Smoking ban might be delayed: analyst HSBC’s senior gaming analyst Sean Monaghan says the partial ban on smoking in casinos starting on January 1 might need a grace period for implementation. Casino managements don’t have clarity on the new rules, he believes. But he’s optimistic about Macau’s growth, claiming the city has nothing to fear from the change of central leadership.
Year I Number 184 Monday, December 17, 2012 Editor-in-chief Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief Vitor Quintã MOP $ 6.00 www.macaubusinessdaily.com
Pages 6 & 7
Sole local bidder for Hengqin plot O
nly one Macau company has bid for Hengqin Island land reserved for the city’s small- and medium-sized firms according to a mainland official. The reserve price for the parcel, on a 40year lease, is 4,200
yuan (5,370 patacas) per square metre, or over 250 million yuan (US$40 million) for the plot, the Zhuhai Land and House Property Exchange Centre announced. Macau entities bidding must have assets of at least 300 million yuan
and put down a deposit of 80 million yuan. “Though the minimum reserve price is only about 200 million yuan, many local companies are worried the final bid price could top three billion yuan,” Kuan Vai Lam, vice-president of Macau Property
Developers Chamber of Commerce, told Business Daily. “Many local enterprises are small- and mediumsized ones, who fear that the final bid will be won by better financed [Macau subsidiaries of] Hong Kong companies,” he added.
Asset declaration bill nears approval
The mainland authorities have offered five plots of land for auction – one of them for Macau enterprises. More on page 3 I SSN 2226-8294
HANG SENG INDEX 22627
Government officials, legislators and magistrates will need to disclose their assets under a proposed law with the Legislative Assembly. Incorrect information could lead to fines worth from three months to a year of salary. Unexplained assets could lead to three years in prison. The move comes six years after former official Ao Man Long was arrested for hiding millions of U.S. dollars in assets and bribes.
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December 14
‘All-in’ tours a big hit with visitors
HSI - Movers Name
Package tour visitor numbers continued to surge in October according to official data. That’s despite a year-on-year decline in total monthly visitor figures – a trend that began in May. Macau received almost 810,000 package visitors in October, up by 23.7 percent from the same month last year, the Statistics and Census Service revealed. Packages saw a smaller spike in October 2010 coinciding with a global economic slowdown.
Page 4
Wynn Resorts slims board ahead of Okada ‘ousting’ Wynn Resorts Ltd – an investor in the Macau casino industry via its local unit Wynn Macau Ltd – has reduced the parent company’s board from 12 people to nine according to a regulatory filing. It comes ahead of a special – as yet unscheduled – shareholder meeting aimed at removing Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada as a Wynn Resorts director. The vote will require a two-thirds majority in favour.
Page 5
%Day
ALUMINUM CORP-H
4.34
PING AN INSURA-H
3.45
AIA GROUP LTD
3.09
CHINA LIFE INS-H
2.34
CHINA MERCHANT
2.27
BANK EAST ASIA
-0.67
HENGAN INTL
-1.17
WANT WANT CHINA
-1.28
ESPRIT HLDGS
-1.79
TINGYI HLDG CO
-1.82
Source: Bloomberg
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2012-12-17
2012-12-18
2012-12-19
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15˚ 19˚
13˚ 18˚
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business daily December 17, 2012
macau Cash handout in 2nd or 3rd quarter Next year’s cash handout will be allocated during the second or third quarter, Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen said on Saturday. Under the wealth-sharing scheme, permanent residents will get a cash handout of 8,000 patacas (US$1,000) next year. Non-permanent residents will get a payout of 4,800 patacas. Last year the cash handout was given out from April 24 to July 6. Mr Tam also pledged to keep an eye for any major capital flows into Macau.
Transparency bill making progress A Legislative Assembly committee completes its deliberations on a bill to make government officials, politicians and public prosecutors disclose their assets Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
A
bill that would shed light on the assets owned by the chief executive and other senior officials is one step closer to becoming law after the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee wrapped up its discussion of the legislation. Committee chairwoman Kwan Tsui Hang told reporters on Friday that the declaration of assets bill was now up for its final reading.
“We totally support the government’s move in making the system more transparent for the public to be able to supervise,” Ms Kwan said. She said that the bill, once enacted, would help Macau meet its international obligations to prevent corruption and improve anti-corruption arrangements that had been unchanged for more than
eight years. The bill would require the chief executive and other senior officials to disclose their ownership of real estate and of stakes or other interests in companies, and to disclose the positions they hold in not-for-profit bodies. “This also includes their assets held or registered overseas, as well as local [assets],” Ms Kwan said. Ownership by officials of shares in listed companies or investment funds, and of debt securities, loans, savings, works of art, jewellery, motor vehicles, boats and aircraft would remain confidential. Failure to disclose assets accurately would be punishable by fines equivalent to between three months and one year’s salary of the
We totally support the government’s move in making the system more transparent for the public Kwan Tsui Hang, legislator
official in question. Failure to disclose assets at all would be punishable by up to three years in prison.
Prosecutors included Executive Council members, Legislative Assembly members, the Prosecutor General, directors and deputy directors of government bureaus, and managers and supervisors of government-owned companies or government-owned utilities would also have to declare their assets. The amendment to the bill to include public prosecutors caused concern among the professionals earlier this year. They argued that it would compromise judicial independence and their safety. The standing committee’s final report says: “There are particular wishes in society for more transparency to see whether the discretionary powers of public prosecutors are affected by their personal engagements, companies or associations.” The report also says the committee had sought a balance between privacy and the public’s right to information. Ms Kwan said the bill would require officials to disclose only the number of immovable properties they controlled and what they used them for, and not where these properties were. Asked if the assembly would pass the bill this year, Ms Kwan said it depended on assembly president Lau Cheok Va. She hinted that the bill’s passage might be held up by the holiday season. The law will come into force 90 days after it has been published in the Official Gazette. Once enacted, the public would be free to read all declarations of assets on the Court of Final appeal’s website.
Li Gang reportedly new liaison chief T he new head of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau will be Li Gang, the deputy director of the Hong Kong office, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. The Hong Kong-based newspaper quoted Beijing sources as saying the promotion was in recognition of Mr Li’s work as office spokesperson, including the 2010 negotiations with the Democrat Party over Hong
Kong’s electoral reform. After nine years at Hong Kong office, Mr Li will replace early next year the 64-year-old Bai Zhijian, who has been Beijing’s top representative here for over a decade, the Englishlanguage publication wrote. On Tuesday Mr Bai hinted that he was likely to leave his position, after stepping down from the Chinese Communist Party central committee last month due to his age.
He said the authorities in the mainland had yet to decide who should replace Xi Jinping, who became the new head of the party, in supervising Macau and Hong Kong affairs. In September South China Morning Post said Li Yuanchao, the head of the party’s organisation department, would probably join the Politburo as vice-president and be put in charge of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs. But the 61-year-old was left out of
the innermost ring of power during last month’s transition. Peng Qinghua, Hong Kong liaison office director, is also expected to leave to become party secretary of Guangxi autonomous region. Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, will replace Mr Peng, according to sources quoted by South China Morning Post. V.Q.
December 17, 2012 business daily | 3
MACAU
Only one Macau firm bids for Hengqin plot
editorial
Missing the obvious
Macau enterprises reluctant to bid for a plot of land on Hengqin because it is expected to fetch billions of yuan Stephanie Lai
sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
J
ust one company has bid for a plot of land reserved for Macau enterprises in the northeast of Hengqin Island, an official has said. Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee director Niu Jing did not reveal the name of the bidder. Since late last month the Hengqin administration has put up for auction five land parcels, including the one reserved for Macau enterprises. By Friday, the Hengqin administration had received at least five bids, Mr Niu told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a MacauZhuhai economic cooperation forum. “We got many responses to the land auction. There were over 20 companies asking us for further details. A lot of them are Macau companies,” he said. The auction ends on Wednesday. The plot reserved for Macau enterprises covers 30,686 square metres just to the west of the Hengqin border crossing. The Zhuhai Land and House Property Exchange Centre has set a reserve price of 4,200 yuan (5,370 patacas) a square metre on the land or more than 250 million yuan. The land is available on a 40-year lease. The buyer must have assets of at least 300 million yuan and put up a deposit of 80 million yuan. The vice-president of the Macau Property Developers Chamber of Commerce, Kuan Vai Lam, said there would be only a few bids, although many developers had shown interest. “Though the minimum reserve price is only about 200 million yuan, many local companies are worried the final bid price could top 3 billion yuan,” Mr Kuan told Business Daily. “Many local enterprises are small and medium ones, who fear that the winning bid will be made by one of the better-financed [Macau subsidiaries of] Hong Kong companies,” he said.
Great potential Joint ventures are excluded from this auction. Mr Kuan said he wanted the mainland authorities to allow Macau companies to make joint bids in the future. “The location and development potential is great, quite enticing. But with Macau companies’ scale, it is quite hard to take part in the auction if a joint bid is not allowed,”
Tiago Azevedo
tiago.azevedo@macaubusinessdaily.com
Many local companies are worried the final bid price could top 3 billion yuan Kuan Vai Lam, vice-president, Macau Property Developers Chamber of Commerce
O
ne of the significant characteristics of a flourishing and growing economy is a booming small and medium enterprises sector. SMEs have always played an important role in the development of an economy. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. A single industry is pushing Macau’s economy forward while other sectors are hung out to dry, especially those powered by SMEs. The failure of some smaller companies is often linked to a lack of human resources: there are not enough workers here to hire. If these failed companies were based elsewhere, they would probably have succeeded. If workers are the very first prerequisite for the development of Macau’s economy, which is in the midst of trying to become a centre for travel and leisure, then the importance of service quality should closely follow. We do not only require people from outside of the city to come and work here, but we are in even greater need of quality manpower. Sadly, as elections for the Legislative Assembly loom, some candidates have already started to voice their concerns over the growing number of non-resident workers. The New Macau Association said last week the government’s public consultation paper on population policy “is intentionally distorted” in an attempt to support the introduction of more non-residents at the expense of residents. Foreign labour is always an easy target in a bid to win votes. The government often chooses the same route. The latest amendment to the law on hiring imported labour did nothing more than clarify a few provisions while adding a further restriction to the ones already in place.
Quota struggle A plot close to the Hengqin border crossing is up for auction to Macau enterprises
said Mr Kuan. Choi Meng Wa of shopping mall operator White Horse Investment Ltd told Business Daily he had given up on the auction. Mr Choi, who is also president of the Macau Industry and Commerce Association, thinks the plot reserved for Macau enterprises has the potential to rival Zhujiang New Town, a prominent business district in Guangzhou. “The return on this Hengqin land plot will come slowly, while we are preoccupied with commercial/ residential projects in Zhuhai, so we gave up in the end,” he said.
“The outlook for Hengqin is bright. It will be an area of business landmark buildings all around. “But we would like to assess for a couple more years whether Hengqin has improved a great deal on its administrative procedures. Its stagnant development since 2001 is an important reminder.” Mr Niu said more land on Hengqin, including plots that could be used for purposes other than commercial development, would eventually be put up for auction to mainland, Hong Kong and Macau enterprises.
Banks could play bigger role M acau banks should take up a stronger role in providing yuan financing and trade settlement for the large-scale projects being developed in Hengqin Island, said Ip Sio Kai, acting chairman of the Association of Banks during a MacauZhuhai economic cooperation forum on Saturday. With free exchange of yuan, patacas and Hong Kong dollars in Hengqin New Area, Mr Ip suggests local banks provide universal cash saving and withdrawal services there, or even credit card acquiring for all three currencies. The deputy general manager of Bank of China (Macau) Ltd also notes that thanks to the established business relations with Portuguese-speaking
countries, local banks should consider providing syndicated loans to large-scale infrastructure projects in Lusophone countries. Financial institutions should pay attention to and support Macau companies that would like to settle in Hengqin’s Chinese Medicine Industrial Park, and the animation industry, Mr Ip noted in the forum. “Now that it is certain that Macau companies can issue corporate bonds, short-term commercial papers or medium term notes through banks in mainland China … the local [banking] sector can actually consider providing such services,” he added. S.L.
Life in Macau can be remarkably easy for qualified workers, especially residents, as a significant number of positions remain vacant. With low unemployment and tight restrictions on imported labour, residents can easily move between jobs. However, the same labour shortage that pushes up wages and makes workers a precious resource also means fewer people must do more work. Excessive protection of residents’ jobs might be harmful in the long term. Without real competition, there are no incentives for workers to obtain more qualifications and to fight for better jobs. The resident workforce will keep falling behind imported workers if companies have to hire locally to get the muchneeded quota for foreign workers. For SMEs, which struggle to get quotas or compete against higher salaries, it often leads to their closure as they are drained of staff. SMEs are being crippled by a lack of human resources and that will not change just because the government is handing out subsidies and interest-free loans. SMEs contribute to economic development by creating employment, providing desirable sustainability and innovation in the wider economy. The public relies on these small and medium enterprises directly or indirectly. The government should have been bolder in its Policy Address for 2013, acknowledging that the human resources situation is close to unbearable and by amending its policies. The amount of red tape that entrepreneurs must go through to set up and run a business in this city is unwarranted and a drain on their limited resources. The city’s bureaucracy needs to be reduced, making it as easy as possible for entrepreneurs to focus on running successful businesses and to help diversify the economy.
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business daily December 17, 2012
macau UM campus tunnel ready by March
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The seabed tunnel connecting the city to the future University of Macau campus on Hengqin Island will only be ready by the end of March, the Infrastructure Development Bureau admitted on Saturday. A cave-in at the tunnel’s construction site in July halted the works and led to a reassessment of the security procedures, the bureau said in a press statement. But the works are back in full speed and the main tunnel structures should be ready still this month, the authorities added.
HOSPITALITY Trending down The number of tourists is an important economic indicator that is monitored closely. The number of tourist arrivals affects several sectors of the city’s economy, its infrastructure and transport systems. Not all tourists are the same. They place differing demands on facilities and have varying needs for services. The benefits they bring to the economy also vary. It might be argued that overnight visitors are preferable to day-trippers, for example. There may be advantages in increasing the proportion of tourists from places other than the mainland. And it is thought that the greater the proportion of mainland visitors travelling independently rather than in tour groups, the better it is for the economy.
Visitor arrivals shored by package tourists More than one in three visitors in October came to Macau on a package tour Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
70
60
50
40
30
20
Recent tourist arrivals data suggest an evolution in opposition to these trends. An increase in the number of tourists staying overnight seems to have lost momentum. If there were fewer day-trippers, it might reduce congestion and increase the average spending of visitors. The statistics show that mainlanders are the mainstay of the gaming sector and, in many ways, of the economy. Increasing dependence on the mainland may be detrimental to long-term economic development, and tourists from a greater variety of markets would be welcome. Mainlanders travelling independently stay longer and spend more than tourists travelling in organised groups. After falling in 2009, the number of mainlanders travelling independently is recovering but only slowly. J.I.D.
60 %
Of tourists in the first 10 months were mainlanders
A greater proportion of tourists are arriving on package tours
T
he number of tourists arriving in tour groups surged in October despite a decline in arrivals overall, official data show. Almost 810,000 visitors came here on package tours in October, 23.7 percent more than a year before, the Statistics and Census Service said on Friday. The surge in the number of tourists arriving in tour groups is important
809,591
Visitors that arrived in tour groups in October
because tourist arrivals since May have been lower each month than a year before. Visitors that came here on package tours in October accounted for 34.5 percent of all arrivals. Observers say higher prices for consumer goods have scared off many visitors or have prompted them to visit on cheaper group tours. “Package tours, usually offering a very low price, can attract tourists when consumer prices in Macau are high,” the president of the Macau Travel Industry Council, Andy Wu Keng Kuong, told Business Daily this year. The head of the Tourism Research Centre at the Institute for Tourism Studies, Don Dioko, said in August that package tours were the most cost-effective way to visit Macau, allowing tourists to save on air travel and accommodation. Tourist spending amounted to 13.3 billion patacas (US$1.7 billion) in the third quarter of this year, 10 percent more than a year before. In the first 10 months of this year almost 7.4 million visitors arrived in tour groups. More than 70 percent of them came from the mainland. In October, most mainland visitors arriving in tour groups came from Guangdong. More than 244,000 came from Guangdong, almost twice the number a year before. The number of visitors from Taiwan that came here on package tours rose to nearly 74,000 in October, two-thirds more than a year before. The number of Hongkongers arriving in tour groups decreased to 31,960 in October, 1.4 percent fewer than a year before. Hotels had more than 787,000 guests in October. The average occupancy rate of the city’s 100 hotels and guesthouses was 80.9 percent, 0.8 percentage point less than a year before. Only five-star hotels had a higher average occupancy rate than a year before. Its occupancy rates rose by 2 percentage points to 82.7 percent.
December 17, 2012 business daily | 5
MACAU
Wynn Resorts slims board, prepares to eject Okada Appoints former investment banker as independent director Michael Grimes michael.grimes@macaubusinessdaily.com
W
ynn Resorts Ltd – an investor in the Macau casino industry via its local unit Wynn Macau Ltd – has reduced the parent company’s board from 12 people to nine according to a regulatory filing in the United States. The move comes ahead of a special – as yet unscheduled – shareholder meeting aimed at removing Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada as a Wynn Resorts director. Under the company’s bylaws the vote will require a twothirds majority in favour. Mr Okada was expelled from the Wynn Macau Ltd board in February over claims his pursuit of a casino project in the Philippines made him “unsuitable”. The directors stepping down from the Wynn Resorts board according to the latest filing are Linda Chen, who is also chief operating officer of Wynn Macau, Marc D. Schorr, chief operating officer of Wynn Resorts, Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Concepts Holdings Ltd – a major investor and developer in Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong bar district – and
Kazuo Okada
Russell Goldsmith. Wynn Resorts added in its filing “there are no disagreements between the company” and the directors
stepping down. Ms Chen and Mr Schorr are to continue in their operational roles and Mr Zeman will continue to act as a director and vice
chairman of Wynn Macau Ltd. The filing further stated that John J. Hagenbuch – a former investment banker with Salomon Brothers and a co-founder of WestLand Capital Partners LP – has been elected as an independent director and will sit on the company’s audit committee. A separate regulatory filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on June 12, 2006, says Mr Hagenbuch was elected to the board of directors of MicroIslet Inc. – a biotechnology company – on April 21, 2005, and on January 18, 2006, appointed as MicroIslet’s nonexecutive chairman. A press release issued by that company on November 10, 2008, shows it filed for voluntary reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on that day. According to a filing with the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of California, at a hearing on January 5, 2009, MicroIslet was described as a “Nevada corporation”. Another SEC filing on February 12 2009, indicates Mr Hagenbuch held a 10 percent stake in the company up to the time of the bankruptcy. On September 17 Mr Okada’s company Aruze America Inc., sent an open letter to Wynn Resorts’ shareholders claiming “the board lacks a sufficient level of independence from the company’s management and, in particular Mr Wynn”. The letter, filed with the SEC by Wynn Resorts on September 17, proposed two other candidates as independent directors. That move was successfully blocked by Wynn Resorts. With Bloomberg News
6 |
business daily December 17, 2012
macau
Partial smoking ban might be ‘delayed’
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Trading places The economy is increasingly dependent on services, and particularly exports of gambling and tourism. The economy is much less dependent than it was on manufacturing. Deindustrialisation has been accelerated by the end of the international arrangement for trade in textiles and greater demand for resources by the economy’s most dynamic sectors. The shift to a service economy would be more pronounced if it were not for an increase in re-exports that has masked the decline in manufacturing. The effects of these changes can be seen in the balance of trade in goods with the main economic regions of the world: the European Union, the Americas and Asia.
5000
With economic growth picking up in mainland China and a changing business model, 2013 will be another “great year” for Macau gaming, HSBC predicted in a note to investors late last month. The bank’s senior gaming analyst Sean Monaghan says he is very optimistic about Macau’s economic growth, claiming the city has nothing to fear from the change of leadership in Beijing and the crackdown on corruption. As we move beyond the leadership transition and toward a better economy, “there is no reason why the market shouldn’t have good growth next year,” he told Business Daily in an interview. The only concern remains the partial ban on smoking due to be introduced in casinos on January 1. With only weeks to go, Mr Monaghan said he believed there will have to be “some sort of an extension” for the industry to implement it. Luciana Leitão
leitao.luciana@macaubusiness.com
0 -5000 -10000 -15000 -20000 -25000 -30000 -35000
Our trade with each is moving in a different direction. The importance of trade with the Americas, led by textiles, has declined rapidly, and the trend seems irreversible. It is now the least important of the main economic regions of the world for trade. The rest of Asia is now the most important region for Macau’s trade, although the greatest relative change has been in the importance of the European Union. Given the figures for the first 10 months of this year, these trends are unlikely to change. However, the rates of growth in the city’s trade deficits, whether with the world at large or with individual trading partners, show signs of slowing. The rises in trade deficits seem difficult to reverse. Less manufacturing means fewer manufactured goods for export. A buoyant economy and growing population means more imports.
275 %
Rise in trade deficit with European Union between 2008 and 2011
J.I.D.
HSBC is bullish on Macau’s gaming sector for next year, forecasting gross gaming revenue to grow by 13 percent. Why? You have the backdrop of a better output for the Chinese economy and of moving beyond Beijing’s [leadership] transition, which has been an issue that has caused upset and a little bit of instability. Obviously, you have the pending introduction of the smoking ban, and I haven’t come across any executive of all the companies I have spoken to that has a good grasp on the full details in terms of what the government is going to do in the short-term. There is a lot of uncertainty. We’re only weeks away from January 1 and there is almost certainly going to be some sort of an extension or some sort of period given where the government has to allow more latitude for the industry to implement this partial smoking ban. I’m generally positive. All the companies are building. We’re now going into a new wave of mega resorts and that is really good for Macau, because it begins a fresh start and a lot more exciting stuff for tourists from all across to think about the reason why people should come to Macau.
People say that the fact that Beijing is strengthening the fight against corruption could impact Macau. What is your take on that? I don’t know whether the crackdown on corruption has anything to do with Macau. Corruption is in every country throughout the world. If I go back home to Australia, I can guarantee there is corruption in different parts of Australia, so it’s a universal issue. You have a new administration coming into Beijing and saying ‘hey look, we have to make this a priority, because it is a priority for any government throughout the world’. I don’t think this is targeted to Macau and targeting junkets specifically – it is just making sure that everyone is aware that Beijing is serious and that the new administration is serious about this issue, which is only fair. I am not really concerned with that at all, because the thing about listed companies in Macau is that the market cap is so large now, that they know they have got such a great position, that they don’t want to cause grief in Beijing or concern. The companies are very aware of what Beijing wants and what Beijing doesn’t want. There is a self-correcting mechanism for the companies to address these
issues. In terms of junkets, they are big now and are becoming so big, that they need to make sure that they don’t cause concern to Beijing as well. Even though some people are concerned, I am not. If there are problems in any country,
In terms of junkets, they are big now and are becoming so big, that they need to make sure that they don’t cause concern to Beijing as well
December 17, 2012 business daily | 7
MACAU
We’re only weeks away from January 1 and there is almost certainly going to be some sort of an extension or some sort of period given … for the industry to implement this partial smoking ban
the problems can never be fixed overnight. It is taking decades to fix. Macau is a better place today than what it was 10 years ago, and there will be a gradual approach to try to fix things up over 10, 20 or 30 years, not to fix it up overnight. That’s unrealistic. Will the leadership change in Beijing have any impact on how things are run here? I don’t think anyone in government wants to cause instability or problems in Macau or elsewhere. This new administration can be good. In most of the discussions I had with people, they are very positive for next year. I continue to be very optimistic to Macau. November’s HSBC report claims there will be some changes to labour laws here. Do you believe the government will change its policy, opening up to foreign labour? Casinos and other resorts can pay a lot more for staff than a lot of the other industries in Macau can. Basically, you don’t want the casinos just to continue taking workers from all other industries, because that will cause suffering to all the other sectors. What sort of law changes can the government do to give labour to the non-gaming industries in Macau? That is the issue. Macau is going to grow, because you have tons of infrastructures coming and tons of tourists coming to Macau. The way the labour market is already stretched and the longer they leave it, the more issues are going to be felt in the non-gaming side of the industries. The government wants to make sure that all the industries in Macau do well, not just the gaming sector. So, that’s why I am suggesting the laws will probably be reviewed, because this is a topic for everyone. The industry has seen a slowdown in the growth rate of VIP gaming. Does this mean the mass market will eventually overtake VIP gambling? With the uncertainty about economy a lot of people pulled
back. So, you have got hopefully more stability in the economy, and we should have a recovery in VIP, at least a more constant growth. In the mass gaming, there are just so many people across [mainland] China that come to Macau, so I’m optimistic that the mass market will remain very strong for a long time. It’s difficult to say why VIP has slowed down, but the economy must have been a big part of that. People do say the transition was an issue and so forth, but we are sort of moving beyond the transition and we have a better economy, so there is no reason why the market shouldn’t have good growth next year. The only concern has to do with the partial introduction of the smoking ban, but again that will have to be delayed or something, because I just don’t think everyone – the government and the industry – is ready to implement that easily. Will the mass gaming market continue to grow? I do [believe that]. You can see bigger resorts with massive gaming floors and the issue has been a change in approach to marketing. The people who are responsible for mass marketing are far more successful than they were before. Target marketing has led to a lot of the growth specifically in the premium mass segment, where they do a lot of specific focus marketing identifying key people, making sure they give those premium mass customers what they want. Casinos are far more efficient today than they were years ago, at targeting specific people and that’s why you’ve got growth there. In the space of three months, there is a massive amount of change taking place across the casinos and gaming floors, so they’re constantly changing and constantly trying to improve themselves to target mass customers. Investors also prefer growth of [the] mass sector, because it doesn’t have the volatility of the VIP. Cotai is targeting increasingly the
mass market with Sands China Ltd at the forefront. Are they better positioned to tap that market? They are the ones still completing a project, which gives them probably stronger growth for the existing operations over the next 12
months. After 2013, we will fall into a stronger growth of Galaxy [Entertainment Group Ltd] and Melco [Crown Entertainment Ltd] as they start to open their next project. It is pretty much project related a lot of this growth.
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business daily December 17, 2012
GREATER CHINA ICBC out of AIG plane-unit deal An investment arm of ICBC International Holdings Ltd may not join the group of Chinese investors set to buy a majority stake in AIG Inc.’s International Lease Finance Corp. plane-leasing business. “ICBC, including its subsidiaries, doesn’t have a plan or a consideration to acquire ILFC,” Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd press officer Wang Zhenning said. A group of Chinese investors agreed to buy 80 percent of ILFC for US$4.23 billion. AIG said in the statement that a unit of ICBC International Holdings might also join once the deal is approved.
Manufacturing may expand at faster pace Flash PMI rises to 50.9, highest in 14 months
C
hina’s manufacturing is expanding at a faster pace this month, suggesting the factory recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy may withstand a slowdown in exports. The December preliminary reading was 50.9 for a purchasing managers’ index released on Friday by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics. That compares with a final reading of 50.5 for November, the first time in 13 months it was above the expansion-contraction dividing line of 50. The data add to signs of a strengthening rebound including factory output and retail sales, which may smooth the transition to China’s new leadership headed by Xi Jinping. “China’s ongoing growth recovery is gaining momentum mainly driven by domestic demand conditions,” Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, said in a statement. At the same time, a drop in new export orders and last month’s
below-forecast overseas shipments suggest “external headwinds” are persisting, Mr Qu said. “This calls for Beijing to keep an accommodative policy stance to counter-balance the external weakness, provided inflation stays benign,” he said. China’s top leaders gathered over the weekend for the central economic work conference, an annual meeting to set a policy framework for the following year. Officials “seem content with the current pace of growth” and are likely to maintain their language of a “prudent” monetary policy and “proactive” fiscal stance, Capital Economics Ltd said in a November 30 note. The preliminary reading, called the Flash PMI, is based on 85 percent to 90 percent of responses to a December 5-12 survey of more than 420 companies, according to HSBC. The final number will be released on December 31. A separate, government-backed
index of purchasing managers in manufacturing rose last month to 50.6, the highest since April. The December figure is due January 1.
Growth rebound China’s economic growth is poised to rebound this quarter from the weakest pace in three years after the government deployed measures including interest-rate reductions and the acceleration of investmentproject approvals. The nation’s new home prices rose in November by the most in four months, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd, the country’s biggest real estate website owner, even as the government maintained restrictions on purchases. Gains in the HSBC and official gauges show “the positive change is not a one-off phenomenon,” Ding Shuang, a Hong Kong-based economist with Citigroup Inc. who previously worked at the International
Beijing scraps investment limit on sovereign funds, central banks In bid to encourage long-term foreign ownership
C
hina scrapped a ceiling on investments by overseas sovereign wealth funds and central banks in its capital markets, part of government efforts to encourage long-term foreign ownership and shore up slumping equities. SWFs, central banks and monetary authorities can now exceed the US$1 billion limit that still applies to other qualified foreign institutional investors, according to revised regulations posted yesterday on the State Administration of Foreign
Exchange’s website. The Shanghai Composite Index jumped the most since October 2009 on Friday after the head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Thursday that China may relax or abolish a rule that requires Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors to keep most of their funds in bonds. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has cut trading fees, pushed companies to increase dividends and allowed trust
companies to buy equities since Guo Shuqing took over as chairman last year. Introducing more long-term funds from abroad will help improve market confidence, promote stable growth in capital markets and provide “robust” investment returns to domestic investors, the regulator said in May, a month after the government more than doubled the total quota for QFIIs to US$80 billion from US$30 billion. The benchmark Shanghai Composite has lost 2.2 percent this
US$1 bln Limit imposed on other qualified foreign institutional investors
year, while the MSCI China Index of mostly Hong Kong-traded shares, open to overseas investors, has gained 18 percent as U.S. bond purchases spurred foreign funds to pour money into emerging markets. QFIIs can repatriate their principal and investment returns after a lockup period ends, though the monthly net remittances cannot exceed 20 percent of their total onshore assets as of the previous year, according to yesterday’s rules. Open-ended China funds can remit funds on a weekly basis under the new regulation, compared with monthly in the previous version announced in 2009. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Norges Bank, Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and Temasek Holdings Pte.’s Fullerton Fund Management Co. have all reached the US$1 billion limit as of November 30, with QFIIs’ approved quotas totalling US$36.04 billion, according to SAFE, the currency regulator. Foreign investors can only invest in capital markets through QFIIs. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund was applying for a QFII licence and a US$5 billion quota to invest in China, the China Securities Journal said on its website in June, citing Energy and Industry Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh al-Sada. Bloomberg News
December 17, 2012 business daily | 9
GREATER CHINA China Machinery raises US$500 mln China Machinery Engineering Corp. raised US$500 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg quoted two people with knowledge of the matter as saying. The Beijing-based unit of China National Machinery Industry Corp. sold 718 million shares at HK$5.40 apiece, said the people. The shares were marketed at HK$4.10 to HK$5.40 apiece, according to a prospectus published on December 10. Five cornerstone investors bought a combined US$165 million of shares, according to the same prospectus, which also said the firm plans to start trading on December 21.
KEY POINTS
New orders sub-index rises, new export orders down Leaders met to plot 2013 economic course Think tank calls for bigger fiscal deficit in 2013
Chinese factories expect end of year production boost
Monetary Fund, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “More broadly, data since September confirm that economic activity is improving and it appears that the cyclical economic upturn is gaining momentum.” Gross domestic product may expand 8.4 percent this quarter from a year earlier, up from 7.4 percent in the July-September period, Zhang Zhiwei, Hong Kong-based chief China economist for Nomura Holdings Inc., said in a note on Friday. Growth momentum is being “underpinned by expansionary monetary and fiscal policies,” while inventories are shrinking to “more normal levels,” Mr Zhang wrote. November data released last week gave a mixed picture of the economy. Industrial production accelerated for a third month, climbing 10.1 percent from a year earlier, while retail sales expanded at the fastest pace in eight months, statistics bureau data showed. Meantime, exports, new yuan loans and money supply all trailed forecasts. “Clearly, growth momentum is improving but remains modest by historical standards,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, a Credit Agricole strategist said in a research note. “The data highlights a lack of need for more stimulus and should be well received.”
GDP growth seen at 8pct next year A state-backed think tank has forecast China’s gross domestic product growth next year at around 8 percent – above the likely government target – while calling for an expansion in the central government’s fiscal deficit to offset an uncertain external environment. The State Information Centre said in a report published in the China Securities Journal that China should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy to promote efforts to reform the economy. The report’s recommendation that the deficit be allowed to increase by 100 billion yuan (US$16.04 billion) to 650 billion yuan in 2013 while broadening reform of the value added tax and reducing the burden on smaller companies echoes a recent recommendation from the influential Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China has yet to release an official growth target for 2013, but sources expect the government to maintain the 2012 target of 7.5 percent.
Bloomberg News/Reuters
Stocks rally on support speculation Market gains most in three years
C
hina’s stocks jumped the most since October 2009 on speculation state-backed institutions were buying shares as a manufacturing survey added to optimism the world’s second-largest economy will rebound. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 4.3 percent to 2,150.63 at the close, with trading volumes more the double the 30-day average. A gauge tracking financial companies surged 6.7 percent as brokerages jumped on signs the government will allow more funds to buy equities. Sany Heavy Industry Co. led a rally by industrial companies after a preliminary reading for a factory output index rose. “It looks like institutional investors are re-entering the market and they
have to increase their stock positions now in order not to miss the boat,” said Dai Ming, a fund manager at Hengsheng Hongding Asset Management Co. in Shanghai. The CSI 300 Index surged 5.1 percent to 2,355.86, with all 10 industry groups adding more than 2.4 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong rose 1.4 percent to a nine-month high. The IShares FTSE A50 China Index ETF, which mimics the performance of the 50 biggest A share companies, jumped 4.5 percent in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite advanced 4.3 percent last week, the biggest gain in 13 months and extending last week’s 4.1 percent rally. Shares have
rebounded 9.7 percent from an almost four-year low reached on December 3. The gauge is still down 2.2 percent this year, heading for a third straight annual loss. “There’s speculation that Ping An Insurance is increasing its positions in Chinese equities,” said Wu Kan,
a Shanghai- based fund manager at Dazhong Insurance Co. Speculation that large institutions are buying shares follows data last week showing the number of trading stocktrading accounts containing funds declined to the lowest in two years. Reuters
Recent stock-market gains had failed to stem equity outflows
PetroChina agrees Canada gas deal Company pays US$1.2 bln for Alberta shale energy stake
P
etroChina Co. agreed to pay Encana Corp. C$1.18 billion (US$1.2 billion) for a 49.9 percent stake in an Alberta shale formation as Asia’s biggest oil producer steps up acquisitions of overseas oil and gas assets. PetroChina will also pay C$1 billion over four years to fund development of the project, Encana said in a statement. The accord follows Beijing-based PetroChina’s agreement last week to pay US$1.63 billion for a
stake in the Browse liquefied natural gas venture in Australia. The two deals more than double PetroChina’s spending on overseas assets this year, and come less than a week after Canada approved the US$15.1 billion takeover of Nexen Inc. by rival Cnooc Ltd. The stateowned company wants half its oil and gas output to come from overseas by the end of the decade. “It seems obvious that they were waiting for the government approval
for Nexen so they could get clarification of the rules surrounding state-owned ownership,” Eric Nuttall, a portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management LP in Toronto, said. The deal marks the first between Canada and a state-owned company since Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled new foreign investment rules on December 7. The rules, announced after the approval of Cnooc’s purchase of Nexen, prohibit state- owned enterprises
from taking control of Canadian oil-sands businesses unless there are “exceptional circumstances.” Joint ventures and minority stake acquisitions aren’t barred under the rules. Encana’s chief executive Randy Eresman said the deal wasn’t “held up” by the development of Canada’s new rules, though he did consult with the federal government to make sure the joint venture would be allowed. Bloomberg News
10 |
business daily December 17, 2012
ASIA South Korea Nov. exports revised South Korean exports in November rose 3.8 percent from a year earlier, revised customs data showed yesterday, marginally lower than a provisional 3.9 percent rise reported earlier but still marking the first back-to-back growth this year. Imports by Asia’s fourth-largest economy in November grew 0.9 percent from a year ago, Korea Customs Data showed, slightly faster than a 0.7 percent rise initially estimated by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Exports to the crisis-hit European Union fell by 13.9 percent from a year earlier, while those to China rose by 10.5 percent.
Japan seen exiting recession next quarter Tankan business confidence falls to near 3-year low
E
conomists have stood by forecasts of Japan making a fragile recovery early next year to exit a shallow recession, with high expectations that yesterday’s election will usher in a new government intent on aggressive monetary easing, a Reuters poll showed. Analysts expect the world’s third largest economy to grow 0.4 percent in the January-March quarter after shrinking 0.1 percent in the current quarter, according to the median forecast from a poll of 24 economists taken last week. That consensus forecast is unchanged from last month, though much has changed in Japan since last month’s poll. In mid-November, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gave in to pressures for an early election, which sent the
yen tumbling 5.6 percent as markets expect him to lose to a rival who advocates aggressive monetary easing. Media polls show the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was set for a stunning victory in yesterday’s election, returning to power with Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister, at the helm. Mr Abe has vowed to press the Bank of Japan for more powerful monetary stimulus to beat deflation and to weaken a yen currency whose strength has hurt the country’s export reliant economy.
Monetary easing For the financial year to March 2013, the latest survey showed the economy was expected to grow 1.0 percent, up from the 0.8 percent
KEY POINTS Fragile recovery seen underway in early 2013 Big manufacturers’ sentiment index at -12 Service-sector mood worsens, first in 6 quarters BOJ likely to ease this week Next government to give budget boost, analysts say
expected in the November survey. The economy is then expected to expand by a modest 1.3 percent in the following fiscal year, the poll showed. A majority of respondents, 14 out of 19, expected the BOJ to ease monetary policy at its next meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. But they were split on whether the BOJ will ease again in January. Nine said yes, eight said no. Only a few of the economists surveyed responded to a question on how the BOJ might ease policy. Three said the BOJ might opt to buy longer dated government bonds than it currently buys under its asset purchasing programme. “Japan remains under deflationary pressure and such pressure won’t disappear easily. The BOJ will probably ease in
India’s inflation rate slows further Helped by an easing of fuel and manufacturing prices
I
ndia’s inflation unexpectedly eased in November, a moderation that may not spur the central bank to cut interest rates next week as price gains still remain above its comfort level. The wholesale-price index rose 7.24 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 7.45 percent in October, the Commerce Ministry said in a
statement in New Delhi on Friday. Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao may wait for more evidence that inflation is on an easing trend before heeding Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram’s call for cheaper credit to back a government policy overhaul. Growth is slowing in Asia’s third-largest economy as food
Singh to speed up sale of stakes in state firms India will speed up the sale of stakes in state companies to revive the stock market and will push ahead with reforms aimed at spurring an investment recovery in the flagging economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday. Selling equity in large public industries is a central plank of the government’s plan to bring down a wide fiscal deficit, a major weakness in Asia’s third largest economy. This week, the
sale of 10 percent in state miner NMDC raised US$1.1 billion and the government is aiming for 300 billion rupees from such partial privatisations by March. “We will speed up the disinvestment process, which will also revive our equity markets,” Mr Singh told a gathering of industry representatives in New Delhi. However, he did not give details of a new timetable for the sales, which is due to include energy exploration major Oil India.
costs, supply bottlenecks from choked roads and ports and longer-term rupee weakness fanned price pressures and hurt purchasing power. “We need to see a sustained drop in inflation to say the price situation has become benign,” said Arun Singh, an economist at Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Pvt. in Mumbai. “The RBI is likely to stay on hold next week given that inflation still holds above its comfort level.” Wholesale prices rose 8.07 percent in September, more than the 7.81 percent pace estimated earlier, the ministry said. The Reserve Bank of India will review interest rates at the final meeting of 2012 tomorrow. The central bank will keep the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 8 percent, according to 18 of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, with one forecasting a 50 basis-point reduction. Fuel prices rose 10.02 percent in November from a year earlier, compared with 11.71 percent in October, the report showed. Non-
food manufactured goods, a measure of core inflation, gained 4.49 percent last month compared with 5.19 percent in October, calculations by Bloomberg showed. The pace of price increases in Asia’s third-biggest economy remains the fastest among the largest emerging markets. Consumer prices climbed 9.9 percent in November from a year earlier, the highest rate in the G-20 after Argentina. Mr Subbarao has kept the repurchase rate unchanged since a half-a-percentage point reduction in April. He has resisted calls by Chidambaram for lower borrowing costs as inflation stayed above the central bank’s comfort level of about 5 percent. The central bank has signalled it may reduce rates next quarter if inflation eases. The central bank may act on rates in January, Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said in New Delhi yesterday. Bloomberg News/Reuters
December 17, 2012 business daily | 11
ASIA AirAsia in US$9.4 bln Airbus plane deal AirAsia confirmed an order for 100 more Airbus jets, making it the European planemaker’s largest airline customer by number of planes ordered. The deal for 64 revamped, fuel-efficient A320neo jets and 36 current-generation A320s comes on top of 375 similar planes already ordered by Asia’s largest low-cost carrier. “We have just bought 100 planes which makes a total of 475. To meet the amazing demand in Asia,” AirAsia owner Tony Fernandes wrote on Twitter. The deal is worth US$9.4 billion at list prices but in practice aircraft are sold at significant discounts.
were split between options for the BOJ to undertake unlimited easing and scrapping the 0.1 percent interest it pays banks on excess reserves parked with it. But the central bank is unlikely to cut its benchmark interest rate, the overnight call rate currently set at between 0.0-0.1 percent, to below zero, according to 10 of 18 analysts.
Business mood
Big manufacturers have seen a slowdown in demand for their products from key markets
December and possibly again in January with the political pressure as well,” said Takumi Tsunoda, senior economist at Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute. Looking ahead to how the BOJ might act if the LDP wins the election,
Singapore Airlines plots Asia expansion Cash-rich Singapore Airlines Ltd will likely need acquisitions or more partnerships as it reshapes its strategy to tap into the fast growing Asian markets and to counter stiff competition from Middle Eastern carriers. SIA’s cash pile stands at S$4.7 billion (US$3.85 billion), and that is set to increase after it agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic to Delta Air Lines for US$360 million. SIA had written off the investment after purchasing the stake in 2000. China and India, with their combined population of about 2.6 billion people, are obvious growth markets to tap. SIA has tried to buy into the two countries’ carriers previously, without success. “India is opening up, and the airlines there are quite distressed, so it could be one possible area,” said Derrick Heng, an analyst at Phillip Securities. “SIA is more than capable of funding their acquisitions with a strong balance sheet and whatever cash flows will come from the sale of Virgin Atlantic,” he said. Singapore Airlines is also taking on low cost rivals with the launch of its own budget carrier, Scoot, and is expanding this line of business across the region. SIA’s chief executive Goh Choon Phong, who took charge in January 2011, has said the carrier needs to again target China and India. “We’d like to grow more in China and India, but there are some limitations to operations in both those countries,” said SIA spokesman Nicholas Ionides, referring to traffic rights in India and airport slots in parts of China. Reuters
as expected, 12 of the 18 analysts who responded to the question saw the central bank falling in line with Mr Abe’s proposal for a 2 percent inflation rate goal, double the current BOJ target of 1 percent. A small minority of respondents
Japanese business sentiment worsened for a second straight quarter in the three months to December and will barely improve early next year, a central bank survey showed, as the global slowdown and a territorial row with China hit the export-reliant economy. “Both manufacturers and nonmanufacturers were worse than expected. Declines in exports are hurting manufacturers, but for nonmanufacturers, the numbers show that the benefits of reconstruction spending are starting to fade,” said Shuji Tonouchi, senior fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFG Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.
“There were already expectations for the Bank of Japan to ease policy after the Federal Reserve’s move. The tankan results support further easing by the BOJ.” Big manufacturers’ mood soured for the second straight quarter with the headline sentiment index falling 9 points from September to minus 12, worse than a median market forecast of minus 10, the BOJ’s closelywatched tankan quarterly survey showed on Friday. In a sign the pain from weakening exports was broadening, service-sector sentiment worsened 4 points to plus 4, the first decline in six quarters. Sectors that had benefited from reconstruction spending after last year’s earthquake such as construction and transport took a hit. Big manufacturers expect conditions to barely improve and non-manufacturers project a further deterioration in business three months ahead, the survey showed, as the global slowdown persists and domestic demand starts to lose support from spending for reconstruction. Reuters
Australia less vulnerable than most: OECD But mining tax and state taxes need overhaul, it warns
A
ustralia’s historically low domestic interest rates and budget tightening efforts are appropriate and will place the resource-rich economy in a ‘good position’ to respond to risks, the OECD said yesterday. In a report on Australia, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development also said the country was less vulnerable than many of its developed peers. “Monetary easing in the context of low inflation is supporting activity while the budget is being rapidly returned to surplus to restore fiscal space,” the OECD said. “The current monetary and fiscal policy mix is appropriate to sustain recovery, and Australia is in a good position to respond to risks.” Should a full-scale global crisis similar to the one seen in 2008/09 erupts, Australia has room to deliver further cuts in interest rates and the government should adopt “prompt fiscal expansion”, it added. Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its cash rate by a quarter point to a record-matching low 3.0 percent, having slashed rates by a total of 175 basis points in the past 13 months. The OECD said Australia has weathered the global economic crisis well thanks to sound macroeconomic policies and strong demand from China for resources such as iron ore and coal. Yet it noted that non-mining sectors have struggled with a high local dollar driven by the mining boom.
Monetary and fiscal policy mix appropriate, says OECD
For Australia to continue to outperform its developed peers, the OECD said productivity needs to improve. “Part of the slowdown in multi-factor productivity growth is temporary, as key resource or infrastructure projects have not yet come on stream and the structurally weaker industries gradually adjust to the new conditions,” it said. But to sustain broad-based increases in living standards, there must be policies to improve vocational and higher education to meet future skill needs, resolve infrastructure bottlenecks as well as stronger
competition, it said. The OECD said the Australian government should also consider creating a stabilisation fund to accumulate mining-related revenues when times are good so as to insulate its budget and spending. As well, the government should undertake several reforms to help smooth the structural changes stemming from the mining boom, the OECD said. These include maintaining a flexible labour market and tax reforms, including a lower corporate tax rate, a broader resource rent tax and more efficient state taxes. Reuters
12 |
business daily December 17, 2012
MARKETS Hang SENG INDEX PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
31.65
3.094463
31761298
CHINA UNICOM HON
12.32
-0.4846527
34760703
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.61
4.33526
39083434
CITIC PACIFIC
10.78
1.125704
7043498
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.46
1.169591
327039264
CLP HLDGS LTD
65.15
0.5401235
10192569
SINO LAND CO
BANK OF COMMUN-H
5.85
1.73913
56345045
CNOOC LTD
16.88
0.4761905
44409108
SUN HUNG KAI PRO
BANK EAST ASIA
29.5
-0.6734007
4032574
COSCO PAC LTD
11.48
0
5966244
NAME AIA GROUP LTD
NAME
NAME POWER ASSETS HOL SANDS CHINA LTD
BELLE INTERNATIO
15.86
-0.6265664
13781618
ESPRIT HLDGS
12.04
-1.794454
11546785
24.35
1.458333
17744856
HANG LUNG PROPER
29.95
1.525424
6243676
TINGYI HLDG CO
CATHAY PAC AIR
13.86
1.020408
2414527
HANG SENG BK
117.9
0.255102
1172525
WANT WANT CHINA
CHEUNG KONG
120.6
0.5838198
2254194
WHARF HLDG
8.29
2.093596
40608237
CHINA CONST BA-H
6.28
0.8025682
285384596
CHINA LIFE INS-H
24.05
2.340426
57409692
CHINA MERCHANT
24.8
2.268041
2920547
CHINA MOBILE
88.9
-0.1123596
CHINA OVERSEAS
23.7
1.282051
CHINA PETROLEU-H
8.71
CHINA RES ENTERP
56
1.818182
3775038
HENGAN INTL
HENDERSON LAND D
67.45
-1.172161
8306828
HONG KG CHINA GS
21.25
0
6732094
HONG KONG EXCHNG
132.2
0.9160305
7867929
HSBC HLDGS PLC
80.75
0.623053
11952307
20393576
HUTCHISON WHAMPO
80.35
0.8788449
4611587
16961886
IND & COMM BK-H
5.48
0.1828154
369666706
-0.3432494
77052246
LI & FUNG LTD
13.3
-0.1501502
11250604
28.1
0.8976661
2672550
MTR CORP
30.9
0.8156607
2883433
DAY %
66.35
0.7593014
3504809
34.5
-0.1447178
11064951
14.14
0.8559201
3841549
116.7
0.3439381
3102362
94
0.1598295
1360451
251.6
-0.4746835
2259994
21.6
-1.818182
5773448
10.84
-1.275046
18880057
60.6
1.253133
5237135
SWIRE PACIFIC-A
BOC HONG KONG HO
CHINA COAL ENE-H
PRICE
TENCENT HOLDINGS
MOVERS
35
13
VOLUME
2 22627
INDEX 22605.98 HIGH
22627.17
LOW
22391.55
CHINA RES LAND
20.55
-0.4842615
12031404
NEW WORLD DEV
12.18
0.3294893
8122313
52W (H) 22636.42969
CHINA RES POWER
18.54
1.980198
7063320
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.9
1.301115
73865144
(L) 17821.51953
CHINA SHENHUA-H
32.65
2.03125
17473186
PING AN INSURA-H
62.95
3.451109
26900352
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
27.45
3.584906
15538340
YANZHOU COAL-H
22391
12-December
14-December
Hang SENG CHINA ENTErPRISE INDEX NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-H
3.8
2.425876
261535428
AIR CHINA LTD-H
6.12
-0.9708738
26869951
CHINA PETROLEU-H
8.71
-0.3432494
77052246
ZIJIN MINING-H
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.61
4.33526
39083434
CHINA RAIL CN-H
8.62
0.116144
62317817
ANHUI CONCH-H
29.35
2.982456
14597670
CHINA RAIL GR-H
4.61
1.766004
16058605
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.46
1.169591
327039264
CHINA SHENHUA-H
32.65
2.03125
17473186
CHINA TELECOM-H
CHINA PACIFIC-H
5.85
1.73913
56345045
4.32
1.17096
58551400
19.56
0
1616315
DONGFENG MOTOR-H
12.28
0.1631321
13950666
CHINA CITIC BK-H
4.49
2.511416
77756656
GUANGZHOU AUTO-H
7
3.092784
9129565
CHINA COAL ENE-H
8.29
2.093596
40608237
HUANENG POWER-H
7
1.449275
19194574
CHINA COM CONS-H
7.48
0.4026846
14248592
IND & COMM BK-H
5.48
0.1828154
369666706
CHINA CONST BA-H
6.28
0.8025682
285384596
JIANGXI COPPER-H
20.55
-0.2427184
6880706
BANK OF COMMUN-H BYD CO LTD-H
3.85
3.217158
39388458
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.9
1.301115
73865144
24.05
2.340426
57409692
PICC PROPERTY &
10.22
2.2
28053523
CHINA LONGYUAN-H
5.23
-5.424955
88443649
PING AN INSURA-H
62.95
3.451109
26900352
CHINA MERCH BK-H
16.66
2.083333
16181639
SHANDONG WEIG-H
8.37
2.95203
16087500
CHINA COSCO HO-H CHINA LIFE INS-H
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
12.34
0.6525285
30942803
3.15
0.6389776
64878311
ZOOMLION HEAVY-H
11.18
6.883365
51131487
ZTE CORP-H
12.68
2.423263
8694026
MOVERS
35
5
0 11345
INDEX 11307.42 HIGH
11345.99
LOW
11059.81
CHINA MINSHENG-H
8.65
2.245863
63302422
SINOPHARM-H
25.05
0.2
1593730
52W (H) 11916.1
CHINA NATL BDG-H
11.46
3.243243
54120185
TSINGTAO BREW-H
45.5
0.2202643
1008900
(L) 8987.76
CHINA OILFIELD-H
16.46
-1.555024
6552355
WEICHAI POWER-H
33.95
2.413273
2402115
11059
12-December
14-December
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-A
2.79
4.104478
191904263
CITIC SECURITI-A
11.53
7.35568
172651689
AIR CHINA LTD-A
5.35
6.361829
31316487
CSR CORP LTD -A
5.04
2.857143
66735399
ALUMINUM CORP-A
4.95
4.210526
27112239
DAQIN RAILWAY -A
6.51
3.006329
ANGANG STEEL-A
3.76
4.735376
30131806
DATANG INTL PO-A
3.92
ANHUI CONCH-A
18.76
4.6875
43364635
EVERBRIG SEC -A
BANK OF BEIJIN-A
8.86
8.845209
98866486
BANK OF CHINA-A
2.92
3.180212
98018112
BANK OF COMMUN-A
4.61
5.491991
271611707
GF SECURITIES-A
NAME
NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
15.41
3.561828
30090083
SANY HEAVY INDUS
9.25
6.689735
90715546
64031605
SHANDONG GOLD-MI
36.93
2.78319
19096578
3.703704
21137204
SHANG PHARM -A
10.66
5.128205
17958492
12.63
9.067358
26650638
SHANG PUDONG-A
8.9
7.358263
344394455
GD POWER DEVEL-A
2.42
3.418803
142243625
SHANGHAI ELECT-A
3.87
3.2
9046086
GEMDALE CORP-A
6.23
6.132879
108375842
SHANXI LU'AN -A
19.02
7.215333
27672631
SAIC MOTOR-A
13.7
10.04016
71707072
SHANXI XINGHUA-A
35.84
3.553886
8646171
23.98
3.362069
23138155
SHANXI XISHAN-A
12.37
6.72994
33642180
BANK OF NINGBO-A
10.1
8.836207
52548286
GREE ELECTRIC
BAOSHAN IRON & S
4.86
3.184713
49411221
GUANGHUI ENERG-A
15.59
2.229508
55792159
SHENZEN OVERSE-A
6.46
2.21519
78216312
BBMG CORPORATI-A
7.39
6.637807
60815831
HAITONG SECURI-A
9.28
5.574516
135709020
SUNING APPLIAN-A
6.31
5.342237
83211324
16.99
3.219927
8037479
HANGZHOU HIKVI-A
30.12
4.293629
5045184
TSINGTAO BREW-A
31.83
3.143227
2774783
CHINA CITIC BK-A
4.07
6.824147
72191355
HENAN SHUAN-A
56.1
2.822581
5209440
WEICHAI POWER-A
25.15
5.230126
14629573
CHINA CNR CORP-A
4.62
3.355705
61978061
HONG YUAN SEC-A
16.99
8.980115
24105497
WUHAN IRON & S-A
2.74
3.007519
44989726
CHINA COAL ENE-A
7.35
4.107649
29197962
HUATAI SECURIT-A
8.9
8.009709
32347085
WULIANGYE YIBIN
25.33
1.482372
67948158
CHINA CONST BA-A
4.5
3.686636
83994406
HUAXIA BANK CO
9.85
8.004386
84120450
YANGQUAN COAL -A
12.93
6.07055
24208561
CHINA COSCO HO-A
4.42
4.245283
32781910
IND & COMM BK-A
4.1
3.797468
137637472
YANTAI CHANGYU-A
44.95
5.1708
2933385
CHINA CSSC HOL-A
19.93
3.856175
10723788
INDUSTRIAL BAN-A
15.2
9.117014
170600782
YANTAI WANHUA-A
14.47
4.25072
15841200 9862510
BYD CO LTD -A
CHINA EAST AIR-A
3.23
4.87013
40496248
INNER MONG BAO-A
33.64
5.487614
75437222
YANZHOU COAL-A
17.07
5.046154
CHINA EVERBRIG-A
2.89
6.642066
361412130
INNER MONG YIL-A
20.79
2.413793
17553916
YUNNAN BAIYAO-A
63.61
2.613325
3416188
19.56
5.387931
41598852
INNER MONGOLIA-A
5.03
5.010438
80431232
ZHONGJIN GOLD
15.88
2.517753
34904122
11.7
7.635695
165003971
JIANGSU HENGRU-A
28.87
1.870148
6150825
ZIJIN MINING-A
3.77
3.287671
104808723
36486056
JIANGSU YANGHE-A
91.4
0.3954306
5442703
ZOOMLION HEAVY-A
8.9
5.200946
102024257
JIANGXI COPPER-A
22.07
4.646752
17566194
ZTE CORP-A
8.6
5.006105
28521942
JINDUICHENG -A
11.23
4.757463
8739118
ZTE CORP-A
8.38
2.444988
17657199
JIZHONG ENERGY-A
11.85
7.239819
33235605 21911776
CHINA LIFE INS-A CHINA MERCH BK-A CHINA MERCHANT-A
9.59
7.752809
CHINA MERCHANT-A
26.86
5.581761
15574304
CHINA MINSHENG-A
7.5
8.853411
361845656
CHINA NATIONAL-A
7.99
6.391478
59477204
16.67
3.283767
5789907
KANGMEI PHARMA-A
15.32
2.133333
207.92
1.079242
7892633
CHINA OILFIELD-A
20.29
7.81084
40523288
KWEICHOW MOUTA-A
CHINA PETROLEU-A
6.53
3.980892
62715336
LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A
32
1.878383
25297606
CHINA RAILWAY-A
5.82
3.00885
65766091
METALLURGICAL-A
2.15
3.365385
78173921
2.52
2.439024
46965671
3.61
4.94186
76138844
8.9
2.534562
33930156
HIGH
2355.86
LOW
2242.64
CHINA PACIFIC-A
CHINA RAILWAY-A
3.06
3.030303
74903359
NINGBO PORT CO-A
CHINA SHENHUA-A
23.28
3.237251
27894221
PANGANG GROUP -A
CHINA SHIPBUIL-A
4.34
4.830918
81544887
PETROCHINA CO-A
CHINA SOUTHERN-A
3.66
4.87106
54561089
PING AN BANK-A
15.18
7.965861
77413771
CHINA STATE -A
3.53
5.059524
284707082
PING AN INSURA-A
41.96
7.977355
54804940
CHINA UNITED-A
3.43
3.625378
125836206
POLY REAL ESTA-A
12.91
3.778135
101992906
CHINA VANKE CO-A
9.7
4.077253
120122106
QINGDAO HAIER-A
11.99
3.095443
17411066
CHINA YANGTZE-A
6.76
2.891933
33691789
QINGHAI SALT-A
25.34
4.537954
9042747
PRICE DAY %
Volume
MOVERS
299
1
0 2355
INDEX 2355.865
52W (H) 2717.825 (L) 2102.135
2242
12-December
14-December
FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX PRICE DAY %
Volume
0
14694804
FORMOSA PLASTIC
78.5 -0.3807107
5205578
ADVANCED SEMICON
24.9 -0.5988024
18645273
FOXCONN TECHNOLO
94.1
ASIA CEMENT CORP
37.4
-0.795756
NAME ACER INC
ASUSTEK COMPUTER
25.45
NAME
3740733
FUBON FINANCIAL
5047066 34112762
TSMC
98.4 -0.8064516
UNI-PRESIDENT
53.8 -0.3703704
UNITED MICROELEC
11.7
-2.5
6142687
HON HAI PRECISIO
91.5
-4.6875
124904360
296711903
HOTAI MOTOR CO
220
1.382488
578746
CATCHER TECH
142.5
-2.730375
9870996
283 -0.7017544
16145031
31.2
-1.10935
14114444
HUA NAN FINANCIA
16
8762585 70781494
30.95
-1.589825
7333274
0.2994012
8666613
YUANTA FINANCIAL
15
-1.960784
23486874
YULON MOTOR CO
55
0.5484461
4884223
-0.621118
7784603
LARGAN PRECISION
784
-6.888361
5335545
76.5 -0.6493506
4251561
LITE-ON TECHNOLO
39.6 -0.6273526
4118278
CHIMEI INNOLUX C
15.8
1.607717
358604846
CHINA DEVELOPMEN
7.56
-1.818182
79805552
MEGA FINANCIAL H
CHINA STEEL CORP
26.5
0.1890359
20623024
NAN YA PLASTICS
CHINATRUST FINAN
17.7 -0.2816901
24922522
CHUNGHWA TELECOM
93.7 -0.7415254
7246583
COMPAL ELECTRON
19.8
-1
16110964
DELTA ELECT INC
106
-1.851852
5479763
FAR EASTERN NEW
34.5
1.470588
FAR EASTONE TELE
73.8 -0.2702703
339.5
0
11044143
23
0
17760095
55.4
-1.598579
7289697
PRESIDENT CHAIN
158
0.3174603
1361797
QUANTA COMPUTER
69.7
1.751825
23173461
SILICONWARE PREC
31.2
-0.952381
6119180
SINOPAC FINANCIA
12.65
0
16498993
19745742
SYNNEX TECH INTL
55.1
-1.077199
9917348
6142753
TAIWAN CEMENT
39.05
0
6775543
18
0
12368770
TAIWAN COOPERATI
16.3
0
8428522
FORMOSA CHEM & F
70.5
0
5286371
TAIWAN FERTILIZE
76.6
-1.033592
3632711
FORMOSA PETROCHE
88.6
0.1129944
2601178
TAIWAN GLASS IND
29.45
0.5119454
1742515
WISTRON CORP
4049607
16.75
CHENG SHIN RUBBE
FIRST FINANCIAL
-2.3
13306246
-2.150538
MEDIATEK INC
488.5
33.75 -0.5891016
0.1494768
CHANG HWA BANK
-1.415094
TPK HOLDING CO L
335
Volume
104.5
23315764
13.65
HTC CORP
PRICE DAY %
TAIWAN MOBILE CO
-3.1893
AU OPTRONICS COR CATHAY FINANCIAL
NAME
MOVERS
11
31
8 5482
INDEX 5424.57 HIGH
5482.48
LOW
5393.68
52W (H) 5621.53 (L) 4643.05
5393
12-December
14-December
December 17, 2012 business daily | 13
MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) GALAXy ENTERTAINMENT
MELCO CROWN ENTERTAINMENT
MGM CHINA HOLDINGS 42.10
29.75
14.38
29.60
14.28 41.75
29.45
14.18
29.30
Max 29.75
Average 28.545
Min 29.15
14.08
29.15
Last 29.5
Max 42.1
SANDS CHINA LTD
Average 41.685
Min 41.4
41.40
Last 41.6
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
Max 14.38
Average 14.21
Min 19.98
Last 14.08
WyNN MACAU LTD 17.86
34.600
21.750 21.625
17.74 34.325
21.500 17.62
Average 34.372
Max 34.6
Min 34.05
Last 34.50
34.050
Average 17.76
NAME
PRICE
WTI CRUDE FUTURE Jan13
86.73
0.97799511
-11.30994989
109.6699982
79.68000031
BRENT CRUDE FUTR Feb13
108.18
1.615630284
4.917078848
119.2999954
90.38999939
GASOLINE RBOB FUT Jan13
266.21
2.305829907
7.629174416
293.3099985
218.4999943
923
0.217155266
3.042143455
1031.5
800.25
3.314
-0.985957574
-14.65361834
4.100000381
3.062000036
NATURAL GAS FUTR Jan13 HEATING OIL FUTR Jan13
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
298.07
1.256921561
3.734252106
334.2199802
255.5699825
1696.15
0.0088
8.3864
1796.08
1522.75
Silver Spot $/Oz
32.2725
-1.5782
15.9422
37.4775
26.1513
Platinum Spot $/Oz
1618.75
-0.0019
16.081
1736
1339.25
Palladium Spot $/Oz
702.75
2.7638
7.5363
725.19
553.75
LME ALUMINUM 3MO ($)
2122
-0.188146754
5.04950495
2361.5
1827.25
LME COPPER 3MO ($)
8065
-0.111468913
6.118421053
8765
7131
LME ZINC
2090
0.771456123
13.27913279
2220
1745
17875
0.988700565
-4.462854089
22150
15236
15.42
-0.516129032
0.423314881
16.60000038
14.60000038
730.75
1.457827143
21.74094127
846.25
511
3MO ($)
LME NICKEL 3MO ($) AGRICULTURE ROUGH RICE (CBOT) Jan13 Mar13
WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) Mar13
PRICE MAJORS
ASIA PACIFIC
CROSSES
(L) 52W
1.0857 1.6309 0.9972 1.3487 84.18 8.0191 7.7863 6.3964 57.3275 32 1.3092 30.396 44.35 9752 88.637 1.22426 0.8506 8.4894 10.7712 111.44 1.0314
0.9582 1.5235 0.8931 1.2043 76.03 7.9823 7.7498 6.2105 48.6088 30.2 1.2152 28.914 40.795 8875 74.482 1.19995 0.77553 7.7018 9.6245 94.12 1.029
MACAU RELATED STOCKS 2272684
10.13
-2.030948
25.21631
10.34
7.92
1440713
18.30999947
AMAX HOLDINGS LT
0.066
1.538462
-24.13793
0.119
0.055
4823000
66.84999847
BOC HONG KONG HO
24.35
1.458333
32.33696
25
17.96
17744856
-0.313370474
-39.84030258
249
142.1999969
SUGAR #11 (WORLD) Mar13
19.01
2.535059331
-18.62157534
25.12999916
COTTON NO.2 FUTR Mar13
75.09
0.71083691
-15.16212857
98.5
World Stock MarketS - Indices
NAME ARISTOCRAT LEISU
0.26
0
13.04348
0.335
0.204
0
0.4357298
64.64286
4.62
2.5
702000 16961886
CHINA OVERSEAS
23.7
1.282051
82.79424
24.25
12.066
CHINESE ESTATES
11.68
-1.016949
-6.56
13.26
8.3
296801
CHOW TAI FOOK JE
12.34
3.872054
-11.35058
15.16
8.4
9767900 1025000
EMPEROR ENTERTAI
1.7
3.030303
53.15315
1.82
0.99
FUTURE BRIGHT
1.19
2.586207
183.3333
1.43
0.38
1356000
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
29.5
1.724138
107.1629
29.85
13.28
13215292
117.9
0.255102
27.94357
120
91.15
1172525
31.2
0.3215434
59.16615
31.6
19.049
602172
80.75
0.623053
36.86441
80.85
57.05
11952307 2933000
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG
US
13135.01
-0.2711317
7.509275
13661.87
11735.19
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX
US
2971.335
-0.6960519
14.0562
3196.932
2518.01
HANG SENG BK
FTSE 100 INDEX
GB
5921.76
-0.1323864
6.27176
5989.07
5229.76
HOPEWELL HLDGS
DAX INDEX
GE
7596.47
0.191111
28.78975
7626.4
5637.53
HSBC HLDGS PLC
NIKKEI 225
JN
9737.56
-0.05306521
15.16448
10255.15
8238.96
HANG SENG INDEX
HK
22605.98
0.7146173
22.62939
22636.42969
17821.51953
CSI 300 INDEX
CH
2355.865
5.048971
0.4315499
2717.825
2102.135
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX
TA
7698.77
-0.7518283
8.861465
8170.72
6609.11
4583.109
0.006895358
12.98017
4603.5
3985
ID
4308.863
-0.2621645
12.73867
4381.746094
3635.283
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI
MA
1651.98
-0.04658902
7.921057
1679.37
1463.25
NZX ALL INDEX
NZ
861.697
0.1441095
18.07299
878.077
712.548
PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX
PH
3688.38
-0.89023
21.12747
3756.31
2971.97
VOLUME CRNCY
4.61
DAY %
AU
DAY % YTD %
CENTURY LEGEND
PRICE
1750.6
PRICE
CHEUK NANG HLDGS
COUNTRY
2057.28
(H) 52W
3.4969 4.0597 2.2118 1.5585 -7.9143 0.213 0.2232 0.7845 -2.6062 3.0372 6.3397 4.1984 6.6978 -6.4473 -11.1212 0.7193 2.4097 -0.5417 -0.8961 -9.3176 0.0097
CROWN LTD
143.15
9.272955
YTD %
2.16
COFFEE 'C' FUTURE Mar13
-0.3859654
0.2086 0.3101 0.9479 0.8118 -0.1317 -0.0013 0 -0.2145 -0.0367 0.098 0.1312 0.0551 -0.0852 -0.0516 -0.3388 0.1349 -0.4866 -0.2115 -0.2202 -0.9099 0
(L) 52W
1138
1995.04
DAY %
1.0566 1.6174 0.9178 1.3163 83.52 7.9826 7.7501 6.246 54.485 30.62 1.2193 29.059 41.088 9694 88.246 1.2081 0.81378 8.1785 10.4456 109.9 1.03
3.32
652
1728.25
SK
AUD GBP CHF EUR JPY MOP HKD CNY INR THB SGD TWD PHP IDR AUDJPY EURCHF EURGBP EURCNY EURMOP EURJPY HKDMOP
(H) 52W
948.25
21.85457516
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX
Last 21.50
Min 21.25
40.90909
10.89918256
1.290322581
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX
Average 21.587
-0.9584665
0.680272109
1491.5
KOSPI INDEX
21.250 Max 21.75
3.1
814
SOYBEAN FUTURE Mar13
NAME
Last 17.82
(L) 52W
Gold Spot $/Oz
CORN FUTURE
Min 17.50
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES
GAS OIL FUT (ICE) Feb13
METALS
21.375
17.50 Max 17.86
Commodities ENERGY
13.98
HUTCHISON TELE H
3.54
-0.2816901
18.39465
3.88
2.85
LUK FOOK HLDGS I
24
0
-11.43912
33.2
14.7
2511493
MELCO INTL DEVEL
9.16
4.805492
58.75217
9.2
5.12
13791200
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
14.08
-0.141844
46.78664
14.76
9.46
5488288
MIDLAND HOLDINGS
3.71
1.643836
-6.172081
5.217
3.249
3756000
NEPTUNE GROUP
0.152
-1.935484
36.93694
0.222
0.084
3500000
NEW WORLD DEV
12.18
0.3294893
94.56868
13.2
6.13
8122313
SANDS CHINA LTD
34.5
-0.1447178
57.17539
34.65
20.35
11064951
SHUN HO RESOURCE
1.4
0
40
1.43
0.97
0
SHUN TAK HOLDING
4.24
1.923077
65.68142
4.28
2.418
9191283
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
17.82
1.135074
42.49689
18.36
11.973
7163523
SMARTONE TELECOM
14.28
0
6.250003
17.5
12.96
1877536
WYNN MACAU LTD
21.5
0.4672897
10.25641
25.5
14.62
6988091
ASIA ENTERTAINME
3.23
1.892744
-45.06803
7.24
2.4
132333
BALLY TECHNOLOGI
45.4
-0.8083898
14.76238
51.16
36.29
407659 7754
HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor
SI
620.84
0.44
25.09
NA
NA
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX
TH
1358.5
0.3464297
32.49523
1360.42
1019.55
HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX
VN
392.21
0.2607429
11.56592
492.44
332.28
BOC HONG KONG HO
3.04
0
26.81528
3.3
2.32
Laos Composite Index
LO
1215.76
0
35.16554
1249.34
876.33
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
3.85
4.336043
105.8824
3.88
1.75
5900
INTL GAME TECH
14.43
-0.6198347
-16.10465
18.1
10.92
3470682
JONES LANG LASAL
82.08
-0.5452563
33.98629
87.52
56.51
300183
LAS VEGAS SANDS
46.37
0.9799652
15.53049
58.3216
32.6127
6749122
MELCO CROWN-ADR
16.76
3.77709
74.22038
16.98
8.74
6830177
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
1.8
0
51.04559
1.96
1.1917
100
MGM RESORTS INTE
11.38
-0.4374453
9.108338
14.9401
8.83
7544471
SHFL ENTERTAINME
13.07
-0.5327245
11.51877
18.77
10.61
303574
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
2.33
5.909091
44.939
2.36
1.5484
12000
113.75
-0.4114866
9.795706
129.6589
84.4902
1296645
Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalisation. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.
WYNN RESORTS LTD
AUD HKD
USD
14 |
business daily December 17, 2012
Opinion As China rises, so do Australia’s anxieties Jeffrey Goldberg
Bloomberg View columnist
O
ne of the most immediately apparent features of Australia is its vast emptiness. A mere 23 million people are spread over a landmass the size of the continental U.S. Actually, not spread over at all: Almost half the population lives in just two cities, Sydney and Melbourne. The capital, Canberra, makes Washington seem like Paris and Rio de Janeiro rolled into one. And then there’s Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane, and that’s about it. (Pre-emptive apologies to Hobart.) So when I was in Parliament in Canberra recently, speaking with the prime minister, Julia Gillard, about the unfixable Middle East mess, a solution came to mind: Why not move the Israelis and the Palestinians to a couple of Australia’s most underpopulated states? Australia could use the collective moxie of these two well-educated and neurotic peoples. Gillard, who is one of the Australian Labor Party’s few remaining stalwart Israel supporters, had a quick comeback: “Funny you should say that. As history recalls there was an active debate about giving the Jewish people a section of Australia as a resolution of their desire to have a state, but there’s a reason they wanted their homeland where it is. Policy makers may have misunderstood the nature of the aspiration.”
response was telling. “We’ve done all right when it comes to landmass,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of land, but it’s dry land. One of the biggest domestic political issues we debate is water. In terms of migration settings, we run a sizable migration programme, and we do that to meet our nation’s economic needs, but it will always be calibrated to those needs, and the core of it is a skilled migration programme.” Although there is limited appetite in Australia for Asian immigrants, in other words, there is no limit to the Australian appetite for Asian money. Most of the country’s political and economic elite, led by Gillard, seem eager to pivot their economy toward Asia. A substantial amount of China’s industrial growth is already fuelled by minerals extracted from that dry Australian soil. Gillard’s
a consistent theme. One junior officer in the Australian military who I spoke to put it this way: The government can try to make Australia as Asian as it wants, but most people are happier believing their country is solidly in the American sphere of influence, rather than the Chinese.
government recently issued a white paper that labelled the coming era the Asian Century, and promised that every Australian school would teach at least one Asian language. In 10 days of conversations across Australia, however, apprehension about China’s rise among many in the country’s middle class was
“We are not engaged in a containment strategy of China. The idea that the Chinese would be flummoxed by 2,500 Marines is a little bit of an odd proposition.” She quickly added: “I know the Marines are a very elite force, but 2,500 of them do not pose an emerging threat to China.” She said the Marines were being stationed
The marines Australians who are sensitive about their country’s sovereignty have been grumbling about the stationing of 2,500 U.S. Marines in Darwin. On the whole, though, most of those I spoke to thought that the Marines will help check Chinese political ambitions in their region. When I asked Gillard if the Chinese were right to suspect that the Marine contingent was part of an American-led strategy to limit China’s reach, she scoffed.
Although there is limited appetite in Australia for Asian immigrants, in other words, there is no limit to the Australian appetite for Asian money
want your business, and we will learn your language, but we will not be subsumed by you. This is an unprecedented moment for Australia. In the words of Michael Fullilove, the executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, “For the first time in our history, our largest trading partner is a potential peer competitor of our great strategic ally.” I asked Gillard if she thought her country was walking too fine a line. As Australia grows more and more dependent on the Chinese market, can its historical alliance with the U.S. really remain unchanged? “Asia’s rise – China, India, Indonesia – the continuing strength of Japan and South Korea, the emergence from poverty of many nations toward more advanced economies, all means that we need to grasp the economic opportunities coming our way,” she said. “We have the ability to map out a course in this century so that we all benefit from this time of change. But none of this detracts from a longterm pivotal alliance with the United States, and we want the United States to be on this journey in our region as it changes, as a partner with us and a partner in the region.” It seems plausible that China, which at times conducts its foreign policy
Opening gates OK, so no wholesale transplant of Israelis (or, presumably, Palestinians). The fact remains: Australia is an empty country. Yet there’s much anxiety there about refugees and migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and all across Asia. To an American visitor, that anxiety seems a bit overblown – last year, according to the United Nations, Australia admitted only 9,200 refugees. I asked Gillard why her country couldn’t open its gates a bit wider. After all, Australia seeks to be a top-10 world economy (it is the 12th biggest now, by most counts). An influx of Asian immigrants could be beneficial. Her
in Darwin primarily because they wanted a tough terrain on which to train. It’s fairly obvious, though, that this was a fine bit of spin. The U.S. clearly has tough training terrain as well. Stationing Marines in Darwin can’t be interpreted any other way except as a signal from Australia to the Chinese: We
in a carelessly prickly and aggressive manner, could one day confront Australia (and other U.S. allies in the region) with unpredictable nationalsecurity challenges. As Australia pivots toward China, then, it makes eminent sense to keep the U.S. very close by. Bloomberg View
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December 17, 2012 business daily | 15
OPINION Business
wires Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers
The Euroless Union? Barry Eichengreen
Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley
Asahi Shimbun A quarterly survey by Japan’s central bank on Friday showed major Japanese manufacturers are increasingly gloomy, due largely to weakening exports that resulted from antagonisms with China over a territorial dispute. The Bank of Japan’s “tankan” index for the three months that ends in December was minus 12, much worse than expected and a steep drop from the minus 3 reading in the previous quarter. While the survey is a measure of sentiment, not data, it ups the likelihood of further easing by the central bank at its policy meeting this week.
Korea Herald Tech watchers have reported that South Korea’s Samsung is working on a Galaxy Note with a 6.3-inch screen. As the lines between a phone and tablet blur even further, Samsung is said to be working on a Galaxy Note 3 with a screen almost an inch larger that the Note 2‘s 5.5-inch display. The first Galaxy Note, mocked by many as a “phablet” for its 5.3-inch screen, saw decent sales, and the incrementally larger Note 2 was an even bigger success, selling 5 million units in two months, double the rate of the original, CNET reported.
Straits Times Singapore’s government has earmarked a total of 32 sites for sale in the first half of 2013 under its land sales programme. They will yield about 14,000 private homes – including 3,100 executive condominium units – comparable to the GLS programme in the second half of this year. The sites will provide an adequate supply of private housing to meet continued demand from homebuyers, the Ministry of National Development was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday. Under the programme, the government has put 12 private residential sites and a commercial-cum-residential site under its confirmed list.
Jakarta Post Kuala Lumpur-based carrier Malaysia Airlines plans to increase its services to more Indonesian destinations in order to tap into the growing demand from the country’s business and leisure travellers. Regional senior vice president for Malaysia and ASEAN Muzammil Mohammad was quoted saying the airline is looking at cities like Semarang, Surabaya, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara for the new services. “They are important points in Indonesia and with a population of 250 million people, Indonesia is a great market … whenever it is feasible, we are going to introduce the new services,” he added.
E
urope’s crisis has entered a quiet phase, which is no accident. The current period of relative calm coincides with the approach of Germany’s federal election in 2013, in which the incumbent chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be running as the woman who saved the euro. But the crisis will be back, if not before Germany’s upcoming election, then after. Southern Europe has not done enough to enhance its competitiveness, while northern Europe has not done enough to boost demand. Debt burdens remain crushing, and Europe’s economy remains unable to grow. Across the continent, political divisions are deepening. For all of these reasons, the spectre of a euro zone collapse has not been dispatched. The consequences of a collapse would not be pretty. Whichever country precipitated it – Germany by threatening to abandon the euro, or Greece or Spain by actually doing so – would trigger economic chaos and incur its neighbours’ wrath. To protect themselves from the financial fallout, governments would invoke obscure clauses in EU treaties in order to slap temporary controls on capital flows and ring-fence their banking systems. They would close their borders to stem capital flight. It would be each country for itself. Would the European Union survive? The answer depends on what one means by the EU. If one means its political organs – the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice, then the answer is yes. These institutions are now a halfcentury old; they are not going away.
Breakup risks As for the single market, the EU’s landmark achievement, there is no question that a euro zone breakup would severely disrupt its operation
in the short run. Trucks would be halted at national borders. Banking and financial systems would be balkanized. Workers would be prevented from moving. But what would happen then? There has always been a debate about whether it is possible to have a single market without a single currency. Critics of the euro have always asked: Why not? Under this scenario, the Single European Act, signed in 1986, would remain in place. Member states would be obliged to restore free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the EU’s “four freedoms” – as quickly as possible. Given the clear benefits that Europe has derived from the single market, they would have every incentive to do so. Proponents of the single currency object that if Europe has separate national currencies, it will have separate banking systems, each with its own lender of last resort. So much, then, for a single market in financial services, or for harmonising regulation and removing trade barriers behind the border. Free trade in goods and free movement of capital and labour would not survive the euro’s collapse, these diehard Europhiles warn. We may yet find out if they are right.
Debt burdens remain crushing, and Europe’s economy remains unable to grow. Across the continent, political divisions are deepening
compromise their courts’ independence, or discriminate against minorities. The cooperation needed to make that peer pressure effective might conceivably survive the euro’s collapse. But finger-pointing about which country was responsible for Europe’s damaging financial disruption would make it difficult for the members to maintain a common front. It
seems likely that the acquis would lose much of its force. A final way of thinking about the EU is as the “ever closer union” referred to in the Treaty of Rome and echoed in the Maastricht Treaty. “Ever closer union” means an EU that moves ineluctably from economic and monetary union to banking union, then to fiscal union, and finally to political union. This is what European leaders had in mind when they created the euro. They hoped that establishing a monetary union would generate irresistible pressure for the creation of an EU that functioned in all respects as a cohesive economic and political bloc. Europe’s leaders were right about the pressure. Monetary union without banking union will not work, and a workable banking union requires at least some elements of fiscal and political union. But they were wrong about the irresistible part. There is no inevitability about what comes next. Europe can either move forward, toward deeper integration, or it can move backward, toward national sovereignty. Its leaders and, this time, its people need to decide. It is on their decision alone that the future of both the euro and the EU depends. © Project Syndicate
‘Ever closer union’ And what about the acquis communautaire, the body of law that enshrines member states’ obligations not just in terms of economic policies, but also in terms of democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights? The intent of the acquis is not simply to make Europe more prosperous, but to make it more civilised. Spain, Portugal, and Greece had to establish functioning democracies before applying for EU membership. Even now, Hungary and Romania feel peer pressure and face sanctions from their EU partners when they engage in dubious electoral practices,
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business daily December 17, 2012
CLOSING Migrant workers rally in Hong Kong
S.Korea: Lee leaves race to bolster Moon
About a thousand migrant domestic workers from Southeast Asia rallied in Hong Kong yesterday to mark International Migrants Day and push for better working conditions and higher wages. “The government is trying very hard to exclude Asian migrant workers from equal benefits,” Eni Lestari from Indonesia, a spokeswoman for the rally organisers Asia Migrants Coordinating Body, told AFP. United Filipinos chairperson Dolores Balladares said the minimum monthly wage for foreign domestic workers had increased by just HK$60 (US$7.7) in the past 13 years to HK$3,920, far from keeping up with the rising cost of living.
South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jung Hee abandoned the race, providing a boost for main opposition contender Moon Jae In as he trails the front-runner from the ruling party by less than 1 percentage point. Ms Lee, a candidate from the Unified Progressive Party, is leaving the contest because allowing the New Frontier Party’s Park Geun Hye to win would be a “backward step in history,” according to a statement yesterday on her website. South Koreans vote on Wednesday to replace President Lee Myung Bak, whose five-year term ends in February.
Abe set to win Japanese election LDP wins lower house majority in comeback – exit poll
Shinzo Abe looks set to be reappointed as prime minister five years
J
apan’s Liberal Democratic Party won parliamentary elections to reclaim power three years after surrendering half a century of control, ensuring the country will get its seventh leader in six years, exit polls showed. Shinzo Abe’s LDP will capture as many as 310 seats in the lower house of parliament, public broadcaster
NHK said, citing exit surveys. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan will win fewer than 80 seats, NHK said. Mr Abe, 58, is set to replace Mr Noda, returning to the office he left five years ago for health reasons. He will inherit a country in recession, still reeling from the 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis, and
embroiled in a diplomatic dispute with China. With upper house elections seven months away, Mr Abe must convince a disillusioned electorate that his plans for more monetary easing and fiscal stimulus will work or he may face a similar fate as his predecessors. “In all likelihood, the bloom will be off the rose by next summer’s upper house election,” said Gregory Noble, a professor of politics at the University of Tokyo. “The underlying fact is that the economy is terrible and is not likely to get better soon, and as a result voters are unhappy.” At least 12 parties campaigned for the 480-member lower h o u s e th a t i s m a d e u p o f 3 0 0 single constituencies and 180 proportionally apportioned seats. The DPJ had 233 seats and the LDP 118 when Mr Noda, 55, dissolved the chamber on November 16. Exit polls showed LDP partner New Komeito will get as many as 35 seats, potentially giving the coalition a two-thirds majority that would enable it to override most decisions in the upper house.
DPJ jeopardy The Japan Restoration Party of exTokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto may win as many as 61 seats, NHK said. Seats for some DPJ heavyweights were in jeopardy, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura and ex-Cabinet member Yoshito Sengoku, Kyodo News said. “I voted for the LDP because I think Japan’s economy needs them to run it,” said Masayuki Iawata, 25, who works at an asset management company in Tokyo. “They have a strong foothold already and I don’t want some random party to take over and not know what to do like the DPJ. Basically it was the lesser of two evils.” The DPJ, undermined by internal squabbling, retreated from pledges to shrink the bureaucracy and boost child welfare. Support for Mr Noda, the party’s third premier in as many years, fell as he passed a bill doubling the sales tax and restarted atomic power plants after the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The LDP victory marks a personal comeback for Mr Abe, who quit as premier in 2007 after a year in office, citing a stomach ailment. He advocates “unlimited easing” from the Bank of Japan to cope with more than a decade of deflation, and increased public works spending. Bloomberg News
Beijing keeps monetary, fiscal policies unchanged Top leaders vow to deepen economic reforms, opening up
C
hina will maintain steady economic polices in 2013, leaving room for manoeuvre in the face of global risks while deepening reforms to support longterm growth, the official Xinhua news agency said after an annual policy-setting conference yesterday. Chinese leaders have already pledged to ensure stable economic growth next year and the new leaders are likely to stick with a growth target of 7.5 percent next year, the same as in 2012. Experts say new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping needs to take bold steps in enacting economic reforms that could include restructuring how China achieves its growth by emphasising consumption over investment and exports, and loosening the
dominance of state companies. China will ensure appropriate growth in bank loans and social financing in 2013 and will keep the yuan currency stable to cushion economy against global headwinds, Xinhua said after the close of the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which Mr Xi presided over. “China will continue to implement the pro-active fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2013,” the state news agency wrote. “The proactive fiscal policy will be combined with tax reforms and structural tax cuts and the prudent monetary policy will pay attention to dynamism and enhance operational flexibility,” it added. China’s economy still faces global uncertainties along with
rising trade protectionism, while the risk of rising inflation and asset bubbles globally is increasing, it said. Annual economic growth dipped to 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the weakest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis in early 2009, but growth has been picking up steady since October thanks to a raft of pro-growth policies. The central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has kept the same monetary policy since late 2010, that has encapsulated at first modest tightening and then modest loosening following the global financial crisis. Fiscal policy has been pro-active, or expansionary, since late 2008, when the government unveiled a 4 trillion yuan (US$641 billion)
stimulus package after the economy took a big hit during the global financial crisis. Mr Xi signalled a commitment to deepening economic reforms by visiting the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last week, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping during his famous “southern tour” to the same area 20 years ago. The government will maintain property controls, including restrictions on how many homes individuals can buy, which have been in place since 2009, to ward off potential risks, and will make greater efforts to improve the quality of urbanisation to help bolster domestic demand. Reuters