Year I Number 124 Friday September 21, 2012 Editor-in-chief: Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief: José I. Duarte MOP 6.00 www.macaubusinessdaily.com
Parisian dream for LVS boss
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ot content with launching the world’s biggest Sheraton Hotel in Macau yesterday – it will have 4,000 rooms when fully open – Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s chairman Sheldon Adelson is already dreaming of Paris. But it’s not for his much-heralded EuroVegas scheme. Instead he’s bringing France to China complete with half-scale Eiffel Tower. The new US$2.5 billion Cotai project – with a theme exclusively reported by Business Daily last month – could start construction work as early as November. Mr Adelson revealed the news at a media briefing in
Macau at the launch of Sands Cotai Central Phase IIA. That opening yesterday of 1,829 Sheraton Macao Hotel rooms and a 200-table casino – Pacifica – would be the only headline news in any other gaming market. But such is the speed of Macau’s development that investors – and the public – are already turning their thoughts toward the new French-themed scheme, to be called The Parisian. “It’s a must-see,” Mr Adelson told the hundreds of media guests. “We hope to start – subject to government approval – within about 60 days,” he added. More on pages 2 & 3
News where it matters
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HANG SENG INDEX 20820
Gloomy gut check for Asian entrepreneurs
New market bad for food retail price
Over 300 entrepreneurs and government officials are in Macau for the first Asian Entrepreneurship Forum but they painted a picture of a continent that remains far from being businessfriendly. Lack of research and development and of rule-of-law, few world-class infrastructures, heavy government red tape, and closed domestic markets are major challenges limiting the potential of good ideas in Asia. Page 5
The new wholesale market planned for the Zhuhai-Macau cross-border industrial park is less convenient for vegetable wholesalers, who warned that higher costs are likely to reflect on retail prices as well. The new building “doesn’t suit our business mode,” the Macau Association of Vegetable Wholesale Merchants said. The association has asked authorities to change the project but has yet to get a reply. Page 7
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September 20
HSI - Movers
Pricey gold scares off tourists... but not for long The gold market has grown eerily quiet in Macau, as investors take in a hike of more than 2,000 patacas (US$250) in the price of gold in August. The increase comes as the international price of gold was given another boost by the third round of quantitative easing in the United States. However, the jewellery retail sector is confident the National Day holidays in October will bring more business opportunities, as gold remains a good investment in times of high inflation. With more international brands of gold jewellery joining the market, returns from sales to mainland Chinese visitors are expected to be high. The president of the Macau Goldsmiths Guild believes high gold prices will last until the beginning of next year and maybe even hit US$2,000 an ounce (28.3 grams). After that, it will all depend on the health of the U.S. economy, Lei Chi Fong said. Page 5
Name
%Day
WANT WANT CHINA
1.81
POWER ASSETS HOL
1.01
CATHAY PAC AIR
0.77
CHINA RES POWER
0.71
CLP HLDGS LTD
0.23
CHINA COAL ENE-H
-2.76
COSCO PAC LTD
-3.09
CNOOC LTD
-3.46
HENDERSON LAND D
-3.48
CHINA UNICOM HON
-5.18
Source: Bloomberg
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business daily September 21, 2012
macau Neptune buys into junket operator VIP gaming promoter Neptune Group Ltd has reached a deal to buy a 20-percent stake in a junket operation that manages 11 VIP tables at SJM Holdings Ltd’s Grand Lisboa hotel casino. The Hong Kong-listed company told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday it would pay HK$150 million (US$19.3 million) to junket promoter Hoi Long Sociedade Unipessoal Lda. According to Neptune’s filing, Hoi Long is entitled to 0.4 percent of the rolling turnover from Guangdong 31 Sky Club, which averages HK$4.8 billion per month.
Work on new Paris-themed resort could start in 60 days Firm uses Phase II launch of Sands Cotai Central to announce Eiffel Tower project across road Associate Editor
If Taiwan legalised gaming in Taipei, or Kaohsiung in the southern part of the main island, we would be willing to put in one of our integrated resorts Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of LVS
It will be significantly nicer than
LVS will build a US$2.5 billion Paris-themed resort on its Lot 3
the one in Vegas. I’ve
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he paint is barely dry on Phase IIA of Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau. There are two more hotel towers to come. But yesterday prior to the opening ceremony for the resort’s second casino – called Pacifica – and for a Sheraton Macao Hotel tower, the firm’s founder was already looking ahead to a ground breaking ceremony for a new US$2.5 billion Paris-themed resort across the road. Plans for the resort – complete with replica Eiffel Tower, were reported exclusively by Business Daily last month. “It’s a project called The Parisian. It’s a must-see,” Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive of LVS, told a press briefing for the Sheraton Macao Hotel opening, a property that will itself be Starwood Hotels & Resorts biggest at nearly 4,000 rooms when completed. “We hope to start – subject to government approval – within about 60 days,” added Mr Adelson. The new project on The Cotai Strip will have around 3,300 hotel rooms, Mr Adelson said at the briefing. The resort will include family-oriented facilities to bring middle-class tourists from China, the company stated in July.
French theme The Parisian will have a half scale Eiffel Tower replica. Unlike
the replica built by a rival company in Las Vegas, which pokes out of surrounding buildings, his will be free standing, said Mr Adelson. Local mainland Chinese visitors to Macau are already familiar with the Eiffel Tower concept. There’s a one-third scale replica of the French original at the Window on the World theme park in Shenzhen, next door to Hong Kong. LVS’s local unit Sands China Ltd was in July granted a three-year extension on the permit to build on Lot 3 – the second extension on the original deadline imposed by the government. The company will pay a penalty of 900,000 patacas (US$112,700) for the delay in developing Lot 3. Michael Leven, president and chief operating officer of LVS, gave some details on the project after the briefing. “The plans [for The Parisian] are in to the government. They approved the concept a number of months ago and they are in the process of approving the construction capability. We will probably have a significant ground breaking ceremony some time we hope in November. We’re just waiting for another 30 days or so before final approvals come through.” Mr Leven added the firm would start ground preparation before the funding is finalised.
“We will start without having the financing but we have also applied for financing to our banks for the amount that’s over our equity contribution,” said Mr Leven. “We have the capital for the equity contribution which will be somewhere between US$750 million and US$900 million depending on the final costs of the building.” He added it would take about three years to open. “Mr Adelson expects a 30-month construction schedule, so we figure 36 months before it opens.”
Wide appeal Mr Leven said the Eiffel Tower replica would have a restaurant in the tower, a viewing platform and lifts to move visitors up and down. “There’ll be the appropriate gaming facilities and appropriate shopping,” he added, referring to The Parisian. Asked if it would be similar to a rival company’s Paris-themed resort in Las Vegas, Mr Leven replied: “It will be significantly nicer than the one in Vegas. I’ve been to the one in Vegas. It’s kind of tacky. Ours will be really, really good. We have a French designer who’s doing the interiors. It will be another Venetianstyle product. People in China will not have to go to Paris. They will be able to see it right here.”
been to the one in Vegas. It’s kind of tacky Michael Leven, president and COO of LVS on plans for Eiffel Tower-themed The Parisian
Until you open the building and see how the customer reacts or behaves with your products you might be shifting them around every day until you find the right mix Ed Tracy, president and CEO of Sands China on Sands Cotai Central Phase II’s gaming offer
September 21, 2012 business daily | 3
MACAU
LVS won’t be ‘panicked’ into pricing players out of market Firm’s president says ‘listen to your customer’ you what your minimum bet is, not you the operator.” “You can’t destroy your customer base. So you have to be very careful when you raise bet limits – especially if you’re in the mass market. You can turn people off very quickly and they will seek a lower [bet] place,” Mr Leven said.
Customer demand
A note to investors this week from Deutsche Bank said that more than half of the mass market tables at Sands Cotai Central’s next door competitor City of Dreams were now fixed at HK$2,000 (US$258) minimum bets. When Business Daily visited the main floor of the Pacifica casino yesterday minimum bets on table games appeared mostly to range
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“Those that don’t listen to their customers do so at their peril. I’ve seen people who don’t listen to their customers go down the drain – airlines, hotels, gaming, automobile companies, computer companies,” added Mr Leven. Edward Tracy, president and chief executive of the local operating unit Sands China Ltd added: “Because of the table cap, we have to optimise our live table games. So one way to do that is to increase the minimum bet. “However we don’t want to displace any customers that bet less than that. This has seen the advent of the popularity of electronic table games. They are doing extraordinarily well.”
Las Vegas Sands had to optimise its live table games with the opening of a new casino
Taiwan a target for LVS But only if casino firm can build on main island, says chairman
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as Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson said yesterday the company has restored Taiwan to its list of Asian target jurisdictions for casino resorts – but only if it can build on the main island in either Taipei or Kaohsiung. “Sands China would like to build in Taiwan if it’s possible,” he told a Macau press briefing ahead of Sands Cotai Central’s Phase IIA opening. “But the gaming liberalisation applies only to the [outlying] islands between mainland Taiwan across the
between HK$300 and HK$1,000. The reality is, says Sands, that all operators adjust their table bet pricing and product mix depending on demand, time of day and other customer-driven factors. CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets Ltd, an independent bank and brokerage house, forecast gambling revenue in Macau will jump to US$100 billion by 2020.
Taiwan Straits [sic] towards Fujian province [on the mainland]. So there are only a couple of little islands. If Taiwan legalised gaming in Taipei, or Kaohsiung in the southern part of the main island, we would be willing to put in one of our integrated resorts,” he added. Although senior LVS management have previously had talks with Taiwan politicians about the possibility of building there, many analysts had in recent years discounted the idea because of the
political opposition within Taiwan regarding casinos on the main island, and because they believed it might jeopardise LVS’s position in Macau and the firm’s relationship with the Beijing authorities. But after the briefing Michael Leven, the firm’s chief operating office, told Business Daily soundings of Chinese officials had been favourable. “That’s one of the things we did very early on. We’ve gotten indications from our advisors that
doing something in Taiwan is not going to be objectionable,” he stated. “I haven’t talked to the Chinese government myself, but one of our people who is in liaison with them – one of our government affairs people – told us there was no objection.” “I’ve had meetings in Taipei with a number of people. And although basically there’s some desire to have an integrated resort on the mainland of Taiwan, they’re testing out the islands first to see, as it’s politically controversial at the moment,” Mr Leven added. “So Taiwan in terms of our list for expansion is something we would love to do with SCL [Sands China Ltd]. But I think right now it’s not what I’d call in the same movement as Japan or Vietnam or Korea in terms of pace.” A.E.
Photos by Manuel Cardoso
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ichael Leven, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. told Business Daily yesterday his company would not be ‘panicked’ into pushing up minimum bet amounts on mass market live gaming tables at its new Pacifica casino at Sands Cotai Central. To do so he said, risked driving away customers. “If that’s the case [elsewhere], then people are panicking,” stated Mr Leven. The recent slowdown seen in VIP gambling in Macau and the 5,500 table cap until next year has put pressure on operators to make more money from their existing mass market tables. And LVS chairman Sheldon Adelson said in July the company would have to move some tables from its other Macau properties to provide the 200 required for Pacifica, although the firm expects to get more tables from the government next year. Mr Leven told Business Daily: “If they [other operators] are seeing some deterioration in demand they may be trying to raise the level of bets to make more money. But at the end of the day it’s the customer that will tell
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business daily September 21, 2012
macau New Macau slams press law revision
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The New Macau Association has called on the Government Information Bureau to explain why it spent 3.5 million patacas (US$438,300) on a deliberative poll over the press law revision. The results, calling for the removal of the Press Council and journalists’ code of practice, “were not worth it,” president Jason Chao Teng Hei said, quoted by Radio Macau. Almost a third of the money paid to poll coordinator E-Research & Solutions went to Stanford University professor James Fishkin, who developed the ‘deliberative poll’ concept, Mr Chao claimed.
HOSPITALITY Rising real wages The growth of the economy, driven by gaming and tourism, entails changes in the workforce. Gaming and tourism are industries where several kinds of jobs still require a lot of workers. These industries demand suitably qualified workers in sufficient numbers, but the labour market has had difficulty in satisfying demand. The scarcity of suitable workers soon became evident and it has been aggravated by a protectionist labour policy. Gaming and tourism employers began poaching workers from other occupations, and from each other. These conditions resulted in upward pressure on wages throughout the labour market. One indicator of that pressure is the estimates of median monthly wages, published quarterly by the Statistics and Census Service.
Only doing our duty, top graftbuster says The Commission against Corruption denies that it is throwing its weight around in telling the Transportation Infrastructure Office how to do its job Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
The median wage data indicate a general, sustained, upward movement of wages across the economy. The overall median wage has more than doubled since 2004. The median wages in both the economy in general, and in the gaming and the hotel and restaurant industries in particular, have been rising for the last seven and a half years by between 9 percent and 11 percent a year. These figures imply a sustained rise in real wages throughout the period.
The hotel and restaurant industry absorbs great numbers of relatively poorly qualified workers, especially as housekeeping staff or bar and restaurant staff. Semi-annual surveys provide data on average wages, which are not directly comparable with the estimates of median wages. The average wage has grown by about 3.4 percent a year since 2007. But the average wages of housekeeping staff and waiters have increased at almost double that rate. The average wage of waiters in hotel and casino restaurants increased at an annual rate that was about 2.5 percentage points faster than the rate of increase in the average wage of their counterparts in other restaurants. It is no surprise so many restaurants complain about difficulty in retaining staff. J.I.D.
It is important for Macau to be graft free if it is to become a global tourism destination, says the chief of the Commission against Corruption
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he chief of the Commission against Corruption has denied that the commission is treading on the Transportation Infrastructure Office’s turf by recommending in a report that the Light Rapid Transit elevated railway follow the coastline in the NAPE area. “The report does not involve a lot of technical aspects but mainly focuses on analysing the decision-making process of the Light Rapid Transit,” the commission’s chief Vasco Fong Man Chong told reporters yesterday. “We’re only playing our role in monitoring what rationale the decision-making is based on. There is no vying for power.” The commission’s report proposes that the railway should pass along Avenida Dr Sun Yat-Sen – the route the Transportation Infrastructure Office originally chose – rather than through the narrow streets further inland, in order to meet technical and safety standards. Mr Fong brushed aside concern that the commission is abusing its power by interfering in matters that are properly within the ambit of the Transport Infrastructure Office. “The final decision is still up to the public body in charge,” he said. The Transportation Infrastructure Office has said it will consider the commission’s report but has yet to say whether it intends to act on it. Mr Fong said reports of this kind were common in many jurisdictions
because they shed light on how public bodies worked and prevented any irreversible loss to society.
No cross purposes He said dealing with complaints about the government was as important for the commission as countering corruption. “I understand that some may feel that the commission is being sidetracked from its main purpose of fighting corruption but it’s not true,” Mr Fong said. “Indeed we have devoted more resources to this purpose, not less.” He said the perception that the commission was neglecting its focus on fighting corruption was probably due to the time it took to complete an inquiry, during which it was duty-bound to keep details of its progress confidential. Mr Fong said he saw no conflict of interest in Leong Heng Teng serving as both the spokesperson for the Executive Council and the chairman of the committee that monitors the Commission against Corruption. Mr Fong was speaking on the sidelines of an international seminar on corruption. He told the seminar it was important for Macau to be free of corruption if it was to become a global centre for tourism. He said the number of complaints that he commission received had increased in the past few years.
Assets bill makes prosecutors edgy The Commission against Corruption has tried to ease the fears of public prosecutors worried that their business dealings will be aired in public if a bill on the disclosure of the assets of public officials becomes law. The chief of the commission, Vasco Fong Man Chong, said yesterday that it had discussed amendments to the bill with the prosecutors. Mr Fong said the bill would require prosecutors to give only limited information about their assets and no details would be revealed publicly. The bill would oblige members of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council, prosecutors, judges and senior government officials to declare their assets. Prosecutors say declaring their assets would impinge on the independence of the judicial system and compromise their personal safety. Mr Fong expects the Commission against Corruption to finish drafting a new version of the bill by November and to submit it to the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee for consideration.
September 21, 2012 business daily | 5
MACAU
Cost of gold dulls jewellery demand Gold’s high price has cooled the market for jewellery, but only for a while, retailers say Xi Chen
xi@macaubusinessdaily.com
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he price of gold has risen by 2,000 patacas (US$250) per 50 grams in the past month, subduing the market, according to Seng Fung Jewellery manager Hun Chi Iong. “The market has been very quiet, with the exception of people who have to buy for weddings. Otherwise, they are maintaining a wait-and-see attitude,” Mr Hun told Business Daily. However, he believes that the National Day holidays in October will bring more business opportunities. The international price of gold has been climbing since the beginning of August, rising to US$1,766 an ounce (28.3 grams) yesterday from around US$1,600. Mr Hun said that in Macau, where gold is priced in 50-gram lots, the price had increased to more than 18,000 patacas per 50 grams from 16,000 patacas just a few weeks ago. The Chinese-language Macao Daily News reported that a third round of ultra-loose monetary policy announced by the United States Federal Reserve last week to stimulate the U.S. economy had given the price of gold another boost, lifting it by 440 patacas last Friday to 18,640 patacas. “The gold price started dipping after reaching a high of US$1,920
per ounce in September [2011], but it has since recovered,” said Lei Chi Fong, the president of the Macau Goldsmiths Guild. Mr Lei forecast high gold prices until the beginning of next year but
MOP 18,000 Cost of 50 grams of gold
the long-term outlook for the precious metal would depend on the health of the U.S. economy. “The gold price will drop if the U.S. economy stabilises,” he said. But he said the pattern was for the price to “rise fast but drop slowly”. The Macao Daily News said economists had forecast that the price of gold could hit US$2,000 an ounce in the next few months.
The National Day Golden Week is expected to bring more business opportunities for retailers of gold jewellery
Mr Lei said the effect of the high price of gold on jewellery retailers should be temporary, as gold would continue to be desirable as an inflation-proof investment, inflation still being a big worry. He believes Macau is unique in that the buyers of gold jewellery are mainly tourists, who are not as pricesensitive as residents. “You can tell there must be
high returns as more and more international brands of gold jewellery are entering the market,” he said. Macau imported gold jewellery worth 4.35 billion patacas in the first seven months of this year, 39.7 percent more than a year before, the Statistics and Census Service says. The city imported gold worth 502.2 million patacas in July, 22.2 percent more than a year before.
Galaxy’s Lui among Entrepreneurs in world’s 100 richest the dark, forum told Macau hosts entrepreneurs forum to share perspectives on Asia’s business environment
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acau gaming operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd has surged 75 percent in Hong Kong trading in the past 12 months. That helped put Galaxy controlling shareholder and property tycoon Lui Che Woo among the world’s 100 richest for the first time yesterday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Galaxy profit is expected to double this year to HK$6.4 billion (US$825.5 million), according to the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The estimated profit growth is the Macau industry’s fastest, driven in part by Galaxy’s focus on China’s middle-class gamblers, who bring higher margins because they tend to visit on their own rather than through VIP gaming promoters, which take a share of profit. Galaxy’s first-half profit climbed nine-fold after it drew more Chinese visitors to a gambling resort it set up last year. Its revenue overtook that of Sands China Ltd last year with HK$41.2 billion, making it the city’s secondlargest operator after Stanley Ho Hung Sun’s SJM Holdings Ltd. Despite the earnings growth, Galaxy’s shares are still relatively cheaper than Sands China’s. Its stock trades at 15.8 times estimated 2012 earnings compared
Xi Chen
xi@macaubusinessdaily.com
with 22.1 times for Sands, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Galaxy “has a good mix of VIP and mass-market gamblers,” Alex Au, managing director of Richland Capital Management Ltd, said in a phone interview. “Galaxy also has good growth potential as it’s expanding to double its capacity in three years.” Galaxy chairman and founder Mr Lui was the first casino operator to win a permit to expand capacity in the latest cycle of government approvals. The permit win is “suggesting strong support from the Macau government,” Gabriel Chan, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said in a July research note. “The new project is set to provide Galaxy the first-mover advantage in the next round of casino opening cycles.” Galaxy is expected to double its capacity and the expansion will be completed by 2015. Bloomberg
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he biggest hindrance to Asian entrepreneurs is insufficient research and development, leaving would-be tycoons to determine market needs by following their gut feelings rather than by taking a systematic approach. Enterprise Asia chairman Fong Chan Onn told Business Daily that entrepreneurs all over Asia needed better infrastructure and a better environment to bring their products and services to life. Enterprise Asia, a nongovernmental organisation, is holding its first Asian Entrepreneurship Forum here. “There is a need for a forum to bring Asian entrepreneurs together to share experiences and to find commonalities among them despite they are from very different countries,” said Mr Fong, a former minister of human resources in Malaysia. “Macau is the most ideal place for the forum. It is an open economy with easy access.” He said Macau was a good example
of an economy that was open despite having only a small domestic market. The chairman of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Victor Wee, told the forum yesterday that liberalising domestic markets, reducing red tape and world-class infrastructure were crucial to the promotion of entrepreneurship. A co-founder of venture capital company Nest Investment Holdings Ltd, Jacob Fisch, said that for Asia to produce truly global business leaders, it needed societies governed by the rule of law. Mr Fisch said he believed there was deficit of trust in certain parts of Asia. A co-founder of Hong Kong’s Epic Mixed Martial Arts Club, Cole Sirucek, said business ethnics were still lacking in Asia which made local intelligence critical, as there were all kinds of invisible barriers to operating in new markets. The three-day forum, which ends today, gathered together more than 300 entrepreneurs and government officials from all over Asia.
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business daily September 21, 2012
macau Melinda Chan to run again for assembly seat
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Legislator Melinda Chan Mei Yi told media on Wednesday she will seek re-election at next year’s Legislative Assembly election. “During these three years I have listened closely to my supporters and they want me to continue,” she said. Mrs Chan is the wife of gaming businessman David Chow Kam Fai. Mr Chow will not be part of her electoral bid, Mrs Chan said. The indirectly elected legislator said her priority for the last year of the current assembly is to increase contributions to the Social Security Fund.
Credit unabated If credit is a good indicator of economic expectations, the outlook for the economy can only be good. Total credit granted to individuals, both residents and non-residents, has grown steadily over the past three years. The increase was not trivial. Credit to nonresidents in the second quarter of this year was 80 percent above what it was in the third quarter of 2009. The amount of credit offered to residents was 2.3 times greater at the end of the same period.
Casinos compensate staff for holidays overlap
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The growth has been sustained and mostly regular. That is an indication of optimism from consumers which is, in turn, affected by economic growth and the low interest rate regime fostered by the pataca’s peg to the Hong Kong dollar and, indirectly, the US dollar. Credit to non-residents has declined, in relative terms, from about 11 percent of the total to about 8 percent most recently. As far as this indicator allows us to gauge the mood of consumers, it seems to be positive and particularly so for housing loans.
Employees of three casino operators will have an extra day-off
hree casino operators have promised they would compensate their employees with a day-off due to the October 1 holiday overlap, an association of employees of gaming operator SJM Holdings Ltd said. Association president Tang Fong Chan did not reveal the names of the companies, only saying it include both local and foreign-based operators. The representative hopes more operators would do the same, she said after filing a petition with the government yesterday, according to public broadcaster TDM. The Macau Federation of Trade Unions urged authorities to revise the labour relations law
Cotai glitz and glamour promises growth spurt Entertainment is predicted to be the next driver of growth in the tourism sector Xi Chen
xi@macaubusinessdaily.com
By converting the data for housing loans into a growth index with the base set to the third quarter of 2009, comparisons become more simple. During the first few quarters of this analysis, loan growth among nonresidents outstrips the corresponding figure for residents. Since the third quarter of 2010, the index for residents has been accelerating relative to the index for non-residents. The index demonstrates that the public’s positive expectations about the real estate market cannot be cooled. Changes to the rules for home loans and continuing increases in prices are yet to dull the appetite for housing investments. J.I.D.
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ntertainment promises to be the new fuel for a boom in tourism, according to Mark Hammon, the managing director of Ignite Media Group. Mr Hammon told Business Daily yesterday on the sidelines of the Asia Entrepreneurship Forum that casino operators were already offering visitors a greater variety of experiences. The trend began with the success of the “House of Dancing Water” show at the City of Dreams and continued more recently with the China Rouge
club at the Galaxy Macau. Mr Hammon said that with new resorts such as Macao Studio City and Wynn’s new facilities in Cotai opening in the coming years, the city will see a boom in entertainment. The boom would mean business opportunities for media companies such as Ignite. Ignite is the group behind Macau.com and some of the city’s lifestyle magazines. Mr Hammon said his company intended to launch a new lifestyle magazine and entertainment portal
to allow workers to have an extra holiday when mandatory public holidays clash. All workers are entitled to have 10 mandatory public holidays a year but this year the holidays for Mid-Autumn Festival and China’s National Day overlap on October 1. The union’s vice-president Kwan Tsui Hang said earlier this month such revision should be decided in the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs. The legislator hopes the government can compensate civil servants with an extra day-off this year, as well as encourage the private sector to follow its lead. T.L.
in November, giving casino operators new ways to promote their nongaming offerings. “We continue to be very bullish on opportunities in Macau. We are especially focused on the highnet-worth Macau-bound tourists,” he said. The company distributes its magazines through VIP rooms and suites. It has set its sights on 18,000 VIPs with an average net worth of US$10 million (80 million patacas). Mr Hammon said that while the domestic market was small, a large percentage of visitors were on their second or subsequent visits, which presented opportunities for more regular business instead of just oneoff transactions. “Based on our Macau.com database of 160,000 customers, a lot of them are regulars to Macau. They come here every three months,” he said. He said that for a company to be successful in Macau it was essential it had both industry experience and local knowledge. “You have to have very talented local staff that understand the market and the relationships,” he said.
September 21, 2012 business daily | 7
MACAU Japanese fireworks team out over Diaoyu tension The performance of a Japanese company at the 24th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest has been cancelled, the Macau Government Tourist Office announced yesterday. Asked by Business Daily if the diplomatic dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands was to blame, the office said “the revision of programme is made in accordance to the recent community atmosphere”. Marutamaya Ogatsu Fireworks Co Ltd was due to perform on September 29 but will be replaced by an out-of-contest display by Kat Sao (Macau) Fireworks.
Design of new market turns traders green Vegetable traders say the plans for a new wholesale market will mean more expensive groceries Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
V
egetable dealers have urged the government to change the design of the new wholesale market planned for the ZhuhaiMacau cross-border industrial park. The president of the Macau Association of Vegetable Wholesale Merchants, Lei Iong Fai, said the design of the new market was less convenient for buyers and sellers than the present Nam Yuet market in Ilha Verde. “Though the new one will have more floors and stalls than Ilha Verde, the area of each floor is smaller,” Mr Lei told Business Daily. “It doesn’t suit our way of doing business, which tries to have all similar transactions on the same floor.” His association, which represents 50 vegetable wholesalers, says the
new market building will have 12 floors and more than 200 stalls. The Ilha Verde premises have three floors and about 80 stalls. Mr Lei said the Ilha Verde premises had a total floor area of more than 7,800 square metres but that the new building would have a floor area of only about 6,000 square metres. “The vegetable costs for vendors will be higher as they have to get produce from different floors,” he said. “The increase is likely to be reflected in the retail price, too.” Consumers should brace themselves to pay more for their groceries anyway, with Mr Lei saying the greater distance of the new building from the city centre meant transport costs for wholesalers and retailers would increase.
Mr Lei would not speculate about how much prices would rise by. The market must be moved from Ilha Verde to the industrial park to make room for a new border crossing. The Nam Yuet market has space for vegetable, fruit and poultry dealers. The Land, Public Works, and Transport Bureau said last month the new market was still in the design stage but that the government hoped to begin work on the two-year project this year. Mr Lei said dealers had given their opinions on the design of the new market to the Municipal and Civic Affairs Bureau at a meeting last month. He said that so far there had been no feedback from the bureau.
Vegetable prices may rise after the move to the new wholesale market, dealers say
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business daily September 21, 2012
greater china
China manufacturing shrinks for 11th month Pace of slowdown seen stabilising, but factory output fell to its lowest level since November 2011
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anufacturing in China contracted for the 11th month in a row in September, according to a private sector survey of factory managers that indicated the world’s second largest economy remains on track for a seventh quarter of slowing growth. The HSBC Flash China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed activity stabilised in September after hitting a nine-month low in August. The preliminary reading was 47.8 for the PMI released yesterday by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics. But while the economy may not have worsened, there were few signs
of output, which dipped to its lowest level in 10 months. An index reading below 50 represents contraction and above that level expansion. “China’s manufacturing growth is still slowing, but the pace of slowdown is stabilising. Manufacturing activities remain lacklustre, thanks to weak new business flows and a longer than expected destocking process,” Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said in a statement accompanying the survey. “This is adding more pressure to the labour market and has prompted Beijing to step up easing over the past weeks. The recent easing measures should be working to lead to a modest improvement from Q4 onwards.”
Output dips
Manufacturing activities remain lacklustre, thanks to weak new business flows and a longer than expected destocking process Qu Hongbin, HSBC Holdings Plc
of a fast turnaround. Rather, the PMI, which provides the first glimpse of September’s conditions for Chinese industry, pointed to a month in which a slide was halted but not reversed. There was a broad steadying across the sub-indexes in the survey, released yesterday, with the exception
China unveiled a series of measures last week to help stabilise export growth, including faster payment of export tax rebates and boosting loans to exporters. That was on top of a series of approvals for infrastructure projects worth more than US$150 billion, two earlier cuts to interest rates, the easing of bank reserve requirements that freed about 1.2 trillion yuan (US$190 billion) for lending and a steady series of liquidity injections into money markets. Still, purchasing managers in the survey had little cause for premature cheer. A sub-index that measures output fell to 47.0, its lowest level since November 2011. After spending several months bumping just beneath the crucial 50 mark, the overall PMI index is now at a level rarely seen since the 20082009 global financial crisis. The flash, or preliminary, survey offers an early peek at data for September, and suggests economic
Factory output dipped to its lowest level in 10 months
growth in China is still slack despite what many see as an improvement in the important property sector. “The good news is it hasn’t got any worse, the bad news is it’s no better really,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investment. “It’s telling us Chinese growth is not losing further momentum but recovery remains elusive.” China’s home prices showed a modest increase for a second consecutive month in August, rising 0.1 percent from July, signalling a gentle recovery in the property market. Steel prices hit their highest point in a month on Wednesday, as signs of a pick-up in demand prompted mills to restock.
Nevertheless, China appears on track for a seventh quarter of slowing growth in the third quarter this year, despite a number of measures designed to encourage private investment and infrastructure construction while avoiding a further pile-up in local government debt.
Risks ahead So far the stimulus measures have not fed through to the broader economy, although inflation began to revive in August, led by higher food prices, after hitting a 30-month low in July . Many economists lowered their forecasts for the world’s second largest economy after weak July and August data, reflecting both external headwinds and domestic weakness.
Japanese retailers reopen stores As demonstrations in mainland cities ease
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apanese retailers yesterday reopened stores in the mainland that were closed amid violent protests over a territorial dispute, as demonstrations eased and Moody’s Investors Service said the shortterm fallout from the disruption would be minimal. Fast Retailing Co., owner of Uniqlo clothing brand, reopened all its stores that were closed as the protests peaked on Monday and Tuesday, spokeswoman Yukie Sakaguchi said in a telephone interview. A 7-Eleven store along Beijing’s Second Ring Road that had closed on September 18 was operating normally yesterday. “We shouldn’t mix politics with business,” Candy Liu, 23, said as she left a Uniqlo store in Beijing. “Since Japanese companies are in China, we have to protect their Chinese employees.” The diplomatic crisis, the worst
since 2005 between the two countries, threatened trade ties between Asia’s two biggest economies. The bond risk for some Japanese companies surged as the dispute sparked rhetoric by Chinese commentators that the country should be prepared to go to war if necessary. Japanese politicians may come under pressure to maintain a hard line on the dispute or respond to China’s move to send patrol vessels to the islands at the heart of the dispute, according to Thomas Berger, associate professor of international relations at Boston University. “If the Chinese repeat this and start doing this on a regular basis, the Japanese will de facto lose control over those islands,” Mr Berger said. “There will be a debate inside Japan and there will be people who will want to move Japan massively in a conservative direction.” The dispute was sparked last week
Uniqlo clothing brand reopened all its stores yesterday
when Japan’s government said it would buy the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japanese, from their private Japanese owner.
Xi’s warning China’s leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, has said that Japan should “rein in its behaviour” and stop undermining Chinese sovereignty, state media have reported. Mr Xi said that Tokyo’s purchase of the islands from private owners last week was a “farce”, Xinhua reported. Thousands of protesters chanted slogans outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing as riot police lined the streets.
Mr Xi, expected to become China’s next leader, made the remarks during a meeting with US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta who is currently in Beijing as part of a regional tour. The talks marked Mr Xi’s first official meeting since he went missing two weeks ago without further explanation. His disappearance fuelled widespread rumours over his health and a political struggle. But Mr Panetta told reporters that Mr Xi appeared “in good shape”. “I found him not only to be healthy, but very much engaged in the issues that were before us,” Mr Panetta said. Bloomberg/AFP
September 21, 2012 business daily | 9
greater china Shandong Gold takes control of Focus Minerals Shandong Gold Group Co., the owner of China’s second-largest bullion company by market value, agreed to take control of Focus Minerals Ltd to add production in Australia in a A$227.5 million (US$238 million) deal. Shandong Gold will take a 51 percent stake in Perth-based Focus by buying 4.55 billion new shares at 5 Australian cents apiece, the target company said yesterday in a statement. That’s 14 percent more than Wednesday’s closing price. The purchase gives Shandong control of four gold mines in Western Australia and mineral resources of 4.3 million ounces of gold.
47.8
China’s manufacturing PMI in September
They now expect the third quarter to be the nadir, with full year growth dropping below 8 percent for the first time since 1999. “Overall, there is not enough in the latest data to be confident the economy has turned the corner, though momentum does at least appear stable,” Capital Economics’ China economist Qinwei Wang wrote before the PMI release, referring to a number of indicators his firm tracks. “The main risk factors are as they were a year ago: the uncertain outlook for property and the ailing global economy.” He noted that the growth rate is steadying on a monthly and quarterly basis, although weakness in property and trade means it is still slowing on an annual basis. There were some green shoots in September that could support the idea of a late-year rebound. After several dismal months, HSBC’s sub-index tracking new export orders stabilised. Other brighter signs included rises in sub-indexes measuring total new orders, employment and backlogs of work, although both new orders and employment are still below the 50-point that denotes contraction. Reuters
Bo Xilai ‘implicated in crime’
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hina’s official news agency has linked fallen politician Bo Xilai to a criminal act for the first time, alleging he knew his wife was suspected of murdering a British businessman. Xinhua quoted witnesses at the trial of his former right-hand man, Wang Lijun, suggesting that Mr Wang had tried to tell him about his suspicions. Mr Wang was “angrily rebuked and had his ears boxed,” Xinhua reports. Mr Bo’s downfall exposed the biggest political crisis in China for years. His wife, Gu Kailai, was found guilty in August of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood. She was given a suspended death sentence. Mr Wang was the police chief and deputy mayor in Chongqing, where Mr Bo was Communist Party chief until the scandal erupted. Earlier this week Mr Wang pleaded guilty to defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking charges during a two-day trial in the nearby city of Chengdu. A verdict is awaited. As Chongqing Communist Party chief, Mr Bo was tipped for promotion
The downfall of Bo Xilai, left, was triggered when his police chief Wang Lijun, right, fled to a U.S. consulate
to the top leadership ranks at China’s forthcoming leadership congress before his downfall. Mr Wang’s flight to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu in February sparked the events which led to the politician’s downfall. Mr Bo has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted and is said to be under investigation by the party’s disciplinary officials. Mr Bo is likely to face criminal trial for trying to protect his wife from murder charges, analysts said yesterday. Agencies
10 |
business daily September 21, 2012
asia Suu Kyi given U.S. honour Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received in person the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal she was awarded under house arrest in 2008. Ms Suu Kyi described it as “one of the most moving days of my life”. She also met President Barack Obama at the White House, shortly after the US Treasury said it had lifted sanctions on Myanmar’s President Thein Sein. Sanctions on the country have been loosened since the new government began enacting democratic reforms in 2011.
India strike over retail reforms Strike shuts schools, shops and government offices in some states
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hops and businesses across India remained closed as traders support a daylong strike called by the opposition to demand the government scrap decisions to raise diesel prices and allow foreign retail chains to set up stores. The nationwide protest adds to pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two days after his largest political ally said it will quit the government, leaving the ruling coalition short of a parliamentary majority. While at least one member of Mr Singh’s alliance of about a dozen parties is backing the stoppage, other regional leaders are not, limiting its impact. “The discontent among the people against the government is very high,” said Nilotpal Basu, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is supporting the strike. “The protest is widespread.” The agitation is the latest test of Mr Singh’s determination to push through the biggest opening of India’s economy since coming to power eight years ago as he seeks to combat a slowing economy. Owners of family
run stores, the backbone of an Indian retail market which employs about 250 million people, fear they will be forced out of business by the arrival of big overseas companies. Shopkeepers in states including Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra joined the strike yesterday. Protesters squatted on rail lines in Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar, while people have blocked roads by burning tires in Punjab, footage on the news channel NDTV 24x7 showed. “If we don’t protest now, the central government will eliminate the poor and middle-class families,” said Santi Barik as she protested in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Odisha.
Cabinet exit
KEY POINTS Nationwide strike against economic reforms Protesters block road and rail traffic Opposition wants diesel prices hike, retail reform scrapped Prime Minister ally to quit the government today
In a surprise move last week, Mr Singh’s cabinet allowed overseas retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA to own as much as 51 percent in supermarket ventures. An earlier attempt to allow foreign companies to open outlets ended in a humiliating defeat for the government last year because of opposition from rival parties and coalition allies led by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Ms Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal state, on Tuesday announced her party was exiting the government, and will pull its ministers from Mr Singh’s cabinet today unless the retail move and a
Opposition parties and trade unions in India staged a day-long strike
14 percent increase in diesel prices are reversed. A fierce opponent of communist groups like Basu’s, Ms Banerjee isn’t supporting the strike and state-run bus and rail services operated normally in Kolkata, West Bengal’s capital. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram ruled out backtracking on the burst of policy making – which also included allowing foreign airlines to own minority stakes in
Billabong left with TPG as sole bidder Shares slump on concern offer may be cut
Philippines delays decision on Xstrata mine
B
Says it cannot decide by September 30
S
wiss mining giant Xstrata Plc is unlikely to get quick approval for its US$5.9-billion coppergold project in the Philippines as the company had hoped, President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman said yesterday. Xstrata’s local operating unit sought direct intervention by Mr Aquino and the interior ministry in July after what would be the country’s largest ever foreign investment was blocked by the local government overseeing the project. Mark Williams, general manager for external affairs of Sagittarius Mines Inc, Xstrata’s Philippine unit, told reporters yesterday that it expected Mr Aquino to meet a government-imposed deadline for giving the project’s go-ahead.
But presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said the timetable would likely not be met because the person overseeing the government’s review, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, died in a plane crash last month. The review was now being overseen by Mr Robredo’s replacement, Mar Roxas, and the government could not commit to delivering its ruling by September 30, Mr Carandang said. “I can confirm that we were committed to a September deadline. We understand the importance of this project,” Mr Carandang told AFP. “[But] we have to give Secretary Roxas time to study it,” he said. Mr Williams said earlier at a mining conference that Sagittarius was confident of getting Mr Aquino’s
approval for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) that would overturn a local government ban on open pit mining. “We have conducted the most extensive environmental impact study and assessment ever here in the Philippines... and if logic will prevail then the ECC should be granted immediately,” Mr Williams said. He added the company was confident of beginning operations on the Tampakan project by 2016, as per its original timetable. Tampakan’s application had been rejected partly due to a 2010 ordinance by South Cotabato province, the project site, banning open-pit mining. AFP
illabong International Ltd shares slumped in Sydney trading on concern a A$694 million (US$726 million) conditional offer from TPG International LLC may be reduced after a competing bidder walked away. The stock fell to as much as 9 percent below TPG’s conditional price of A$1.45 a share. The second bidder, which wasn’t named, withdrew after earlier indicating it would match TPG, Billabong said in a statement yesterday. “Those guys have to work out what price they’re prepared to pay. From my perspective it’s below A$1,” said Tony Wilson, an analyst at Evans & Partners in Melbourne with a ‘sell’ rating on the stock. “The board may have to settle for A$1.45 if that’s what TPG wants to pay.” The second bidder, which like TPG signed a confidentiality agreement to gain access to private financial data, is walking away as Billabong fires workers, closes stores and sells assets amid record losses.
September 21, 2012 business daily | 11
asia Nomura cuts jobs in Dubai Nomura Holdings Inc. is cutting a third of its investment banking jobs in Dubai as Japan’s largest brokerage seeks to reduce costs by US$1 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation. Nomura is firing four of 12 bankers in Dubai, including Scott Ferguson, head of investment banking in the Middle East and North Africa region, said the person. A spokesman for Nomura in Dubai, who asked not be identified according to company policy, confirmed a “handful” of people had been fired, declining to provide specific numbers.
Japan data raises growth concerns Exports fall for third straight month
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local carriers – arguing it’s needed to revive confidence in an economy growing at near the slowest pace in three years. In Bangalore, most of the 3,500 staff employed by Intel Corp. and 10,000 staff at Cisco Systems Inc. were asked to work from home, company spokesmen said. Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd gave workers the day off, but will ask them to work on Saturday instead. Bloomberg/Reuters
apan’s exports fell for a third straight month in the year to August while manufacturing sentiment hit its lowest since February – more evidence that slackening global demand is taking its toll on the export-reliant economy. Exports fell 5.8 percent in August from a year earlier, against a 7.3 percent drop expected by economists, after posting the sharpest fall in six months in July, government data showed. Separately, Japanese manufacturers’ sentiment hit its lowest since February and is expected to stay negative in the months ahead, a Reuters poll showed, with the global slowdown and a territorial row with China seen weighing on the world’s third-largest economy. The decline in exports was less
US$9.63 billion Japan’s trade deficit in August
than expected, but this news will do little to ease concerns that the fading effects of rebuilding after last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami are likely to keep policymakers under pressure to dish out further stimulus. The Bank of Japan boosted its asset buying and lending scheme by 10 trillion yen (US$127 billion) on Wednesday and its governor Masaaki Shirakawa warned economic recovery could get delayed by six months.
Deficit grows Billabong posted a A$276 million net loss in 2011
“External demand will likely
remain weak and I would not rule out the possibility that Japan will continue to post a trade deficit in the next fiscal year,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. “The BOJ is expected to stand pat in October after easing yesterday. But I don’t deny there’s a chance the central bank will need to ease again at the year-end or early next year.” Exports to China, Japan’s top market, fell 9.9 percent in the year to August, while those to the United States, the No. 2 export destination for Japan, rose an annual 10.3 percent, Ministry of Finance data showed. The trade balance came to a deficit of 754.1 billion yen (US$9.63 billion) in August, against a 809.0 billion yen gap expected, as imports slid 5.4 percent. It was the second straight month of trade deficits, in a worrying sign that Japan’s ability to finance its debt may be gradually waning. In a sign of the troubles facing Europe from its debt crisis, Japan’s trade deficit with the European Union swelled to a record 96.2 billion yen in August, finance ministry data showed. In the Reuters Tankan for September, the manufacturers’ sentiment index, derived by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic responses from optimistic ones, fell one point to minus 5, and it is expected to stay negative in December.
KEY POINTS Japanese exports fall 5.8 percent in August Manufacturing mood at lowest since February Japan’s land prices drop at a slower pace Global slowdown, friction with China cloud outlook
Land-price down Japan’s land prices dropped at a slower pace for a third year as low interest rates and tax incentives supported housing demand. The nationwide average price slid 2.7 percent as of July 1, compared with a 3.4 percent decline a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said in a report released yesterday. Prices have fallen for 21 years, according to the report, which
Boston-based Bain Capital LLC made the competing offer, people familiar with the matter said on September 6. Billabong shares slumped 7.3 percent to close at A$1.34, the biggest decline since July 9. The Australia-based surfwear maker became a target for buyout groups following a slump in its share price triggered by a fall in earnings and the need to repay debt. Billabong last month posted a A$276 million net loss, its first since listing in 2000, and wrote off 42 percent of the value of its namesake label as a consumer slowdown forced it to sell inventory at a loss and pay penalties to close stores before leases expired. Bloomberg
the ministry releases every year. The drop in land values, which are about half what they were after the peak of Japan’s bubble economy in the 1980s, may ease further, helped by demand before a planned consumption tax increase, the nation’s first since 1997. Japan’s government expanded rebates for homebuyers in 2009 to boost sales, giving a 10-year tax break on properties bought before 2014. Declines in prices in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, the three major metropolitan areas, slowed to 1 percent, from a drop of 1.9 percent a year earlier, according to the report. Prices in rural districts slipped 3.4 percent from a 4 percent slump a year earlier. “The recovery trend in land prices has become clearer,” said Masanobu Komoda, the president of Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan’s largest developer by sales. “As the government plans to increase the consumption tax, we would like to see additional measures to support and boost housing demand.” The drop in commercial land prices narrowed to 3.1 percent from 4 percent a year earlier, while the
Land prices in Tokyo slowed to 1 percent, from a drop of 1.9 percent a year earlier
decrease in residential values slowed to 2.5 percent from 3.2 percent, the land ministry’s data showed. Japan’s economic growth slowed to 0.2 percent in AprilJune, with exports struggling and private spending losing momentum, and analysts project growth could stall for the rest of 2012 given Europe’s debt crisis and a slowdown in China. Reuters/Bloomberg
12 |
business daily September 21, 2012
MARKETS Hang SENG INDEX NAME
NAME
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
28.3
-1.393728
24899644
CHINA UNICOM HON
3.2
-0.9287926
11100830
CITIC PACIFIC
BANK OF CHINA-H
2.95
-0.6734007
205867202
BANK OF COMMUN-H
5.17
-2.268431
23970147
BANK EAST ASIA
29.2
-0.5110733
2067015
AIA GROUP LTD ALUMINUM CORP-H
PRICE
Day %
VOLUME
12.46
-5.175038
52576886
9.87
-0.1012146
NAME
PRICE
Day %
POWER ASSETS HOL
64.95
1.010886
2644458
6687940
SANDS CHINA LTD
28.65
-1.206897
16630862
SINO LAND CO
14.14
-1.532033
13356704
SUN HUNG KAI PRO
110.6
-1.950355
5609865
94.1
-1.207349
1084871 2906106
CLP HLDGS LTD
65.85
0.2283105
1920162
CNOOC LTD
15.64
-3.45679
90900439
COSCO PAC LTD
10.68
-3.085299
3985693
SWIRE PACIFIC-A
VOLUME
BELLE INTERNATIO
13.84
-2.121641
13669212
ESPRIT HLDGS
12.8
0
4915194
TENCENT HOLDINGS
251.8
-1.486698
BOC HONG KONG HO
24.15
-0.8213552
11106912
HANG LUNG PROPER
27.2
-1.981982
6654616
TINGYI HLDG CO
23.05
0
3989250
CATHAY PAC AIR
13.06
0.7716049
6106364
116.2
-0.7685739
1386281
WANT WANT CHINA
9.58
1.806589
13032794
CHEUNG KONG
112.9
-1.740644
3715969
7.04
-2.762431
27850792
CHINA COAL ENE-H CHINA CONST BA-H
5.24
-1.132075
249724033
CHINA LIFE INS-H
22.45
-1.535088
23826418
CHINA MERCHANT
23.95
-1.033058
3760109
CHINA MOBILE
HANG SENG BK HENDERSON LAND D
52.75
-3.47667
3317766
HENGAN INTL
75.85
0.06596306
2561978
HONG KG CHINA GS
19.28
-0.3102378
6392215
HONG KONG EXCHNG
118.7
-2.465078
6411301
HSBC HLDGS PLC
73.5
-0.4739336
15744120
84.6
-0.5291005
19444425
HUTCHISON WHAMPO
73.2
-2.204409
6486606
19.48
-1.116751
32053625
IND & COMM BK-H
4.51
-0.8791209
308121380
CHINA PETROLEU-H
7.12
-0.8356546
80408593
LI & FUNG LTD
12.52
-1.726845
14023646
CHINA RES ENTERP
25.8
-1.526718
3721726
MTR CORP
29.35
-0.3395586
2195733
CHINA OVERSEAS
CHINA RES LAND
16.38
-1.444043
9986307
NEW WORLD DEV
11.1
-1.769912
17545500
CHINA RES POWER
17.12
0.7058824
2696396
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.04
-1.761252
92877537
CHINA SHENHUA-H
29.85
-2.610114
22591710
PING AN INSURA-H
57.8
-1.53322
12012385
MOVERS
6
41
2 20885
INDEX 20590.92 HIGH
20880.65
LOW
20578.56
52W (H) 21760.33984 20575
(L) 16170.35 18-Sep
20-Sep
Hang SENG CHINA ENTErPRISE INDEX NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
CHINA PACIFIC-H
22.6
-1.73913
10008982
YANZHOU COAL-H
41410226
CHINA PETROLEU-H
7.12
-0.8356546
80408593
-0.9287926
11100830
CHINA RAIL CN-H
6.74
-1.461988
22.75
-3.601695
14343100
CHINA RAIL GR-H
3.34
2.95
-0.6734007
205867202
CHINA SHENHUA-H
29.85
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-H
3.01
1.006711
263658996
AIR CHINA LTD-H
4.78
1.057082
3.2
ANHUI CONCH-H BANK OF CHINA-H
ALUMINUM CORP-H
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
11.62
-2.842809
29745057
ZIJIN MINING-H
3.07
-3.761755
81608289
6455500
ZOOMLION HEAVY-H
8.68
-1.587302
13971800
-1.764706
8200968
ZTE CORP-H
11.1
-1.420959
7826289
-2.610114
22591710
5.17
-2.268431
23970147
CHINA TELECOM-H
4.53
-2.7897
76525178
15.62
-2.252816
1521597
DONGFENG MOTOR-H
9.36
-0.8474576
29729536
CHINA CITIC BK-H
3.64
-1.886792
49259003
GUANGZHOU AUTO-H
5.3
-3.107861
10743591
CHINA COAL ENE-H
7.04
-2.762431
27850792
HUANENG POWER-H
5.52
1.845018
14922144
CHINA COM CONS-H
6.37
-1.086957
10215592
IND & COMM BK-H
4.51
-0.8791209
308121380
CHINA CONST BA-H
5.24
-1.132075
249724033
JIANGXI COPPER-H
19.22
-3.125
14365751
CHINA COSCO HO-H
3.12
-4
28629800
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.04
-1.761252
92877537
22.45
-1.535088
23826418
PICC PROPERTY &
9.34
-2.910603
17915772
CHINA LONGYUAN-H
5.07
-2.312139
7416000
PING AN INSURA-H
57.8
-1.53322
12012385
CHINA MERCH BK-H
13.04
-0.1531394
29431891
SHANDONG WEIG-H
9.58
1.590668
6524520
BANK OF COMMUN-H BYD CO LTD-H
CHINA LIFE INS-H
NAME
MOVERS
4
1 9880
INDEX 9707.91 HIGH
9877.34
LOW
9668.93
CHINA MINSHENG-H
6.09
-3.486529
39361501
SINOPHARM-H
24
0
1541347
52W (H) 11916.1
CHINA NATL BDG-H
8.3
-2.810304
46366891
TSINGTAO BREW-H
42.4
-0.2352941
3063000
(L) 8058.58
13.48
-1.317716
3359918
WEICHAI POWER-H
23.25
-3.726708
1577032
CHINA OILFIELD-H
35
9660
18-Sep
20-Sep
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
4.35
-1.805869
4262547
SHANDONG GOLD-MI
40.51
-2.573353
28082854
11.29
-1.740644
5892519
SHANG PHARM -A
11.55
-3.02267
10216620
GD MIDEA HOLDING
9.18
0
9139999
SHANG PUDONG-A
7.23
-1.498638
48072062
19660402
GD POWER DEVEL-A
2.35
-2.892562
29296328
SHANGHAI ELECT-A
4.01
-2.195122
3887571
-2.124646
14455277
GF SECURITIES-A
12.1
-1.70593
60042542
SHANXI LU'AN -A
16.66
-3.139535
10922106
2.63
-0.754717
22344254
GREE ELECTRIC
SHANXI XINGHUA-A
4.13
-1.196172
39579337
GUANGHUI ENERG-A
4.61
0.2173913
64576829
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-A
2.43
-0.4098361
54102910
DATANG INTL PO-A
AIR CHINA LTD-A
4.65
-1.273885
12514239
EVERBRIG SEC -A
ALUMINUM CORP-A
4.96
-2.745098
11217610
ANHUI CONCH-A
14.61
-1.417004
BANK OF BEIJIN-A
6.91
BANK OF CHINA-A BANK OF COMMUN-A BAOSHAN IRON & S BYD CO LTD -A CHINA CITIC BK-A CHINA CNR CORP-A
NAME
20.5
-1.442308
7252088
35.72
-2.136986
1956790
13.81
-2.195467
15144246
SHANXI XISHAN-A
12.4
-3.200625
9047181
HAITONG SECURI-A
8.64
-2.262443
31703328
SHENZEN OVERSE-A
5.33
-3.090909
19185736
HANGZHOU HIKVI-A
27.7
1.279707
2782936
SUNING APPLIAN-A
6.45
-3.007519
65933921
15.59
-2.011314
6278248
3.6
-2.439024
17993089
HENAN SHUAN-A
58.06
-1.292078
1588062
TASLY PHARMAC-A
50.86
-2.660287
1572199
3.51
-2.228412
25579151
HONG YUAN SEC-A
17.08
-3.611738
9705355
TONGLING NONFE-A
18.57
-3.582555
15968147 1162428
CHINA COAL ENE-A
6.67
-2.911208
8264599
HUATAI SECURIT-A
8.88
-2.631579
10631166
TSINGTAO BREW-A
31.89
0.3145643
CHINA CONST BA-A
3.88
-0.5128205
20826490
HUAXIA BANK CO
7.98
-3.037667
30990915
WEICHAI POWER-A
17.9
-5.240868
6219484
CHINA COSCO HO-A
3.84
-2.538071
6808018
IND & COMM BK-A
3.68
-0.5405405
32979081
WULIANGYE YIBIN
32.23
-1.887367
14082608
CHINA CSSC HOL-A
21.1
6.404438
24199956
INDUSTRIAL BAN-A
11.79
-1.503759
34559078
XIAMEN TUNGSTEN
38.39
-5.303404
10048569
CHINA EAST AIR-A
3.27
1.23839
32675430
INNER MONG BAO-A
32.19
-4.565669
36703168
YANGQUAN COAL -A
13.64
-3.808181
9194024
CHINA EVERBRIG-A
2.66
-1.115242
29702826
INNER MONG YIL-A
20.01
-1.428571
7102596
YANTAI CHANGYU-A
44.99
-4.154239
3379168
17.81
-2.035204
4811782
INNER MONGOLIA-A
4.93
-3.710938
35652091
YANTAI WANHUA-A
12.79
0.3137255
8620492
CHINA MERCH BK-A
9.74
-1.317123
31522857
JIANGSU HENGRU-A
29.9
-1.612372
2815390
YANZHOU COAL-A
17.46
-3.589177
3034508
CHINA MERCHANT-A
9.72
-2.114804
8679905
JIANGSU YANGHE-A
113
-3.583618
2608806
YUNNAN BAIYAO-A
60.52
-1.721338
1326171
CHINA MERCHANT-A
18.48
-3.649635
12521899
JIANGXI COPPER-A
21.89
-3.78022
11887212
ZHONGJIN GOLD
17.43
-2.023609
88382705
CHINA MINSHENG-A
5.47
-0.9057971
60247550
JINDUICHENG -A
11.55
-4.859967
5913308
ZIJIN MINING-A
3.96
-2.941176
148678583
CHINA NATIONAL-A
6.4
-1.990812
15851048
JIZHONG ENERGY-A
11.79
-4.301948
17716901
8
-3.264813
53077002
15.92
-2.211302
9404621
10.07
-1.94742
18070387
229.04
-1.088271
2151753
CHINA LIFE INS-A
CHINA OILFIELD-A
15.8
-3.717246
5421666
KANGMEI PHARMA-A
CHINA PACIFIC-A
18.8
-2.083333
16337195
KWEICHOW MOUTA-A
CHINA PETROLEU-A
5.85
-1.515152
20805499
LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A
35.6
-1.275652
3827820
CHINA RAILWAY-A
4.42
-2.643172
9676711
METALLURGICAL-A
1.99
-1.970443
19648780
CHINA RAILWAY-A
2.43
-2.409639
21687626
NARI TECHNOLOG-A
16.75
0.2393776
9423340
CHINA SHENHUA-A
21.28
-2.83105
7853947
NINGBO PORT CO-A
2.44
-0.4081633
16301292
5
0.6036217
72779319
PANGANG GROUP -A
3.65
-4.450262
48383605
8.63
-1.708428
12414761
CHINA SHIPBUIL-A CHINA SOUTHERN-A
3.31
-0.3012048
41093462
PETROCHINA CO-A
CHINA STATE -A
2.95
-1.337793
53603692
PING AN BANK-A
13.01
-2.473763
18134615
39.81
-1.41159
ZOOMLION HEAVY-A ZTE CORP-A
MOVERS
114
282
4 2255
INDEX 2195.951
CHINA UNITED-A
3.51
-2.770083
61702497
PING AN INSURA-A
18721784
HIGH
2250.48
CHINA VANKE CO-A
7.82
-2.736318
58472789
POLY REAL ESTA-A
9.56
-2.44898
37505930
LOW
2195.95
CHINA YANGTZE-A
6.24
-1.577287
13586442
QINGDAO HAIER-A
10.48
-2.60223
7799308
CITIC SECURITI-A
10.8
-1.189387
56667519
QINGHAI SALT-A
29.75
-2.073733
4848720
CSR CORP LTD -A
3.94
-2.716049
19477785
SAIC MOTOR-A
12.59
-2.327386
17770665
DAQIN RAILWAY -A
5.86
-1.512605
27613746
SANY HEAVY INDUS
8.97
-2.816901
27467606
NAME
PRICE DAY %
Volume
ACER INC
29.75 -0.8333333
27567481
FORMOSA PLASTIC
83.7
-1.990632
5823234
TAIWAN MOBILE CO
ADVANCED SEMICON
23.2 -0.4291845
15444700
FOXCONN TECHNOLO
119
-2.057613
7838576
TPK HOLDING CO L
406 -0.7334963
3982489
ASIA CEMENT CORP
36.6 -0.4081633
3782861
FUBON FINANCIAL
31.75
-1.244168
21752085
TSMC
85.3 -0.8139535
24839673
UNI-PRESIDENT
50.2 -0.7905138
7678835
UNITED MICROELEC
12.2 -0.8130081
22361272
52W (H) 2781.99 (L) 2186.962
2190
18-Sep
20-Sep
FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX NAME
PRICE DAY %
Volume
NAME
PRICE DAY % 106.5
-1.843318
Volume 3688734
ASUSTEK COMPUTER
314
-1.102362
2071908
HON HAI PRECISIO
96 -0.9287926
23158047
AU OPTRONICS COR
10.9
-4.385965
103215620
HOTAI MOTOR CO
206 -0.9615385
232628
152
0.6622517
14596164
HTC CORP
306
-1.449275
21521977
35.15
0.8608321
8651622
32.25
-1.07362
34962400
HUA NAN FINANCIA
16.5 -0.3021148
6935383
YUANTA FINANCIAL
15.6
-1.577287
34077440
YULON MOTOR CO
57.5
-1.709402
6492759
CATCHER TECH CATHAY FINANCIAL CHANG HWA BANK
16.1
0.3115265
10844535
LARGAN PRECISION
654
-0.304878
596773
CHENG SHIN RUBBE
74.3
0.1347709
4532282
LITE-ON TECHNOLO
36.5
-1.351351
4026458
CHIMEI INNOLUX C
11.15
-4.700855
94277080
MEDIATEK INC
325 -0.4594181
11107284
CHINA DEVELOPMEN
7.37 -0.1355014
58842457
MEGA FINANCIAL H
22.5
-1.315789
32230651
CHINA STEEL CORP
26.5 -0.3759398
16241671
NAN YA PLASTICS
58.5 -0.6791171
3894969
PRESIDENT CHAIN
158 -0.6289308
1453157
QUANTA COMPUTER
77.3 -0.2580645
5227290
17.75
-1.388889
27501452
CHUNGHWA TELECOM
CHINATRUST FINAN
92.5
-0.751073
8593012
COMPAL ELECTRON
26.7 -0.1869159
9183941
SILICONWARE PREC
33.55
-1.900585
3326799
DELTA ELECT INC
113
-1.310044
4733548
SINOPAC FINANCIA
12.25
0.4098361
20365375
33.25
-2.061856
8052084
SYNNEX TECH INTL
66 -0.7518797
3107797
FAR EASTONE TELE
71.6 -0.5555556
4176266
TAIWAN CEMENT
35.25
-1.947149
FIRST FINANCIAL
18.1 -0.8219178
13880493
TAIWAN COOPERATI
FAR EASTERN NEW
10997218
16.75
-0.297619
6310151
FORMOSA CHEM & F
79
-1.126408
3004502
TAIWAN FERTILIZE
78.9
-2.592593
7771710
FORMOSA PETROCHE
89.4
0
1443497
TAIWAN GLASS IND
29.5
-1.666667
948064
WISTRON CORP
MOVERS
5
44
1 5385
INDEX 5328.76 HIGH
5380.23
LOW
5318.73
52W (H) 5621.53 (L) 4643.05
5315
18-Sep
20-Sep
September 21, 2012 business daily | 13
MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) GALAXy ENTErTAINMENT
Max 25.45
Average 25.139
MELCo CroWN ENTErTAINMENT
Min 24.8
Last 24.85
MGM CHINA HoLDINGS
25.5
34.8
13.6
25.3
34.7
13.5
25.1
34.6
13.4
24.9
34.5
13.3
24.7
SANDS CHINA LTD
Max 34.7
Average 34.654
Min 34.5
Last 34.5
34.4
SJM HoLDINGS LTD
Max 13.5
Average 13.415
Min 13.26
Last 13.26
13.2
WyNN MACAU LTD
28.9 28.8
16.9
20.9
16.8
20.7
16.7
20.5
28.7 28.6
Average 28.752
Max 28.9
Min 28.5
Last 28.65
28.5
16.6 Max 16.9
Average 16.773
Commodities PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
91.47
-0.554468363
-7.212416312
110.6499939
78.15999603
BRENT CRUDE FUTR Nov12
107.76
-0.397448932
3.366906475
122.6499939
89.5
GASOLINE RBOB FUT Oct12
284.11
0.441914728
12.41196487
307.9600096
220.5600023
GAS OIL FUT (ICE) Oct12
954.5
-0.391338377
6.291759465
1044.75
799
NATURAL GAS FUTR Oct12
2.757
-0.18102824
-17.00782661
4.455000401
2.299999952
Gold Spot $/Oz Silver Spot $/Oz
304.1
-0.098554534
6.421697288
333.8899851
252.5300026
1763.78
-0.5593
12.7081
1815.08
1522.75
34.37
-0.9047
23.4776
40.6925
26.085
Platinum Spot $/Oz
1610.1
-1.621
15.4607
1792.25
1339.25
Palladium Spot $/Oz
663.3
-0.852
1.4996
725.19
537.54
LME ALUMINUM 3MO ($)
2140
-0.925925926
5.940594059
2361.5
1827.25
LME COPPER 3MO ($)
8350
0.372640942
9.868421053
8765
6635
2123.5
0.735294118
15.09485095
2220
1718.5
LME ZINC
3MO ($)
LME NICKEL 3MO ($)
17755
-0.364758698
-5.104222341
22150
15236
15.09
-0.198412698
-0.756330155
17.5
14.15499973
752.25
-0.561797753
28.31556503
849
499
WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) Dec12
878.5
-0.340328985
22.01388889
953.25
629.5
SOYBEAN FUTURE Nov12
1660.5
-0.539083558
37.88665144
1789
1115.75
COFFEE 'C' FUTURE Dec12
173.2
-0.688073394
-26.61016949
262.8500061
SUGAR #11 (WORLD) Mar13
19.85
0.812595226
-15.02568493
COTTON NO.2 FUTR Dec12
76.06
-0.458055228
-13.41074681
AGRICULTURE ROUGH RICE (CBOT) Nov12 CORN FUTURE
Dec12
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
Last 20.35
Min 20.35
COUNTRY
PRICE
DAY %
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG
US
13577.96
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX
US
3182.622
FTSE 100 INDEX
GB
DAX INDEX
DAY %
1.04 1.6197 0.9322 1.2972 78.21 7.9863 7.7536 6.303 54.265 30.88 1.2256 29.377 41.73 9574 81.337 1.20921 0.80093 8.1737 10.3595 101.46 1.03
-0.3641 -0.0617 -0.2896 -0.2537 0.9078 -0.015 -0.0155 0.1079 -0.4976 -0.2915 0.0163 -0.1055 -0.2277 -0.2611 1.2774 -0.0339 0.1823 0.7744 0.2423 1.163 0
YTD %
(H) 52W
1.8709 4.2077 0.6329 0.0849 -1.6622 0.1665 0.178 -0.1269 -2.2114 2.1697 5.7931 3.0704 5.0563 -5.2747 -3.5716 0.6269 4.0528 -0.4833 -0.0724 -1.7741 0.0097
(L) 52W
1.0857 1.6302 0.9972 1.4247 84.18 8.0382 7.8048 6.4029 57.3275 32 1.3199 30.716 44.35 9662 88.637 1.24736 0.88308 9.0277 11.4015 111.6 1.0311
0.9388 1.5235 0.8568 1.2043 75.35 7.9823 7.751 6.2769 48.6088 30.2 1.2176 29.084 41.34 8795 72.057 1.19995 0.77553 7.7018 9.6245 94.12 1.0288
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
ARISTOCRAT LEISU
2.76
1.470588
25.45454
3.25
1.88
3594477
153.6999969
CROWN LTD
9.24
0
14.21508
9.4
7.47
2583498
25.29999924
19.47999954
AMAX HOLDINGS LT
0.061
0
-29.88506
0.119
0.055
0
99
64.61000061
BOC HONG KONG HO
24.15
-0.8213552
31.25
24.95
14.24
11106912
CENTURY LEGEND
0.247
0.8163265
7.391302
0.335
0.204
247500
3.6
1.694915
28.57143
3.61
2.3
235276
CHINA OVERSEAS
19.48
-1.116751
50.24606
20.4
9.979
32053625
CHINESE ESTATES
10.3
3.206413
-17.6
13.32
8.3
131500
CHOW TAI FOOK JE
10.9
-3.368794
-21.6954
15.16
8.4
12022294
1.5
-1.315789
35.13513
1.57
0.97
790000
1.09
-2.678571
159.5238
1.24
0.3
1416000
World Stock MarketS - Indices YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
0.09819649
11.1348
13653.24
10404.49
0.1516456
22.16656
3195.672
2298.89
5853.06
-0.6015135
5.038876
5989.07
GE
7371.84
-0.2559953
24.98139
NIKKEI 225
JN
9086.98
-1.573079
HANG SENG INDEX
HK
20590.92
CSI 300 INDEX
CH
2195.951
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX
TA
7727.55
NAME
EMPEROR ENTERTAI FUTURE BRIGHT
PRICE
DAY % YTD %
VOLUME CRNCY
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
24.85
-1.778656
74.50843
25.95
8.69
15143391
HANG SENG BK
116.2
-0.7685739
26.09875
117.9
84.4
1386281
4868.6
HOPEWELL HLDGS
26.25
-2.052239
32.17522
26.9
18.56
1177400
7446.47
4973.92
HSBC HLDGS PLC
73.5
-0.4739336
24.57627
74
56
15744120
7.470192
10255.15
8135.79
HUTCHISON TELE H
3.39
-1.166181
13.37793
3.88
2.53
4582120
-1.204256
11.6984
21760.33984
16170.35
LUK FOOK HLDGS I
24.85
-6.754221
-8.302584
37.1
14.7
10602000
-2.238634
-6.385656
2781.99
2186.962
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
-0.6985432
9.268415
8170.72
6609.11
MIDLAND HOLDINGS NEPTUNE GROUP NEW WORLD DEV SANDS CHINA LTD
KOSPI INDEX
SK
1990.33
-0.8740562
9.014973
2057.28
1644.11
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX
AU
4397.228
-0.478277
8.397939
4448.5
3840.2
ID
4216.314
-0.6689973
10.31719
4272.829
3217.951
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI
MA
1622.23
-1.450693
5.97754
1655.49
1310.53
NZX ALL INDEX
NZ
841.434
0.5492102
15.29648
847.344
712.548
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX
Average 20.543
MACAU RELATED STOCKS
CHEUK NANG HLDGS
NAME
20.3 Max 20.85
(L) 52W
WTI CRUDE FUTURE Oct12
HEATING OIL FUTR Oct12 METALS
Last 16.76
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES
NAME ENERGY
Min 16.62
MELCO INTL DEVEL
6.84
-3.661972
18.54419
8.28
4.3
3020900
13.26
-1.044776
38.23799
14.76
7.6
1953000
4.62
-0.8583691
16.84231
5.217
2.887
1746000
0.185
-2.116402
66.66666
0.222
0.08
7550000
11.1
-1.769912
77.31629
11.4
6.13
17545500 16630862
28.65
-1.206897
30.52391
33.05
14.9
SHUN HO RESOURCE
1.2
0
20
1.37
0.82
94000
SHUN TAK HOLDING
3.04
-0.9771987
18.79045
3.51
2.241
8296574
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
16.76
-0.9456265
34.02064
17.614
10.079
3538427
SMARTONE TELECOM
15.12
-0.6570302
12.5
17.56
9.8
4745000
WYNN MACAU LTD
20.45
-2.850356
4.871795
25.5
14.62
5899514
ASIA ENTERTAINME
3.68
-1.340483
-37.41497
7.49
2.4
49717
20.67745
49.32
24.74
736698
PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX
PH
3537.69
-0.2501015
16.17877
3558.72
2695.06
HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor
SI
602.57
0.39
21.41
NA
NA
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX
TH
1280.52
-0.3842982
24.8898
1285.55
843.69
BALLY TECHNOLOGI
47.74
2.380442
HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX
VN
389.28
-1.335699
10.73247
492.44
332.28
BOC HONG KONG HO
3.25
6.557377
35.57555
3.25
1.81
3000
Laos Composite Index
LO
1048.96
0.09733382
16.62108
1064.23
876.33
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
3.23
0
72.72727
3.25
1.08
43600 3198621
Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalisation. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.
INTL GAME TECH
13.07
1.63297
-24.01163
18.1701
10.92
JONES LANG LASAL
81.49
0.8914201
33.02318
87.52
46.01
201656
LAS VEGAS SANDS
46.68
1.85468
9.244092
62.09
34.72
6700587
MELCO CROWN-ADR
13.25
1.532567
37.73389
16.02
7.05
3217040
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
1.66
0
39.2976
1.96
1.0025
5545
MGM RESORTS INTE
11.16
0.9954751
6.999038
14.9401
7.4
5412178
SHUFFLE MASTER
15.2
1.740295
29.69283
18.77
7.55
297948
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
2.19
0
36.23022
2.2782
1.2624
3045
115.69
2.625743
4.70631
154.7051
90.108
2458696
WYNN RESORTS LTD
AUD HKD
USD
14 |
business daily September 21, 2012
Opinion Is Europe’s financial crisis over? Gene Frieda
T
Global strategist for Moore Europe Capital Management
he European Central Bank’s recently announced policy of bond buying, what it calls “outright monetary transactions” (OMTs) marks a convergence of European central banks with their AngloSaxon counterparts. While the ECB’s actions represent the best chance yet to put an end to a crisis that has been playing out since 2010, the Bank has markedly raised the stakes for governments. The ECB’s policy framework is well suited to fighting systemic blazes, but poorly suited to local fires, which thus can spread uncontrollably. The OMT programme, which allows the ECB to buy sovereign bonds of countries that have agreed to reform their economies, significantly levels the playing field between the Bank and its advanced-economy peers. Spain has the same fiscal and structural problems that it had prior to the OMT programme’s launch, but now it has an external lender of last resort. That is a game-changer. Under the pre-OMT regime, a capital outflow from Spain, whether through the sale of government bonds or the liquidation of private claims, resulted in tighter monetary conditions. The sale of sovereign bonds under the fixed exchange-rate regime put direct upward pressure on their yields, while sales of private securities by foreigners had a similar effect, but through indirect channels. Monetary tightening was forestalled only to the extent that another source of foreign capital (either private or ECB) could replace the outflow. The point at which credit risk becomes exchangerate/redenomination risk is ambiguous. But the metamorphosis tends to go hand in hand with localized monetary contractions that exacerbate the correlated risk of sovereign default and bank failures. In Spain, as in Greece before it, the monetary squeeze has become chronic as banks run short of ECBeligible collateral. UndertheOMTprogramme, the ECB can replace foreign outflows from sovereignbond markets through direct purchases, putting Spain on par with non-eurozone countries like the United Kingdom. And, to the extent
that there is even an informal price target associated with the ECB’s commitment to purchase bonds, foreign outflows, at least from the sovereign-bond market, are automatically replaced, in full, with ECB cash.
Reducing volatility Without the ECB’s willingness to buy a potentially unlimited volume of sovereign bonds to achieve its very imprecise objective of mitigating redenomination risk, the eurozone would have been doomed to recurring episodes of internal funding stress. The OMT programme
Without a credible threat to cut off wayward sovereigns, the ECB’s pledge provides a free lunch to investors and governments alike
breaks the volatile liquidity cycle that stems from chronic shortages of bank collateral and a limited fiscal transfer mechanism. More broadly, the ECB’s marginal lending facility is an indirect means of monetising sovereign debt. It is an even less direct way to address the private, related-debt overhang. But it works. That said, much can still go wrong. The ECB has bought time, but it has also raised the stakes. The credibility of its pledge depends as much on what it will do (buy unlimited quantities of government bonds) as on what it will not do (buy them from countries that do not fulfil conditionality). Without a credible threat to cut off wayward sovereigns, the ECB’s pledge provides a free lunch to investors and governments alike. The problem is that following through on that threat would severely test the ECB’s commitment to do whatever it takes. After all, if markets truly believed that the ECB would refuse to backstop errant governments, investors would run away from participating countries at the first sign that conditionality was not being met. As with its predecessor, the Securities Markets
Programme, the OMT programme is legally and democratically questionable: it violates the spirit, but not the letter, of the European Union treaty’s no-bailout clause; its promise of equal treatment with private creditors still has no precedent; and it involves backdoor fiscal transfers, leaving the ECB heavily exposed to political backlash – witness the visceral reaction of the German press to ECB President Mario Draghi’s announcement. But OMTs also fit well with a large body of historical evidence that, in times of crisis, policymakers must focus on extinguishing the fire, rather than negotiating over who owns the water and what its cost should be.
Postponed, not solved The OMT programme will cause credit conditions to ease, but without necessarily reversing the financial balkanization of the eurozone that has occurred over the last three years. Reversal of that process will likely not occur until the three key elements of banking union – common supervision, common deposit insurance, and a common resolution fund – are within tangible reach. Indeed, if Spanish savers become truly
afraid of redenomination risk in the interim, the OMT will not matter: they will just take their cash and deposit it as quickly as possible in, say, a German bank. The eurozone is still prone to bad equilibria as long as growth on its periphery remains weak. Even with OMTs, there remain crucial differences between the eurozone and the Anglo-Saxon economies. Fixed exchange rates within the eurozone impose a constraint that simply does not exist in the UK or the United States, and quantitative easing by the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve is unconditional in nature. With OMTs, the ECB has converged toward the Fed in its ability to backstop each of its individual parts. Whether that hastens or hinders political progress toward fiscal and banking federalism is the next big question. In the interim, OMTs enable financial markets to start breathing again. The acute crisis is over, at least for now. But the existential challenge – political agreement on the key elements of banking and fiscal union – is only just beginning. Unless it is met, the eurozone’s financial disintegration will eventually resume. © Project Syndicate
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September 21, 2012 business daily | 15
OPINION Capitalism and Government wires are friends after all Business
Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers
Business Line
Alex Marshall
Senior fellow at the Regional Plan Association in New York
Among the G20 nations, India is most vulnerable to water stress and disruption of global water supplies driven by climate change, according to a report published on Wednesday by HSBC. While other nations have lower availability per capita at the moment (Saudi Arabia, South Africa and South Korea) it is usage that makes India particularly vulnerable, with the largest dependence on agriculture in the G20, and usage of around 25 percent of all water used for agriculture globally. India currently has the highest rate of ground water abstraction in the world.
Jakarta Globe Eight foreign franchisors from Australia, South Korea, the United States and Malaysia have expressed interest in setting up operations in Indonesia, a group representing the sector says. The eight companies on average planned to spend Rp 10 billion (US$1.1 million) to Rp 12 billion to establish their starter businesses in Indonesia. But potential franchisors have become more cautious about setting up operations in Indonesia due to a policy flagged by the Trade Ministry to limit the number of outlets that can be held by a single franchisee.
Japan Times Sony Computer Entertainment will launch a smaller, lighter version of its PlayStation 3 home-use gaming console on October 4 in Japan. The new version, which comes in black, is less than half the size of the original model introduced in 2006 but has a bigger harddrive memory at 500 and 250 gigabytes, compared with the current models of 320 and 160 gigabytes. It is about three-fourths the volume of the current models, while its weight of around 2.1 kg is around 20 percent less.
Business Times Japan’s Aeon is in talks to buy Carrefour’s Malaysian business as the struggling French retailer exits nonstrategic markets. Carrefour, the world’s second-biggest retailer, is cutting costs and exiting markets such as Singapore and Greece, raising cash to focus on reviving core European operations. The Malaysian deal would be worth about RM918 million (US$300 million). Carrefour and Aeon declined to comment. Carrefour’s two Malaysian hypermarkets generated RM1.6 billion in revenue last year to account for about 5 percent of the group’s overall Asian sales.
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mericans will be getting an earful about the perils or virtues of government until they vote on November 6. But they won’t hear anything about what it is exactly. To Republicans, government is a cancerous force, there to secure what their platform calls “our Godgiven liberties.” Success comes only through individual hard work, nurtured by faith and family. As the platform explains: “We are the party of maximum economic freedom,” which promotes prosperity so “individuals and families can maintain their freedom from government.” To Democrats, government can help you get a job, medical care and more. It enables us to show that “we’re all in this together,” as former President Bill Clinton said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention. The Democrats have a view of government that is closer to my own, but even they struggle to explain the deeper role that it plays in our lives: creating and maintaining the very marketplace that Republicans worship. There is this idea, not discussed because it is so widely accepted even on the political left, that some sort of independent, free-standing market exists with its own laws, similar to those of natural systems, such as the law of gravity. Democrats want to poke, prod and regulate this market; Republicans say they want to leave it alone. But this so-called free market doesn’t exist, not even as a valid concept. Governments create markets.
Creating markets Government is responsible for every aspect of the market economy, from writing the laws defining private property, corporations and intellectual
property, to building the roads on which commerce depends. When business was simpler, centuries ago, government built simple markets. Today, it creates more complicated ones.
We can stop talking about markets versus government, and start talking about what markets we want It took centuries of evolution to arrive at today’s system of property ownership, where a piece of land can be measured, bought and sold like a commodity. For thousands of years, kings handed out patents – essentially a grant of government power – for land (thus “land patents”) or as a grant of monopoly power to sell something, say salt or bricks. In 1474, the Venetian Senate was the first to set up a patent system aimed at promoting invention. The new law let inventors know, in advance, that they would be rewarded with limited monopoly rights for significant new creations. Other nations copied this. Governments have invested in physical infrastructure, such as roads, ports and waterworks, for as long as they have existed. A high point was New York State’s construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, inspired by an earlier federal plan for roads and canals put forward by Thomas Jefferson’s brilliant treasury secretary, Albert Gallatin. Paul Johnson, the conservative British historian,
called the Erie Canal the greatest public-works project of all time in terms of the wealth it created. Today’s discussion in the U.S. of state and federal investment in high-speed train lines is a continuation of the long debates over which kinds of infrastructure to invest in. Just as there can be good and bad forms of government, such as democracies and dictatorships, there can be good and bad markets. There used to be a vast body of law dealing with the buying, selling and ownership of slaves, for example. When Congress finally outlawed slavery through the 14th Amendment in the 19th century, all that was swept away. If you like markets, if you applaud individual success and private business, you like government. One is not possible without the other. The relationship of government to the private marketplace and capitalism as a whole is one of parent and child.
Ryan’s rigidity Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, might never accept this, if he is
a strict believer in novelist Ayn Rand’s view that government is a parasite on the body of a marketplace that works by itself. But there is hope for the rest of us. We can stop talking about markets versus government, and start talking about what markets we want. In a democracy, if we understand that government creates markets, it means that we – the people – shape them. And our candidates should tell us how they would shape them. I would like to see Mitt Romney and Barack Obama talk about what changes are needed in the state and federal system of chartering corporations, for example. And does either candidate have ideas for how the patent and copyright systems should be altered in an age when words, sounds and images can be transmitted across the world at no cost? These issues should not be left to the courts and lobbyists. Government doesn’t just change the light bulbs in the arena that private businesses operate in. It designed the whole stadium. This election is about acknowledging this, or remaining wilfully in the dark. Bloomberg View
16 |
business daily September 21, 2012
CLOSING Taiwan export orders fall again
Stalled trade harms economy
Taiwan said yesterday export orders in August fell for the sixth consecutive month, although demand from China picked up for the first time in five months. Last month, export orders fell 1.5 percent year-on-year to US$36.15 billion, but it was up 0.6 percent from July, the economic ministry said in a statement. Orders from China, the island’s leading export market, rose 2.5 percent year-on-year in the first increase since February, while orders from other major markets such as Japan and the United States were still down.
EU, China agree on carbon deal Officials ink new deal towards a low-carbon economy
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hina, the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter, has struck a deal to work with the European Union to cut greenhouse gases
through projects including the development of Chinese emissions trading schemes, the European Commission said yesterday. The European Union
The world economy is at its most fragile since the 2008-09 financial crisis, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria told Reuters yesterday. “Trade had the potential of getting us out of the hole. It looked good, it was gathering speed after a drop in 2009 and now again it is ebbing, it’s stalling,” Mr Gurria said. “That is affecting our capacity for the relaunch.” So too is a row between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands in the South China Sea. “The timing doesn’t seem to be stellar,” Mr Gurria said.
and China have frequently clashed over climate policy and Beijing has flouted EU law requiring all airlines using European airports to pay for their emissions through the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). At the same time, the two sides have maintained an uneasy dialogue, including an EU-China summit in Brussels this week. EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Chen Deming, the Chinese commerce minister, signed a financing deal promoting the transition “towards a low-carbon
economy and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in China,” the Commission said in a statement. The Commission wants partnerships with other emissions schemes as part of efforts to boost its own ETS, on which the price of carbon has sunk far below the levels required to spur green investments. Last month, it agreed to link its ETS with Australia’s scheme by 2018. EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said yesterday the Chinese financing deal was “an important step for an ever closer cooperation towards a robust international carbon market”. “Needless to say that it makes a significant difference when now also China wants to use carbon markets to reduce emissions cost-effectively and boost low-carbon technologies,” she said in the statement. Mr P i e b a l g s s a i d t h e European Union had “solid experience” in fighting climate change, and it would share that with China. “The results of these projects will benefit all of us and contribute to our common objective: a sustainable development of the planet,” he said. The European Union will contribute 25 million
euros (US$33 million) and technical assistance over a four-year period to three carbon-reduction projects. Apart from helping with the design and implementation of emissions trading schemes in China, the other projects are to assist Chinese cities to be resourceefficient and to cut water and heavy-metal pollution and implement sustainable waste treatment policies. China already has provincial emissions trading schemes and it is unclear whether further development of Chinese carbon trading would include aviation emissions. The EU’s decision to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme has drawn international criticism and threats of a trade war. The United States is debating blocking legislation that would shelter its airlines from respecting the EU law, although it has so far grudgingly complied, while China and India missed a deadline earlier this year to submit data. All sides are looking to the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization to come up with an alternative global scheme to curb airline emissions, which the EU says would enable it to drop its requirements. Reuters
Eurozone business activity falls ECB bond buy plan fails to boost eurozone businesses
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ggressive new policy from the European Central Bank has so far failed to boost ailing eurozone business, according to surveys that showed a widening chasm between sickly France and a more resilient Germany. While the downturn in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, eased by a surprising amount this month, French firms fell deeper into the mire in September – and at a far faster rate than expected. The Markit Flash Eurozone Purchasing Managers’ (PMI) Composite Output Index fell to 45.9 in September, the lowest for 39 months, from 46.3 in August. Below 50 denotes contraction and survey
compiler Markit said the surveys were consistent with a roughly 0.6 percent economic contraction in the third quarter. There was little sign that the ECB’s plan to buy the debt of troubled eurozone states, announced on September 6, has boosted confidence among service sector firms – at least so far. “The fall in the PMI is another reminder that the ECB’s new asset purchase programme is not an answer to all of the region’s problems,” said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics, in a research note. “The eurozone recession looks set to deepen in the latter part of the year.” European shares fell yesterday after the data, which pushed the euro
Germany provided some good news, with the rate of decline in manufacturing slowing
further away from last week’s 4-1/2-month high, hitting a low of US$1.294. While eurozone manufacturers performed slightly better than economists hoped this month, the downturn in the dominant services industry intensified sharply. The eurozone services
PMI fell to 46.0 in September from 47.2 in August, below even the most pessimistic forecast of 46.5 in a Reuters poll of nearly 40 economists. The surveys backed the growing view that the ECB will cut its main interest rate at its next meeting in October, to a new record low 0.5 percent from 0.75
percent currently. “Further macroeconomic stimulus – including a weaker euro and an ECB rate cut – is likely to be needed to put the region on a path of sustained growth and hence ensure the survival of [the Eurozone],” said Martin van Vliet, economist at ING. Reuters