profit rises to US$33.2 million in the second quarter
C
hinese Internet company Sina Corp., which posted a surprise quarterly net profit, warned that second-half earnings will not be “significant” and it will offer more services on its microblogging platform Weibo to boost revenue. Sina, which makes most of its revenue from online advertising, is facing stiff headwinds this year as corporations slash advertising due to a weakening economic outlook. But the company sees social media advertising via Weibo as a bright spot for the firm. Net profit rose to US$33.2 million in the second quarter from US$10 million a year earlier, boosted by a stake sale in a real estate company. “We do not expect to generate significant operating profits in the second half of this year,” Sina’s chief executive Charles Chao said on an earnings conference call. “We expect to return to profitability in the third quarter on the operating level.” Sina started monetising Weibo this year by offering special services to business accounts and selling VIP memberships to regular users. Mr Chao said 2012 will be a year of investment for Weibo as the company builds up its user base and stickiness. Total investment into Weibo in the second quarter came to US$38 million, said Herman Yu, Sina’s chief financial officer. “We expect the advertising revenue contribution from Weibo to accelerate in the second half of the year. That
will help our advertising growth rate as compared to the market,” Mr Chao said. Sina’s advertising revenue increased 12 percent to US$103.1 million in the second quarter, while non-advertising revenue rose 5 percent to US$28.5 million. Overall net revenue totalled US$131.6 million, up from US$118.96 million in the year-ago period. In the second quarter, Weibo contributed about 10 percent to total advertising revenue and had 368 million registered accounts. For the third quarter, Sina expects adjusted net revenue to range between US$145 million and US$148 million, with advertising revenues forecast to increase between 19 percent and 21 percent from a year earlier. Reuters
We do not expect to generate significant operating profits in the second half of this year Charles Chao, Sina’s chief executive
Lenovo has been diversifying into smartphones and tablets to compete with its rivals
tablets and Internet-ready televisions to widen its product line for consumers, following Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Total phone sales in China reached almost 7 million units, surpassing the company’s PC volume in its home market for the first time, Mr Yang said on a conference call yesterday. Lenovo’s smartphone market share in China reached 13 percent, making it the second-largest supplier there, he said. The company isn’t focusing on the profitability of the mobile phone
business for now and expects it to break even in the next few quarters, Mr Yang said. The new business eventually will deliver operating margins similar to its core PC business, he said. “Even with a weak macro-economic environment, and the PC market seeing negative growth, these new areas still shine, especially smartphones and emerging markets,” Mr Yang said. “We will seize these growth opportunities, and continue to grow faster than the market.” Bloomberg
10 |
business daily August 17, 2012
asia
Malaysia growth withstands global risks GDP rises 5.4 percent in the three months through June Karl Lester M. Yap and Liau Y-Sing
M
alaysia’s economic e x p a n s i o n unexpectedly accelerated as construction and consumption climbed, easing pressure on the central bank to join its Asian counterparts in cutting interest rates to shore up growth. Gross domestic product rose 5.4 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier, after expanding a revised 4.9 percent in the previous quarter, Bank Negara Malaysia said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 4.6 percent expansion. Prime Minister Najib Razak’s increased spending ahead of a general election that must be called by early 2013 has bolstered Southeast Asia’s th i r d- lar ges t econ omy, allowing the central bank to keep rates unchanged for more
than a year. Growth in 2012 may be at the upper end of the 4 percent-to-5 percent forecast range even as risks from Europe and the U.S. remain, Bank Negara said. “Malaysia is in a sweet spot at the moment,” said Lim Su Sian, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Singapore. “While it’s inevitable we will see the global weakness start to filter through and investment might lose some of its momentum, there’s a lot of underlying support from the government and economic transformation programs. This strong number cements our view there won’t be a rate change this year.” The ringgit has risen about 1.6 percent this quarter, the biggest gainer among Asia’s 11 most-traded currencies. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index closed 0.1 percent higher yesterday.
“The strong support provided by domestic demand, underpinned by activities in both the private and public sectors have ensured higher growth amidst the Given that challenging global environment,” the central bank said. there is excess capacity “This trend is expected in our economy, the to be sustained going forward, although strength of domestic downside risks e m a n a t i n g f r o m demand is not expected externaldevelopments to exert inflationary remain.” Mr Najib has raised civil servant salaries pressure and pensions, waived s c h o o l f e e s a n d Zeti Akhtar Aziz, increased handouts Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia for the poor under a 232.8 billionringgit (US$74 the government proposed to billion) budget this year as expand the annual allocation he works to boost support for by 13.4 billion ringgit. his ruling coalition. In June, Services rose 6.3 percent in
the April-to-June period from a year earlier after climbing 5.3 percent in the first three months of 2012, the report showed. Construction rose 22.2 percent last quarter, quickening from a 15.5 percent pace the previous period.
Adjust accommodation The central bank said yesterday its benchmark overnight policy rate at 3 percent continues to support growth while minimising the risks of financial imbalances. It has kept rates steady for seven straight meetings. “At the prevailing level of the overnight policy rate, monetary conditions continue to be supportive of economic activity,” Bank Negara said. While domestic demand is expected by the central bank to remain resilient, Malaysia’s economy still
Indonesia implements new forex hedging Part of government moves to lower current account deficit
I
ndonesia’s central bank said its new rule shortening hedging duration to a minimum of one week is now effective, and expects it to help stabilise the rupiah that is pressured by a growing current account deficit. Foreign investors could previously only hedge forward transactions for a minimum of three months, which contributed to recent rupiah volatility as they shifted to safer instruments amid an uncertain global economy. The rule is part of moves announced by Bank Indonesia last week to reduce volatility in the rupiah and lower the current account deficit, which reached a record high of US$6.94 billion in the second quarter. “This will help stabilise the rupiah and won’t much affect the current account deficit,” central bank governor Darmin Nasution told reporters yesterday. The central bank has forecast the current
account deficit to improve to 2.2 percent of gross domestic product in the second half of this year. Last quarter, the deficit was 3.1 percent of GDP. A current account deficit is rare for Indonesia which usually sees a trade surplus. But falling exports caused by lower commodity prices and growing imports due to strong domestic demand have resulted in trade deficits for three straight months to June. Mr Nasution said faster economic expansion could lead to a bigger current account deficit. The central bank has hinted it will take measures to avoid credit bubbles such as by imposing minimum downpayments for loans provided by the sharia industry. Indonesia’s economy surprisingly grew by 6.4 percent last quarter due to strong investment and domestic demand, above a consensus of 6.1 percent. Bank Indonesia expects the economy to expand 6.1 to 6.5 percent this year. Reuters
Bank Indonesia expects the economy to expand 6.1 to 6.5 percent this year
August 17, 2012 business daily | 11
asia Stocks rise on stimulus hope Asian stocks rose, with the region’s benchmark index erasing Wednesday’s decline, after Premier Wen Jiabao said slower inflation has given China more room to adjust monetary policy. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.9 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 1.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed percent after a holiday on Wednesday. Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.3 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.4 percent.
faces threats from weakening global demand. Bank Negara said the global recovery faces downside risks amid policy uncertainty over the European sovereign-debt crisis and fiscal woes in the U.S. The central bank can adjust the degree of accommodation if the global economy weakens, Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. The risk of slowing growth is bigger than that of accelerating inflation, she said. Consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in more than two years in July, a separate report yesterday showed. “Given that there is excess capacity in our economy, the strength of domestic demand is not expected to exert inflationary pressure,” Ms Zeti said. “Upside risks to inflation however could emerge should global supply disruptions occur and result in higher energy or commodity prices.” She also said emphasis will be placed on ensuring that monetary policy will remain appropriate to avoid the build-up of financial imbalances. Inflation will remain moderate for the rest of 2012, Zeti said. Bank Negara unveiled a framework for so-called agent banking yesterday, which will allow financial institutions to reach out to consumers in rural areas through the use of non- bank retail outlets. “Authorised banking agents will provide basic banking services of accepting deposits and facilitating withdrawals,” it said. “Other basic banking services that can be provided by the agents are fund transfers, bill payments and financing repayments.” Bloomberg
Hanwha chief jailed for embezzlement South Korean businessman sent straight to prison
Lee, a Hong Kong-based research director for North Asia with the Asian Corporate Governance Association, said. “Korea Inc. appears to have taken the first step forward to change its usual political and legal practices.” Mr Kim had pleaded not guilty and said through his lawyers during the trial that Hanwha companies had not incurred any losses. Investigations began in 2010 into allegations that he was involved in embezzling money between 2004 and 2006.
Tougher laws
A court sentenced Kim Seung Youn to four years in jail
H
anwha Group chairman Kim Seung Youn was sentenced to four years in jail and fined 5.1 billion won (US$4.5 million) for embezzlement amid a presidential election campaign that’s increasing scrutiny of South Korean executives The decision highlights the emerging risk of an end to light sanctions for lawbreakers from South Korea’s family-owned conglomerates, also known as “chaebol”. The firms have been credited with the rapid growth of Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, but at the same time dogged by allegations of poor corporate
governance and undue political influence. A three-judge panel in the Seoul Western District Court found that Mr Kim used funds from the nation’s 10th-largest industrial group to pay the debts of private firms owned under false names. The 60-year-old, who was granted a presidential pardon in 2008 after striking a man with a steel pipe and threatening others with an electric shock device, plans to appeal against yesterday’s ruling. The Hanwha chairman was taken directly into custody in a break from common practice in Asia’s fourthbiggest economy.
“As a controlling shareholder of Hanwha Group, the defendant is passing on his responsibility to working-level officials and he has not shown remorse. Considering this, he needs to be strictly punished,” Judge Seo Kyung Hwan said in a packed courtroom. Hanwha Corp. shares fell 2.6 percent to 30,100 won at the close of trading in Seoul, while the benchmark Kospi index rose 0.05 percent. Hanwha Securities declined 0.9 percent, Hanwha Chemical dropped 0.5 percent and Korea Life advanced 0.5 percent after earlier sliding as much as 1.6 percent. “It’s a bit of a surprise,” Charles
With campaigning underway for a presidential election in December, 23 members of the ruling New Frontier Party on July 16 submitted a draft revision to the National Assembly to increase sentences and limit the scope for judges to suspend jail terms for leaders of the chaebol. “It’s said money is almighty and that chaebol bosses are protected by people in power,” the group said in the draft. Since 1990, seven chairmen from the nation’s 10 largest industrial groups have been sentenced to jail, and on every occasion the prison term was ultimately suspended, according to Chaebul.com, a Seoul-based organisation that collects information about the conglomerates. After attacking bar workers in 2007 who’d been involved in a scuffle with his son, Kim was given a three-year jail sentence that was suspended on condition he did 200 hours of community service. The next year he received a presidential pardon. Reuters
Samsung unveils new tablet Attempts to narrow the gap with Apple in tablet markets
S
amsung Electronics Co.’s new tablet, unveiled in the United States, is the South Korean electronics giant’s latest attempt to wrestle market share from Apple Inc, but is not being heralded as an iPad killer. The Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet was launched yesterday in the United States, Britain and South Korea, just weeks before Samsung is expected to unwrap its revamped version of the original 5.3-inch Note smartphone. Samsung, which Apple accuses of copying the design and some features of its iPad and iPhone, hopes the enlarged version of its popular phonecum-tablet Note will resonate with consumers, and the device – with a stylus-type pen and split-screen
feature – has picked up positive early reviews from tech bloggers. The price – US$499 for 16 gigabytes of memory and WiFi-only, the same as the iPad – and competition from increasingly smart phones, have left analysts doubting the new device will see off the iPad. “When you look at the price and overall consumer awareness about Samsung tablets, it’s not likely to be a big success,” said Park Young, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities in Seoul. “Tablets are getting cheaper and even Apple is rumoured to be preparing a cheaper iPad. Consumers also tend not to spend much on tablets any more as smartphones can do most of the entertainment functions that
New Samsung tablet boasts stylus-type pen and split-screen functions
tablets offer.” Samsung has been keen to differentiate the Note 10.1 from rival tablets, which are primarily used to consume media – highlighting the device’s ability to personalise and create. The Galaxy 10.1 is named after its screen size, which is slightly larger than the 9.7-inch iPad, and has impressed with a split-screen feature that allows users to have two apps active side-by-side.
Samsung hopes the bigger version of the original Galaxy Note, which has sold more than 10 million units since its October launch, can help it narrow the gap with Apple in tablet markets. Apple sold 28.8 million iPads in January-June, giving it 64.4 percent of the market, well ahead of Samsung’s 9.9 percent market share, according to research firm IHS iSuppli. Reuters
12 |
business daily August 17, 2012
MARKETS Hang SENG INDEX NAME
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
27.15
0
16833332
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.35
0.6006006
5736852
BANK OF CHINA-H
2.97
-1
197708690
BANK OF COMMUN-H
5.31
-0.5617978
13117089
29.15
0
1720390
14.5
1.969058
15158533
AIA GROUP LTD
BANK EAST ASIA BELLE INTERNATIO
NAME
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
CHINA UNICOM HON
12.18
-0.6525285
26924980
CITIC PACIFIC
11.44
-1.208981
5518220
SANDS CHINA LTD
CLP HLDGS LTD
NAME
PRICE
POWER ASSETS HOL
18736782
SINO LAND CO
13.36
-1.037037
6504474
SUN HUNG KAI PRO
102.3
-1.350048
4107405
91.1
-0.3827228
1272900
6.347826
13233504
65.2
-1.361573
5082150
CNOOC LTD
15.28
-0.5208333
39001528
COSCO PAC LTD
10.48
-1.132075
1228960
SWIRE PACIFIC-A
ESPRIT HLDGS
11.3
-1.050788
2677803
TENCENT HOLDINGS
244.6
HANG LUNG PROPER
27.1
-1.275046
4968559
TINGYI HLDG CO
19.26
-1.834862
6186920
9.23
-0.3239741
7837840
45.9
-1.502146
3369457
24.25
0.6224066
7677864
13.06
2.03125
6940392
HANG SENG BK
111.2
0.5424955
1080639
WANT WANT CHINA
CHEUNG KONG
109.4
-0.2734731
4752788
HENDERSON LAND D
47
0.750268
3702409
WHARF HLDG
CHINA COAL ENE-H
7.2
-0.4149378
15492514
HENGAN INTL
72
0.2785515
1421860
CHINA CONST BA-H
5.35
-0.5576208
160213268
HONG KG CHINA GS
18.22
-0.2190581
3314507
CHINA LIFE INS-H
21.2
0.2364066
25616759
HONG KONG EXCHNG
105.9
-0.4699248
1971267
CHINA MERCHANT
23.9
-1.646091
1379974
HSBC HLDGS PLC
68.15
0
6710982
86.85
-5.030071
39279776
17.68
0.3405221
12914156
CHINA PETROLEU-H
7.41
0
42083183
CHINA RES ENTERP
21.8
-0.9090909
2235390
CHINA RES LAND
14.88
-0.6675567
4831172
CHINA RES POWER
16.38
0.6142506
3021017
CHINA SHENHUA-H
29.8
-1.160862
8887182
2985759
2.8
BOC HONG KONG HO
CHINA MOBILE
VOLUME
25.7
CATHAY PAC AIR
CHINA OVERSEAS
Day %
63.25 -0.07898894
HUTCHISON WHAMPO IND & COMM BK-H LI & FUNG LTD MTR CORP
69
0.4366812
7072609
4.44
-1.333333
176552437
12.54
-1.259843
51834449
MOVERS
14
20291.68
1925974
LOW
19923.66
52W (H) 21760.33984
-0.1776199
NEW WORLD DEV
10.18
-0.9727626
5139688
PETROCHINA CO-H
9.76
0.5149331
53323238
PING AN INSURA-H
59.75
-0.2504174
8899380
4 20300
INDEX 19962.95 HIGH
28.1
31
(L) 16170.35
19920
14-Aug
16-Aug
Hang SENG CHINA ENTErPRISE INDEX PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-H
3.12
-0.952381
85370614
CHINA PACIFIC-H
24.9
1.014199
5568400
AIR CHINA LTD-H
5.36
-1.651376
10478000
CHINA PETROLEU-H
7.41
0
42083183
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.35
0.6006006
5736852
CHINA RAIL CN-H
6.26
-0.9493671
6490500
ANHUI CONCH-H
20.25
0.4962779
4305400
CHINA RAIL GR-H
3.06
-0.9708738
26176768
BANK OF CHINA-H
2.97
-1
197708690
CHINA SHENHUA-H
29.8
-1.160862
8887182
NAME
NAME
5.31
-0.5617978
13117089
CHINA TELECOM-H
4.07
0.4938272
61376107
13.96
0.7215007
2183500
DONGFENG MOTOR-H
10.5
-0.7561437
14098221
3.93
-1.007557
27416722
GUANGZHOU AUTO-H
5.74
-0.173913
2128844
CHINA COAL ENE-H
7.2
-0.4149378
15492514
HUANENG POWER-H
5.52
0.9140768
18748426
CHINA COM CONS-H
6.82
-0.5830904
15392000
IND & COMM BK-H
4.44
-1.333333
176552437
CHINA CONST BA-H
5.35
-0.5576208
160213268
JIANGXI COPPER-H
18.36
1.548673
10846698
CHINA COSCO HO-H
3.34
-0.2985075
10023984
PETROCHINA CO-H
9.76
0.5149331
53323238
CHINA LIFE INS-H
21.2
0.2364066
25616759
PICC PROPERTY &
8.66
0.2314815
5955971
CHINA LONGYUAN-H
5.15
1.980198
4704000
PING AN INSURA-H
59.75
-0.2504174
8899380
CHINA MERCH BK-H
14.14
-1.805556
13461519
SHANDONG WEIG-H
8.76
0.6896552
4420000
BANK OF COMMUN-H BYD CO LTD-H CHINA CITIC BK-H
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
12.24
-0.1631321
11837740
ZIJIN MINING-H
2.49
0.4032258
14106500
ZOOMLION HEAVY-H
8.94
0.3367003
12766220
11.44
2.877698
11416964
YANZHOU COAL-H
ZTE CORP-H
MOVERS
18
1 9920
INDEX 9741.78 HIGH
9915.44
LOW
9719.35
CHINA MINSHENG-H
7.11
-1.659751
18783237
SINOPHARM-H
23.85
-1.446281
3067694
52W (H) 11916.1
CHINA NATL BDG-H
7.79
0.3865979
25398000
TSINGTAO BREW-H
43.2
-4.424779
5556200
(L) 8058.58
12.52
1.788618
5235031
WEICHAI POWER-H
22.6
2.031603
1435892
CHINA OILFIELD-H
21
9710
14-Aug
16-Aug
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-A
2.65
0
60731201
DATANG INTL PO-A
5.32
-0.5607477
1875676
SHANG PUDONG-A
8.87
0.1128668
46679612
AIR CHINA LTD-A
6.04
-1.145663
11547270
DONGFANG ELECT-A
21.52
0.419972
3804885
SHANGHAI ELECT-A
5.48
0.3663004
5113409
ALUMINUM CORP-A
6.95
2.0558
18421977
EVERBRIG SEC -A
13.39
-2.191381
10875327
SHANXI LU'AN -A
26.86
1.974184
12251316
16.13
0.1863354
17298950
GD MIDEA HOLDING
13.81
1.172161
16250599
SHANXI XINGHUA-A
75.96
3.038524
1787123
31433990
GD POWER DEVEL-A
2.58
-0.3861004
15008325
SHANXI XISHAN-A
17.81
3.426249
33893608
SHENZ DVLP BK-A
15.77
0.3180662
8569485
7.35
-0.6756757
12346259
ANHUI CONCH-A BANK OF BEIJIN-A BANK OF CHINA-A BANK OF COMMUN-A BAOSHAN IRON & S BYD CO LTD -A
9.77
-0.509165
NAME
3
0.3344482
8714988
30.5
-4.118202
12067944
4.71
0.856531
34425311
GREE ELECTRIC
21.73
0.4623209
8814415
SHENZEN OVERSE-A
4.8
0.2087683
12340018
GUIZHOU PANJIA-A
31.98
4.441541
8177901
SINOVEL WIND-A
15.38
0.1954397
716214
2995104
HAITONG SECURI-A
9.93
-1.292247
55031525
SUNING APPLIAN-A
9.8
-0.203666
26464092
HANGZHOU HIKVI-A
44.95
-2.705628
1569986
TONGLING NONFE-A
21.45
3.623188
22651820
3
0.6711409
14588830
TSINGTAO BREW-A
36.76
1.828255
1131292
24.58
1.570248
GF SECURITIES-A
NAME
CHINA CITIC BK-A
4.29
0.4683841
8097510
CHINA CNR CORP-A
4.28
2.884615
100172309
CHINA COAL ENE-A
9.17
1.325967
7127281
HENAN SHUAN-A
62.63
-0.5873016
951027
WEICHAI POWER-A
31.36
0.1277139
3212670
CHINA CONST BA-A
4.52
0.4444444
18576626
HUATAI SECURIT-A
10.51
-3.400735
22392037
WULIANGYE YIBIN
33.96
1.222057
22024196
9.79
-1.706827
40200242
XIAMEN TUNGSTEN
46.6
3.601601
10366391
HEBEI IRON-A
CHINA COSCO HO-A
5
-0.990099
10694933
HUAXIA BANK CO
CHINA CSSC HOL-A
31.59
-3.777033
13856811
IND & COMM BK-A
4.23
-0.4705882
39166846
XINJIANG GUANG-A
26.98
2.702703
10178311
CHINA EAST AIR-A
4.05
0.4962779
9875131
INDUSTRIAL BAN-A
13.48
0.4470939
26813155
YANGQUAN COAL -A
19.24
-0.1556824
16741889
CHINA EVERBRIG-A
2.95
0
23754270
INNER MONG BAO-A
44.8
2.775866
92709863
YANTAI CHANGYU-A
96.65
2.069912
743013
CHINA LIFE INS-A
17.78
0.2254791
5427391
INNER MONG YIL-A
22.95
2.227171
8238891
YANTAI WANHUA-A
14.31
1.633523
6300389
CHINA MERCH BK-A
11.64
0.6920415
46862803
INNER MONGOLIA-A
6.36
1.597444
74687876
YANZHOU COAL-A
22.84
0.7498897
6334750
CHINA MERCHANT-A
12.74
-0.5464481
12936709
JIANGSU HENGRU-A
28
0.3584229
1550090
YUNNAN BAIYAO-A
52
1.344767
1311673
JIANGSU YANGHE-A
168.08
7.077786
1645242
ZHONGJIN GOLD
22.91
0.9251101
10800754
25.61
1.950637
11486669
ZIJIN MINING-A
4.13
0.2427184
37168755
9.61
0
35892712
15.59
-2.501563
21029027
CHINA MERCHANT-A
23
0.9214568
2941985
CHINA MINSHENG-A
6.56
0.9230769
66183957
JIANGXI COPPER-A
CHINA OILFIELD-A
18.3
1.779755
5328928
JINDUICHENG -A
13.83
1.54185
6861501
CHINA PACIFIC-A
21.1
0.6199332
8143990
JIZHONG ENERGY-A
19.81
2.113402
15796424
CHINA PETROLEU-A
6.98
0.867052
25821767
KWEICHOW MOUTA-A
223.19
2.418319
2884345
CHINA RAILWAY-A
2.68
3.076923
55051692
LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A
42.78
2.246654
8739804
CHINA RAILWAY-A
4.36
3.317536
31944565
METALLURGICAL-A
2.64
1.538462
20553122
26
1.404056
13227933
NARI TECHNOLOG-A
19.79
-1.296758
6041703
CHINA SHIPBUIL-A
5.71
-0.1748252
18714512
NINGBO PORT CO-A
2.66
-5.673759
86235795
CHINA SOUTHERN-A
4.62
-0.4310345
15568024
PANGANG GROUP -A
8.01
3.088803
50760122
9.52
0.1051525
13367933
CHINA SHENHUA-A
ZOOMLION HEAVY-A ZTE CORP-A
MOVERS
86
27 2360
INDEX 2319.67
CHINA STATE -A
3.25
0.931677
33058259
PETROCHINA CO-A
CHINA UNITED-A
4.1
-0.4854369
43473917
PING AN INSURA-A
41.62
0.5071239
15580665
CHINA VANKE CO-A
8.67
1.048951
29233305
POLY REAL ESTA-A
12.72
-0.0785546
11601583
HIGH
2357.02
CHINA YANGTZE-A
6.72
-0.4444444
14121444
QINGDAO HAIER-A
12.03
-0.5785124
18830631
LOW
2319.67
CHONGQING WATE-A
6.31
1.610306
13894499
QINGHAI SALT-A
32.41
1.34459
3221441
CITIC SECURITI-A
12.94
-0.9946442
59987514
SAIC MOTOR-A
15.12
-0.3952569
11857754
CSR CORP LTD -A
4.83
3.426124
60371912
SANY HEAVY INDUS
13.71
0.2192982
17589018
7.5
0.6711409
61296772
SHANDONG GOLD-MI
34.34
0.556369
5819114
DAQIN RAILWAY -A
187
52W (H) 2932.14 (L) 2254.567
2310
14-Aug
16-Aug
FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX NAME ACER INC ADVANCED SEMICON ASIA CEMENT CORP
PRICE DAY %
Volume
NAME
27.75
0.7259528
34760811
FORMOSA PLASTIC
26
2.362205
34860727
PRICE DAY %
Volume
83.5
-1.300236
4499904
FOXCONN TECHNOLO
119.5
0.4201681
12463749
NAME
Volume
109
1.869159
7161242
TPK HOLDING CO L
393
3.693931
8702525
82.9 -0.1204819
28042616
38.75
-1.021711
5887026
FUBON FINANCIAL
30.45 -0.3273322
13418174
TSMC
ASUSTEK COMPUTER
294
3.157895
4869336
HON HAI PRECISIO
84.1 -0.4733728
22476280
UNI-PRESIDENT
AU OPTRONICS COR
9.23 -0.4314995
62071070
HOTAI MOTOR CO
214
0
425221
CATCHER TECH
PRICE DAY %
TAIWAN MOBILE CO
50
UNITED MICROELEC
0
7793272
12.35 -0.8032129
29121708
153
2.684564
16247254
HTC CORP
250
2.669405
13324136
CATHAY FINANCIAL
29.95
1.182432
13527403
HUA NAN FINANCIA
16.1
0.625
7413540
YUANTA FINANCIAL
14.65
1.384083
23051817
CHANG HWA BANK
15.45
1.644737
24286683
LARGAN PRECISION
617
1.480263
959943
YULON MOTOR CO
55.2
-1.252236
4064583
CHENG SHIN RUBBE
73.5
0.1362398
5566681
LITE-ON TECHNOLO
35.8 -0.5555556
3555566
CHIMEI INNOLUX C
9.63 -0.2072539
20158810
MEDIATEK INC
292
2.636204
11767318
CHINA DEVELOPMEN
7.24 -0.5494505
51635971
MEGA FINANCIAL H
22.85
0.4395604
34045425
26.65 -0.1872659
11169311
NAN YA PLASTICS
59.5
-1.490066
6204807
PRESIDENT CHAIN
167
0.3003003
1467119
QUANTA COMPUTER
77.4
-1.149425
5680319
CHINA STEEL CORP CHINATRUST FINAN
17.7
0.2832861
33825077
CHUNGHWA TELECOM
90.4 -0.2207506
4527114
COMPAL ELECTRON DELTA ELECT INC FAR EASTERN NEW FAR EASTONE TELE FIRST FINANCIAL FORMOSA CHEM & F FORMOSA PETROCHE
28.25
-1.050788
7780218
SILICONWARE PREC
33.3
0.9090909
9372589
103
-1.435407
2819895
SINOPAC FINANCIA
12.35
1.229508
28275784
34.45
-0.433526
11240965
SYNNEX TECH INTL
68.3
0.2936858
1680432
72.7 -0.1373626
6891557
TAIWAN CEMENT
35
-1.129944
8931565
17.35
0
10484713
81.9 -0.7272727
3845107
TAIWAN FERTILIZE
1579688
TAIWAN GLASS IND
90
-1.098901
TAIWAN COOPERATI
16.85 -0.8823529
12092383
77
6.648199
16771356
29.05
0.3454231
2390253
WISTRON CORP
33.1 -0.6006006
MOVERS
23
24
8419398
3 5165
INDEX 5134.29 HIGH
5164.49
LOW
5116.04
52W (H) 5621.53 (L) 4643.05
5115
14-Aug
16-Aug
August 17, 2012 business daily | 13
MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) gaLaXy enTerTaInMenT
MeLCO CrOWn enTerTaInMenT
MgM CHIna HOLDIngS
21.5
18.2
12.6
18.0
12.5
17.8
12.4
21.3 21.1 20.9 20.7 Max 21.5
average 21.189
Min 20.65
Last 21.45
20.5
SanDS CHIna LTD
Max 18.1
average 17.895
Min 17.62
Last 18.02
25.3
Last 25.7
25.1
Max 16.06
average 15.884
Min 15.4
Commodities PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
WTI CRUDE FUTURE Sep12
94.19
-0.148404553
-4.733488419
110.8699951
77.69999695
BRENT CRUDE FUTR Sep12
116.32
0.060215054
10.86542127
124.1999969
88.90999603
GASOLINE RBOB FUT Sep12 GAS OIL FUT (ICE) Sep12 NATURAL GAS FUTR Sep12 HEATING OIL FUTR Sep12 METALS
Gold Spot $/Oz Silver Spot $/Oz
307.7
-0.226977951
15.83781952
320.4399824
237.3699903
977.75
0.902992776
8.789986092
1046.5
798.5
2.739
-0.327510917
-16.57021017
4.630000114
2.221999884
308.95
0.139375081
8.445364878
332.9600096
251.5599966
1603.32
0.5386
2.4545
1921.18
1522.75
27.835
0.6691
0
44.2175
26.085
Platinum Spot $/Oz
1396.95
-0.0951
0.1757
1915.75
1339.25
Palladium Spot $/Oz
575.79
0.0504
-11.8914
792.93
537.54 1832.25
LME ALUMINUM 3MO ($) LME COPPER 3MO ($) LME ZINC
3MO ($)
LME NICKEL 3MO ($) AGRICULTURE ROUGH RICE (CBOT) Sep12 CORN FUTURE
Last 12.6
1836
-1.077586207
-9.108910891
2476
7385.5
-0.411272923
-2.822368421
9304
6635
1802
-0.934579439
-2.330623306
2311
1718.5
15300
-1.098901099
-18.22554784
22450
15236
15.14
-0.164853281
0.731869594
18
13.95499992
804
0
37.14285714
849
499
Dec12
WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) Dec12
18.2
18.0
17.8
17.6
Last 16
Max 18.1
average 17.895
Last 18.02
Min 17.62
PRICE MAJORS
ASIA PACIFIC
CROSSES
AUD GBP CHF EUR JPY MOP HKD CNY INR THB SGD TWD PHP IDR AUDJPY EURCHF EURGBP EURCNY EURMOP EURJPY HKDMOP
DAY %
1.0486 1.5696 0.9789 1.2268 79.2 7.9896 7.757 6.3663 55.875 31.54 1.2513 29.995 42.23 9512 83.05 1.20097 0.7816 7.817 9.801 97.16 1.03
YTD %
0.105 0.0829 -0.1226 -0.1465 -0.3157 0 -0.0013 -0.0628 -0.3848 0.0317 -0.1758 -0.0567 -0.0237 0.0105 -0.425 0.0175 0.2367 0.3863 0.1612 -0.1647 0
(H) 52W
2.7133 0.9844 -4.1679 -5.3468 -2.8914 0.1252 0.1341 -1.12 -5.0291 0.0317 3.6202 0.9468 3.8125 -4.6573 -5.5605 1.3173 6.6262 4.0578 5.6219 2.5731 0.0097
(L) 52W
1.0857 1.6618 0.9972 1.4549 84.18 8.0413 7.8077 6.406 57.3275 32 1.3199 30.716 44.35 9662 88.637 1.24736 0.88845 9.2841 11.6793 111.94 1.0311
0.9388 1.5235 0.7712 1.2043 75.35 7.9823 7.7526 6.2769 45.4225 29.79 1.2002 28.829 41.57 8507 72.057 1.1002 0.77553 7.7018 9.6245 94.12 1.0288
MACAU RELATED STOCKS (H) 52W
(L) 52W
ARISTOCRAT LEISU
2.62
1.945525
19.09091
3.25
1.88
1773188
153.6999969
CROWN LTD
8.71
1.27907
7.66378
9.29
7.47
2447729
877.25
1.26984127
21.84027778
953.25
629.5
SOYBEAN FUTURE Nov12
1629
-0.336494341
35.27091551
1691.5
1115.75
COFFEE 'C' FUTURE Dec12
162.6
-1.424674144
-31.10169492
285.6499939
NAME
PRICE
DAY % YTD %
VOLUME CRNCY
SUGAR #11 (WORLD) Oct12
20.32
0.147856087
-10.99430574
25.77999878
19.23999977
AMAX HOLDINGS LT
0.061
0
-29.88506
0.119
0.055
0
COTTON NO.2 FUTR Dec12
72.97
-0.191492272
-16.92850638
102.25
64.61000061
BOC HONG KONG HO
24.25
0.6224066
31.79348
24.9
14.24
7677864
CENTURY LEGEND
0.234
0
1.739129
0.335
0.204
0
3.18
2.580645
13.57143
3.62
2.3
58000
CHINA OVERSEAS
17.68
0.3405221
36.20956
19.16
9.99
12914156
CHINESE ESTATES
9.3
0
-25.6
13.68
8.3
132500
CHOW TAI FOOK JE
9.7
0.9365245
-30.31609
15.16
8.4
1800000
EMPEROR ENTERTAI
1.37
-0.7246377
23.42342
1.6
0.97
540000
1.2
4.347826
185.7143
1.2
0.3
5970000
CHEUK NANG HLDGS
World Stock MarketS - Indices NAME
COUNTRY
PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG
US
13164.78
-0.05587551
7.752945
13338.66016
10404.49
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX
US
3030.93
0.4623829
16.34378
3134.17
2298.89
FTSE 100 INDEX
GB
5824.98
-0.1381784
4.534952
5989.07
4868.6
DAX INDEX
GE
6951.81
0.07211954
17.86025
7194.33
4965.8
NIKKEI 225
JN
9092.76
1.879207
7.538543
10255.15
8135.79
FUTURE BRIGHT GALAXY ENTERTAIN
21.45
4.379562
50.63202
24.95
8.69
19014387
HANG SENG BK
111.2
0.5424955
20.67281
116.7
84.4
1080639
HOPEWELL HLDGS
23.5
-1.260504
18.32829
24.658
18.56
729617
HSBC HLDGS PLC
68.15
0
15.50847
71.8
56
6710982
HUTCHISON TELE H
3.68
-0.5405405
23.07692
3.86
2.53
2004000
LUK FOOK HLDGS I
19.6
1.239669
-27.67528
46.15
14.7
2014000
MELCO INTL DEVEL
5.95
2.763385
3.119584
9.94
4.3
2815000
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
12.6
3.618421
31.35736
15.276
7.6
5089249
HANG SENG INDEX
HK
19962.95
-0.4455351
8.291886
21760.33984
16170.35
CSI 300 INDEX
CH
2319.67
-0.5123058
-1.111462
2932.14
2254.567
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX
TA
7490.21
0.3008942
5.912403
8170.72
6609.11
MIDLAND HOLDINGS
4.25
-2.745995
7.484813
5.217
2.887
2814000
KOSPI INDEX
SK
1957.91
0.04854468
7.239259
2057.28
1644.11
NEPTUNE GROUP
0.16
0
44.14414
0.205
0.08
11315000
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX
AU
4330.166
1.14339
6.744765
4448.5
3840.2
NEW WORLD DEV
10.18
-0.9727626
62.6198
10.96
6.13
5139688
SANDS CHINA LTD
25.7
2.8
17.08428
33.05
14.9
18736782
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX
12.3
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES
NAME ENERGY
Min 12.34
16.1 16.0 15.9 15.8 15.7 15.6 15.5 15.4 15.3
25.5
Min 25.15
average 12.472
Wynn MaCaU LTD
25.7
average 25.397
Max 12.6
SJM HOLDIngS LTD 25.9
Max 25.8
17.6
ID
4160.508
0.4471768
8.857054
4234.734
3217.951
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI
MA
1650.09
-0.2231252
7.797586
1654.34
1310.53
NZX ALL INDEX
NZ
804.524
-0.4831587
10.23892
810.021
712.548
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX
PH
3464.57
-0.6996314
13.77749
3531.5
2695.06
SMARTONE TELECOM
HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor
SI
588.02
-0.96
18.47
NA
NA
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX
TH
1224.4
-0.1980715
19.41639
1247.72
843.69
HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX
VN
430.83
0.01392855
22.55156
492.44
332.28
Laos Composite Index
LO
1036.75
0.8904243
15.2636
1049.18
876.33
Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalisation. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.
SHUN HO RESOURCE
1.13
0
13
1.28
0.82
0
SHUN TAK HOLDING
2.73
0
6.67695
4.148
2.241
1596269 17645687
WYNN MACAU LTD
16
3.896104
27.94334
18.798
10.079
16.9
-1.053864
25.74405
18.5
9.8
944000
18.02
1.578354
-7.589744
25.969
14.62
5518063
ASIA ENTERTAINME
3.67
5.157593
-37.58504
8.46
2.4
156311
BALLY TECHNOLOGI
44.57
0.4960541
12.6643
49.32
24.74
537511
BOC HONG KONG HO
3.18
0
32.65546
3.18
1.81
8175
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
2.6
1.960784
39.03743
3.24
1.08
7500
INTL GAME TECH
11.52
0.6113537
-33.02326
18.1701
10.92
3648945
JONES LANG LASAL
70.86
1.445956
15.67091
87.52
46.01
179944
LAS VEGAS SANDS
39.36
1.312741
-7.88673
62.09
34.72
6422881
MELCO CROWN-ADR
10.71
0.2808989
11.33056
16.02
7.05
4235506
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
1.55
0
30.06704
1.9672
1.0025
470
MGM RESORTS INTE
10.21
2.51004
-2.109303
14.9401
7.4
9902928
SHUFFLE MASTER
14.38
4.505814
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business daily August 17, 2012
Opinion
Don’t blame discrimination for gender wage gap Ramesh Ponnuru Bloomberg View columnist and a senior editor at National Review
I
t’s a staple of feminist rhetoric: women make less money than men because of discrimination. “We’d all like to think, in 2012, that pay discrimination is a thing of the past,” the progressive activist Joy Lawson wrote in the Huffington Post recently. “But the pay gap still exists, and it’s big: women earn an average of 77 cents on a man’s dollar.” April 17 has been designated Equal Pay Day: supposedly that’s how long women have to work to catch up to men’s pay from the previous year. U.S. President Barack Obama has cited a similar statistic to promote legislation to make it easier to sue employers for discrimination. Democrats accuse Republicans who resist such laws of waging a “war on women.” Expect to hear more about the issue during the fall campaign. Here’s the truth you won’t hear: the pay gap is exaggerated, discrimination doesn’t drive it and it’s not clear that government can eliminate it – or should even try.
Problematic stats Conservative economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth runs through the problems with the statistic in her book on the economic progress of women, “Women’s Figures.” She points out that part of the gap reflects the fact that women, on average, work fewer hours than men. Among people who work 40 hours a week, according to the Labor Department, women make 87 percent of what men do. Furchtgott-Roth cites a 2005 study by economists June O’Neill and Dave O’Neill, which found that for the most
part “the gender gap is attributable to choices made by women concerning the amount of time and energy to devote to a career.” They continue: “There is no gender gap in wages among men and women with similar family roles.”
To say that women’s choices result in their being paid less, on average, than men is not to deny that unfair social conditions may constrain those choices
In addition to being more likely to seek part-time work, women are also more likely to have gaps in their employment history and to enter lower-paying fields. The consulting company Consad, in a 2009 report for the Labor Department, found that these factors account for most of the pay gap. Correct for them, and men make only 5 percent to 7 percent more than women for the same work.
Even the American Association of University Women, in a recent report playing up the pay gap, conceded that 5 percent is a reasonable estimate of the difference between men’s and women’s wages that cannot be explained by choice of occupation, employment history and the like. Not even that smaller gap can be attributed wholly to employer discrimination. Lawson, although she favours “legislative solutions,” also writes that women are less likely than men to drive hard bargains in salary negotiations. If true, that would explain part of the gap, as well. To say that women’s choices result in their being paid less, on average, than men is not to deny that unfair social conditions may constrain those choices. Perhaps men should do more of the work of running households and raising children, and boys should be brought up with that expectation. Perhaps child care should be made more affordable. Perhaps efforts should be made to make sure college women aren’t being steered toward majors that won’t prepare them for lucrative careers. Carrie Lukas, who has written often about the pay gap for the conservative Independent Women’s Forum, says “it’s a mistake to default to the idea that it’s all discrimination.” She agrees with Lawson, however, that women should be less reticent about demanding higher pay: “As parents of daughters we can make a difference in that.”
Blaming employers There is very little that individual employers can do about any of these
issues. They can’t make men do more housework, or pick majors for women. Nor can they reasonably be asked to adjust their salary schedules to make up for those choices. Yet the gender-gap discussion always centres on holding employers accountable. Earlier this year, the New York Times editorialised in favour of tougher laws for employers. Why? “At a time when women still earn, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, there is a clear need for stronger steps to help close the gender gap.” The Times didn’t mention anything other than employer behaviour that could explain that statistic – even though it’s only a small part of the story. Obsession with the pay-gap statistic has led the National Organization for Women to support legislation to restructure the economy. Maledominated occupations tend to pay more than female-dominated ones. In its press release about Equal Pay Day, the group called on Congress to force employers to change the pay scales for different jobs. The government would be invited to decide appropriate pay levels, one lawsuit at a time. The assumption is that employers’ sexism is what now determines which jobs pay more. There is no reason to believe that. And there’s no reason to think that women will ever, on average, have the same preferences as men about combining employment and parenthood, or that they will want to become librarians and truck drivers at the same rate as men. So we shouldn’t expect that 77 percent figure ever to rise to 100 – or even want it to. Bloomberg View
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August 17, 2012 business daily | 15
OPINION Business
The real abortion tragedy
Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers
Peter Singer Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne
wires Business Line Negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and Switzerland are expected to conclude soon. India has been in talks with the European Free Trade Association which includes Switzerland, Iceland Bilateral trade in 2011 was US$4.8 billion. It is expected to grow to US$6-7 billion by 2015. Switzerland is the eleventh largest foreign investor in India. In 2011, Switzerland exported goods worth US$3.3 billion to India and bought goods worth US$1.5 billion from India. India sold US$500 million worth software to Swiss enterprises.
Jakarta Globe Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, representing about 70 percent of global naturalrubber supply, are discussing plans to limit exports and boost prices. Rubber futures have plunged 43 percent in the past year and reached the lowest level in almost three years as growth slowed in China, the top consumer, and Europe. The three nations cut exports by 690,000 metric tons from January to July 2009 to combat a 56 percent decline in prices a year earlier. Rubber surged 103 percent in 2009.
Japan Today Isuzu Motors will spend 30 billion yen (US$379 million) to build new factories in China and India to tap rising demand for pickup trucks in the fastgrowing markets, a report said on Tuesday. The new plants will together produce about 200,000 trucks a year, boosting Isuzu’s annual capacity by about 50 percent by 2015. Isuzu will build factories in the Chinese city of Nanchang, with local automaker Jiangling Motors Group, and near the southern Indian city of Chennai.
Bangkok Post Deezer, the global music subscription service provider, has entered an exclusive partnership deal with secondranked mobile operator Total Access Communication to launch a digital music streaming service. The French company will launch the service in Malaysia and Singapore this week. It hopes to change the listening habits of Thai music lovers, shifting from downloads to streaming. Currently, all local music labels have already added the service, with more than 10,000 songs available. Half a dozen global music service providers are expected enter the Asian market shortly.
I
n the Dominican Republic last month, a pregnant teenager suffering from leukemia had her chemotherapy delayed, because doctors feared that the treatment could terminate her pregnancy and therefore violate the nation’s strict anti-abortion law. After consultations between doctors, lawyers, and the girl’s family, chemotherapy eventually was begun, but not before attention had again been focused on the rigidity of many developing countries’ abortion laws. Abortion receives extensive media coverage in developed countries, especially in the United States, where Republicans have used opposition to it to rally voters. Recently, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign counter-attacked, releasing a television advertisement in which a woman says that it is “a scary time to be a woman,” because Mitt Romney has said that he supports outlawing abortion. But much less attention is given to the 86 percent of all abortions that occur in the
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and Melinda Gates at the Family Planning Summit
An estimated 220 million women in the developing world say that they want to prevent pregnancy, but lack either knowledge of, or access to, effective contraception.
Mitigating actions That is a huge tragedy for individuals and for the future
If it comes to a clash between the supposed interests of potentially rational but not yet even conscious beings and the vital interests of actually rational women, we should give preference to the women every time developing world. Although a majority of countries in Africa and Latin America have laws prohibiting abortion in most circumstances, official bans do not prevent high abortion rates. In Africa, there are 29 abortions per 1,000 women, and 32 per 1,000 in Latin America. The comparable figure for Western Europe, where abortion is generally permitted in most circumstances, is 12. According to a recent report by the World Health Organization, unsafe abortions lead to the death of 47,000 women every year, with almost all of these deaths occurring in developing countries. A further five million women are injured each year, sometimes permanently. Almost all of these deaths and injuries could be prevented, the WHO says, by meeting the need for sex education and information about family planning and contraception, and by providing safe, legal induced abortion, as well as follow-up care to prevent or treat medical complications.
of our already very heavily populated planet. Last month, the London Summit on Family Planning, hosted by the British government’s Department for International Development and the Gates Foundation, announced commitments to reach 120 million of these women by 2020. The Vatican newspaper responded by criticising Melinda Gates, whose efforts in organising and partly funding this initiative will, it is estimated, lead to nearly three million fewer babies dying in their first year of life, and to 50 million fewer abortions. One would have thought that Roman Catholics would see these outcomes as desirable. (Gates is herself a practicing Catholic who has seen what happens when women cannot feed their children, or are maimed by unsafe abortions.) Restricting access to legal abortion leads many poor women to seek abortion from unsafe providers. The legalisation of abortion on
request in South Africa in 1998 saw abortion-related deaths drop by 91 percent. And the development of the drugs misoprostol and mifepristone, which can be provided by pharmacists, makes relatively safe and inexpensive abortion possible in developing countries. Opponents will respond that abortion is, by its very nature, unsafe – for the fetus. They point out that abortion kills a unique, living human individual. That claim is difficult to deny, at least if by “human” we mean “member of the species Homo sapiens.” It is also true that we cannot simply invoke a woman’s “right to choose” in order to avoid the ethical issue of the moral status of the fetus. If the fetus really did have the moral status of any other human being, it would be difficult to argue that a pregnant woman’s right to choose includes the right to bring about the death of the fetus, except perhaps when the woman’s life is at stake. The fallacy in the anti-abortion argument lies in the shift from the scientifically accurate claim that the fetus is a living individual of the species Homo sapiens to the ethical claim that the fetus therefore has the same right to life as any other
human being. Membership of the species Homo sapiens is not enough to confer a right to life on a being. Nor can something like self-awareness or rationality warrant greater protection for the fetus than for, say, a cow, because the fetus has mental capacities that are inferior to those of cows. Yet “pro-life” groups that picket abortion clinics are rarely seen picketing slaughterhouses. We can plausibly argue that we ought not to kill, against their will, self-aware beings who want to continue to live. We can see this as a violation of their autonomy, or a thwarting of their preferences. But why should a being’s potential to become rationally self-aware make it wrong to end its life before it actually has the capacity for rationality or selfawareness? We have no obligation to allow every being with the potential to become a rational being to realise that potential. If it comes to a clash between the supposed interests of potentially rational but not yet even conscious beings and the vital interests of actually rational women, we should give preference to the women every time. © Project Syndicate
16 |
business daily August 17, 2012
CLOSING Maruti Suzuki to reopen riot-hit factory Israel ‘will disappear,’ Iran says Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s biggest carmaker by volume, will reopen a factory more than a month after a deadly riot forced the company to halt production of its two bestselling models. The carmaker, majority owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., will restart output this month. Maruti will stop relying on contract workers on its assembly line and also deploy armed guards in and around its factory. The company faces the challenge of restoring normalcy at a factory where managers have fresh memories of being beaten by workers.
Israel is an artificial “outgrowth” in the Middle East that “will disappear,” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said ahead of rallies today against the Jewish state and supporting the Palestinians. Mr Khamenei, in a speech late on Wednesday, said the “star of hope” that shined on Iran during its Islamic revolution, and in its 1980-1988 war with Iraq “will also shine for Palestine and its Islamic land will definitely be returned to the Palestinian nation.” He railed against Israel, saying: “This bogus and fake Zionist outgrowth will disappear off the landscape of geography.”
Intel, Apple leading charge against conflict minerals Many companies’ efforts to audit their supply chains seen wanting
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ntel, Motorola Solutions, Hewlett Packard and Apple are pioneering progress toward wiping out the use of conflict minerals - like tantalum, tin and tungsten – in their products, but other companies are lagging, according to a report by a non-profit rights group. The Enough Project – an arm of the Center for American Progress that combats crimes against humanity – placed Nintendo at the bottom of its conflict minerals ranking and also singled out HTC Corp., Sharp Corp., Nikon Corp. and Canon Inc. for a lack of progress. “Nintendo has made no known effort to trace or audit its supply chain,” the “Taking conflict out of consumer gadgets” report said. “Sharp, HTC, Nikon and Canon are taking initial steps to join industry efforts, but their progress remains far behind industry leaders.” Nikon declined to comment on the report. Sharp, HTC, Canon and Nintendo were not immediately available for comment. The Enough Project scored companies on efforts to trace the source of the minerals and metals used, whether detailed audits of supply chains were being carried out, and if steps are being taken to develop an international conflict-free certification. Other criteria included environmental rankings and whether support had been expressed for legislation on conflict minerals. Intel, Motorola Solutions, HP and Apple “have moved forward to develop solutions despite delays in the legislative rule-making process by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Northeast Congo region is a major source of concern
Commission or SEC – an excuse that many other companies have used to explain their lack of significant action,” the report said. The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law requires companies to disclose whether they use tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The U.S.SecuritiesandExchangeCommission (SEC) is due to vote on August 22 on longdelayed guidelines needed to enforce the conflict minerals law. Intel Corp., Motorola Solutions Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Inc. have taken steps including developing a smelter auditing program and an aid project for lagging smelters and aid projects to help develop a clean
minerals trade, the report said. The Enough Project said SanDisk Corp., Philips Electronics NV, Sony Corp., Panasonic Corp., RIM Ltd and AMD Inc. have significantly improved their efforts “by surveying their suppliers, piloting due diligence, and joining the smelter audit programme.” The U.S. conflict minerals rule has been arguably one of the most controversial rules in the Dodd-Frank law. Companies would need to identify if any conflict minerals are used in their products. If the minerals are present, the companies would then need to conduct a due diligence check to track them through the supply chain to their origins.
War-torn DRC sits on large reserves of minerals used in electronics production and the Enough Project has warned that months of unrest in Congo’s volatile east is hampering progress made in curbing the conflict minerals trade. Tutsi-led M23 rebels are fighting government forces in the resource-rich eastern Congo and U.N. experts and Kinshasa have accused neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the uprising. Both countries have rejected the allegations. The Enough Project has said the armed groups in eastern Congo were still generating income by smuggling tantalum, tin and tungsten through Rwanda. Reuters
Germany re-launches privacy probe against Facebook Potential abuse of biometric data invoked
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acebook came under fresh pressure in Germany yesterday after authorities reopened a probe into the website’s facial recognition software, which they say violates the privacy of its users. The head of the data protection office in the northern city of Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, said he would resume an investigation launched against Facebook more than a year ago but suspended in June. Mr Caspar agreed at the time to let negotiations between Facebook and Irish authorities about the software run their course, in the hope that the U.S.-based company would accept stricter terms for the
use of such data in Europe. Facebook’s European operations are based in Ireland. “This hope has only been partially fulfilled,” he said in a statement. “The potential for abuse with a biometric database is immense.” He accuses the online social network of contravening European privacy laws with its system for registering the faces of users in photographs posted on the site. Facebook, which began using the software last year, had pledged to stop using it on new users but declined to make other concessions, Mr Caspar said. “Thus the existing database of biometric data, established without the consent of
those affected, remains illegal,” he said, citing a EU review in March. Mr Caspar said he still aimed to reach a negotiated settlement with the company, with the “minimum requirement” being that users either give their consent to their images being kept in Facebook’s database or they must be destroyed. In December, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said
after an initial audit that Facebook had to better explain to users what happens to their personal data and give them more control. But following complaints that little had been done, a Facebook spokesman said in April that the DPC “did not at any time say that Facebook should amend its privacy policy based on European data protection rules.” AFP