Year I Number 196 Thursday January 10, 2013 Editor-in-chief Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief Vitor Quintã MOP 6.00
www.macaubusinessdaily.com
Slow but steady home price rise Government measures have slowed the increase in home prices, but they did not prevent a record high in the last quarter, an estate agency says. Even banks struggled to update their valuation lists because of the hikes. The pace of growth is now likely to fall, say agents, but in real terms prices will keep expanding.
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GM China Holdings Ltd surprised the market yesterday by achieving the gazetting of its Cotai casino project fewer than three months after its land concession. And on the same day, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, hinted that there might be some flexibility in Macau’s now world-famous ‘table cap’. The policy is designed to limit the growth of the casino market between now and 2023 by limiting new supply of the live dealer gaming tables so loved by Chinese gamblers. But that’s become a growing issue for some investors, who have noticed that the capital expenditure required by the government on new casino projects has been creeping up, while the number of new tables allowed has been standing still or even falling relative to capital costs. More on pages 3 & 5
Minimum wage talks before end of March Hard work, little help for domestic helpers Macau has the third highest percentage of the female workforce working as domestic helps of any jurisdiction in the Asia Pacific region says a United Nations agency. But their rights and protection lags behind those offered to other workers, suggests a report. It calls for a minimum wage and limits to working hours.
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Employers’ and workers’ representatives have until the end of this quarter to hold talks on possible reforms in Macau’s labour laws. The topics to be covered include whether to raise the statutory maximum compensation for dismissal, changes to the law covering part-time work and the idea of a minimum wage for cleaning and security staff working for companies hired by the government.
I SSN 2226-8294
HANG SENG INDEX 23230
23200
23170
23140
January 9
Page 5
HSI - Movers Name
City’s air carrier seeks more mainland routes New Year rush for zodiac stamps Macao Post issued 250,000 commemorative Year of the Snake stamps but the edition was sold out in just three days. Many local and mainland Chinese rushed to buy, either for gifts or for speculation, stamp dealers say. The zodiac series is a popular product and its value can quickly double.
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Air Macau is looking for opportunities to fly more services to and from cities in mainland China. But the opening of new routes depends on the visa policies of those cities regarding visits to Macau, warns the airline’s chairman. Air Macau chairman Zheng Yan did say however the airline would launch two to three new routes to the mainland this year.
%Day
CHINA RES POWER
3.63
NEW WORLD DEV
3.19
CHINA UNICOM HON
3.15
SINO LAND CO
3.05
HENDERSON LAND D
2.60
CATHAY PAC AIR
-0.68
TENCENT HOLDINGS
-0.94
TINGYI HLDG CO
-0.95
CNOOC LTD
-1.19
KUNLUN ENERGY CO
-1.22
Source: Bloomberg
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business daily January 10, 2013
macau Investors and would-be homebuyers can expect flat prices to remain at record levels until at least Lunar New Year, says Ricacorp
home resale,” said Ms Loi. The special stamp duty is a 20-percent levy imposed on homes that are bought and sold within one year. The duty falls to 10 percent if the property is sold within two years of its original purchase. In the first 11 months of last year, the average price per square metre of residential space reached a peak just shy of 59,500 patacas, an amount that was almost two-thirds higher than the average price in 2011. In its review, Ricacorp said home prices had risen rapidly in the second and third quarters of last year. She said appraisal valuations by the leading banks had failed to keep pace. “We found a 20 to 30 percent gap between banks’ appraisal and the transaction price for homes,” said Ms Loi.
Retail rising
Price of new houses has never been higher But steep rises in the prices for residential and shop units may slow this year, says Ricacorp Macau Stephanie Lai
sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
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he average price for a new flat in the fourth quarter of last year reached as much as 59,300 patacas a square metre, according to Ricacorp (Macau) Properties Limited. Prices hit the new record despite a slowdown in the rate of growth since October when the government tightened mortgage-lending limits, the real estate agency wrote in its review of last year.
“The capital flow is still strong under the effect of [United States’] quantitative easing,” said Ricacorp assistant district director Goretti Loi In Cheong. “With very limited stock available in both the first- and second-hand market, the average price will remain at a high level at least until Lunar New Year,” she told Business Daily. “However, due to the government measures to curb the property market
in October, the growth in the average selling price of homes in the fourth quarter will slow to 1 to 2 percent, quarter-to-quarter.” The average transaction price of residential units was 58,305 patacas a square metre in the third quarter of last year, government data shows. “In most cases the owners tried to raise the selling price by over 10 percent [in 2012], to counter the effect of the special stamp duty imposed on
Ricacorp estimates that average home prices rose by 43 percent in year-on-year terms. “But the rapid growth will slow in 2012, mainly an effect of the government’s property market cooling measures and a possible enactment of the law on housing presales,” said Ms Loi. Due to the strong growth of shopping outlets – particularly jewellery stores, cosmetic chain stores and pharmacies – the rise in the selling price and rents of shops was even higher than for homes, the Ricacorp report said. “On average we saw a 20 to 30 percent hike in shop rents last year, and for the ones at the good locations the rent even hit a 50 percent jump,” she said. With many rental contracts signed last year, increases in shop rents will probably slow this year. “This year the rent [growth] may slow to 15 percent for the whole year in first-tier districts like San Ma Lou or NAPE, and probably to 5-10 percent for the districts with less tourist flow, like Areia Preta or near Avenida da Horta e Costa,” Ms Loi said. The average price of a shop sold in the first 11 months of last year was 7.3 million patacas, almost two-thirds higher than a year before, data from the Statistics and Census Service says. Official data is not kept on the values of shop rentals.
Almost 1 in 5 call public flats home T
he current figure of 100,000 people living in public housing flats would increase to 120,000 should all those on the waiting list be housed, official data show. The Housing Bureau says 98,700 people or about 17 percent of Macau’s population live in public housing flats. About 79,900 people or 81 percent of the total live in affordable housing units, while the remainder are in social housing flats. The government’s public housing strategy includes social housing than can be rented and affordable housing for sale at controlled prices. Data published by Portuguese news agency Lusa said the city has a total stock of 36,287 affordable housing flats and 8,138 social housing flats, with an average of 2.2 people living in each unit.
At the end of last year, 3,615 families were on the waiting list for an affordable housing flat and 6,207 families on the list for social housing. If all of these families were placed in government housing and the average number of residents in each flat was unchanged, the estimated number of residents in public housing would spike to 120,308 – slightly more than one-fifth of the population. That figure would rise further if the government fulfils a pledge to accept new applications and delivers on a promise made last August to build another 52,700 flats by next year. If the Housing Bureau meets those targets, 27.8 percent of the city’s inventory of almost 189,900 dwellings counted in the 2011 Census would be public housing. V.Q.
The Housing Bureau has pledged to accept new applications for public homes this year
January 10, 2013 business daily | 3
MACAU
MGM Cotai build timetable could be announced in ‘weeks’ Follows gazetting yesterday of land concession and casino resort scheme Michael Grimes
michael.grimes@macaubusinessdaily.com
The planned MGM Cotai site yesterday (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)
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GM China Holdings Ltd hopes to make an announcement on the construction timetable for its planned US$2.5 billion (20 billion patacas) Cotai resort “within the next six to eight weeks” chief executive Grant Bowie told Business Daily yesterday. It follows the formal publication yesterday in the Official Gazette of approval for a casino resort on a 71,833-square metre site on the Cotai land reclamation area. The sub-concessionaire first applied for land there in August 2007, according to yesterday’s announcement. But it had to wait until October last year for the confirmation of its land concession, and until yesterday for the gazetting of the land and of a casino resort. “Once we get our
2007
Date MGM China first asked for Cotai land building approvals, the next phase will be to make a full announcement on the whole development and the branding of the project,” said Mr Bowie. “It may very well be within the next six to eight weeks.
We just want to make sure that when we do make an announcement we have all of our ‘ducks in a row’. We like to make sure we have all of our facts right before saying anything publicly,” he added. “We knew we were in line for gazetting, but we weren’t quite sure when that would be done based on other traffic that would have to go through the [Official] Gazette.” In October the company paid the government an initial land premium of 450 million patacas. The remaining land premium – 841.2 million patacas – will be paid in eight half-year instalments according to yesterday’s gazetting. MGM China said in a press release yesterday the resort will include “approximately” 1,600 hotel rooms, 500 gaming tables, and 2,500 slots, with 85 percent of the gross floor area for non-gaming activities, including restaurants, shops and entertainment facilities. Construction is expected to take up to 36 months. Mr Bowie said the company was liaising closely with the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) to organise the necessary permissions to start construction. “The permit process is a complex thing and we’re still working with DSSOPT, but we’re confident that they will allow us to keep to our plan,” he told us. “Currently we’re still saying to the market 2016 for the completion date, but we
obviously look for ways to work through that. Everyone knows that [in Macau] there’s a fairly significant overhang of projects and [versus] resourcing. So I think all the concessionaires face exactly the same issue – trying to get the best position
[on Cotai project completion] that we can.” Local businesswoman Pansy Ho Chiu King helped to secure MGM China’s Macau gaming subconcession from her father – former Macau gaming monopolist Stanley Ho Hung
Gradual approach to next phase of Cotai Government wants to avoid gambling part of tourism market growing too large too quickly
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n Macau there is no ‘fast track’ for gaming resort approvals of the sort seen after Singapore decided in 2005 to have a two-casino market. But there are also different political considerations in Macau, with the central government in Beijing apparently keen to control the pace at which the Macau industry grows, given that many of the customers
are mainland residents. Even after MGM China Holdings Ltd received its land grant last October it had to wait until yesterday for formal approval of the land concession and the right to build a casino resort on Cotai. But even then, permits for building work and for a casino’s operation still need to be issued. That involves government officials checking the details of the plans to make sure they conform with general government policy and specific regulations on fire safety and other construction issues. Because of these considerations, MGM China is still saying publicly that it hopes to open its resort in 2016. But Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Research
Sun – and his company Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA for US$200 million in 2005. She was originally a 50 percent partner with MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International) in the Macau venture, which was originally branded as MGM Grand Macau. She sold down her holding at the time of MGM China’s US$1.5 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong in May 2011. The deal left MGM Resorts with a controlling 51 percent stake in the Macau operation. Ms Ho, who chairs the MGM China board, said in a statement issued yesterday: “We are extremely grateful to the Macau government for the opportunity to develop our Cotai property. MGM China is dedicated to continuing to grow with Macau as it develops into an international tourism destination.” Jim Murren, chairman and chief executive of MGM Resorts and co-chairman of MGM China, said the resort’s design was at “an advanced stage”, adding: “… we will focus our full energies on the commencement of construction”. MGM China’s stock yesterday rose 7 percent to close at HK$15.86 in Hong Kong trading.
Macau said yesterday the relatively quick gazetting of the casino – only twoand-a-half months after the land approval – could move MGM China up the pecking order among the six concessionaires building or planning new Cotai resorts. “…we view [gazetting] as a very important milestone in the project’s development timeline and likely came sooner (perhaps significantly sooner) than investor expectations,” said Mr Govertsen in a note to clients. “Given the speed with which the project was published in the Official Gazette following acceptance of the land concession contract (relative to its peers), we believe this could potentially allow MGM China’s project to open in the middle of the pack of the next wave of six Cotai developments to come online starting in 2015. We believe previous expectations were for MGM China’s Cotai project to be one of the last of the next wave of new Cotai development to come online.” M.G.
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macau
Poor working conditions, legal protection for maids Domestic workers are getting a rough deal despite helping Macau economy, UN agency warns Vítor Quintã
vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com
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ne out of nine women employed in Macau are domestic workers, the thirdhighest percentage in the Asia Pacific region, an International Labour Organization report shows. But Macau lags behind other regions in guaranteeing domestic workers the basic work-related rights and protections that other employees have, the United Nations agency warned. During the third quarter of 2012 there were 18,300 domestic workers in the city and accounting for 10.8 percent of the female working force, official data show. There were also 300 men working as domestic workers. Only in oil-rich Brunei (28.8 percent) and Philippines (11.5 percent) the percentage of women working as maids is higher, the report released yesterday shows. Despite the significant numbers of people involved, the agency found large differences between the rights and conditions experienced by domestic employees and other workers. Just like in most other Asia Pacific countries and territories, in Macau the issue is most pressing when it comes to working time, minimum wages and maternity protection. For instance, the city has no statutory limits to domestic workers’ normal maximum weekly working hours – a problem which impacts 99 percent of all Asia Pacific maids. Domestic employees worked a median of 49.5 hours per week in
the third quarter of 2012, the highest figure for any group in Macau, official data show. In addition, non-resident domestic workers have no entitlement for maternity leave and maternity cash benefits. Almost all of Macau’s maids (17,520) are non-resident workers, the data show.
Low wages Malte Luebker, a senior specialist at the agency’s regional office for Asia Pacific and a principal author of the report, said maids are still discriminated against. “Excluding domestic workers from basic labour protection reflects an out-dated view that domestic work is somehow not real work”, he stressed. On the other hand, just like 88
percent of domestic employees in Asia Pacific, maids are not covered by statutory minimum wage legislation in Macau. In fact, the median monthly wage of maids is the lowest in the territory, just 3,200 patacas (US$400), and far below the overall median of 11,700 patacas. The Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs is discussing a possible statutory minimum wage, but only for cleaning and security staff. “We must recognise that domestic workers don’t just care for families, but create value for the economy by allowing more workers, often with valuable skills, to leave the house and take up paid work,” Mr Luebker wrote. In the last decade the percentage of women who had a job jumped by
Domestic workers … create value for the economy by allowing more workers, often with valuable skills, to … take up paid work Malte Luebker, senior specialist at ILO’s regional office for Asia Pacific
23 percentage points in Macau. The number of maids grew more than four-fold in the same period. “Domestic workers clearly deserve a better deal,” Mr Luebker added. In June 2011 the organisation adopted a new convention on domestic work but so far only three countries have ratified it. “This report makes it clear that more action is needed, by more countries,” said Yoshiteru Uramoto, the agency’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific.
49.5
Domestic helpers’ median hours of work per week
Macau lags behind other regions in guaranteeing maids’ work-related rights and protections (Photo: Manuel cardoso)
We run fast and forward... just like them.
January 10, 2013 business daily | 5
MACAU
Minimum wage talks due before end March Employers, workers, under pressure to reach consensus on several pending labour laws Stephanie Lai
sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
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mployers’ and workers’ representatives have until the end of this quarter to hold talks on possible reforms in Macau’s labour laws. The topics to be covered include whether to raise the statutory maximum compensation for dismissal, changes to the law covering part-time work and the idea of a minimum wage for cleaning and security staff, the Labour Affairs Bureau director Wong Chi Hong said. Bosses and workers met for a plenary session of the Standing Committee for Coordination of Social Affairs yesterday to decide on how to tackle the issues. “In the first quarter the drafted bills for enhancing dismissal compensation and the part-time work system will be discussed,” said Mr Wong, the coordinator of the committee. “We have also received the University of Macau’s report on minimum wages, which we will look through before handing to the committee for discussion soon,” the bureau director added. In addition, the employer and labour representatives are required to submit a recommendation to the government by February 5 on how
much bosses and workers should collectively contribute monthly to the new social security fund. They will also need to reach a deal on exactly how much each side should pay as a proportion of the total workplace contribution. Employers are currently required to pay two-thirds of the contribution, while employees only need to pay 15 patacas (US$1.9). The bosses are unhappy with this arrangement. On December 5, Social Security Fund president Ip Peng Kun said the government would suggest the monthly contribution ratio to gradually moved from 1.5 to 1 (with the employer paying the larger proportion), then 1.2 to 1 and eventually 1 to 1 in four years’ time. The government also suggested the monthly contribution amount to be raised to 100 patacas from the current 45 patacas, and further lifted to 270 patacas over four years, with adjustments made for inflation, Mr Ip stated. So far the committee has only reached agreement on an increase the monthly retirement pension, paid by the social security fund, from the initial 2,000 patacas to 3,000 patacas starting January 1 this year.
Tam hints at some flexibility on table cap Says govt has ‘room’ to relate table allocation to size of investment and amount of non-gaming facilities
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he government hinted again yesterday at some flexibility in the rules that cap how many gaming tables are allowed in the casino market between now and 2023. “The government has the room to assign further tables to recentlyopened casino-resorts where large investment is made and which fit its non-gaming development focus,” said Francis Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Standing Committee for Coordination of Social Affairs yesterday. “We will follow up and see if we can assign these big Cotai casinos a few more tables, and, of course, the addition of tables will not turn out to be in hundreds,” said Mr Tam. He stressed that the government has yet to decide the number of tables assigned to the five projects being planned for Cotai. The authorities must first look into the proportion of their non-gaming area. “The decision to assign gaming tables does not come out that quickly because we have to consider all the new projects in Cotai and give out the approval as a whole,”
the secretary said. “Within 2013, we will have to do this, which should not take a long time because the gaming companies have to proceed with their plans and financing,” he added. A source with knowledge of the situation told Business Daily in July that the policy of three percent per year compound growth in the current 5,500-table inventory over the next decade – first announced by Mr Tam several years ago – could be applied on an industry needs basis not purely incrementally. The policy – if applied rigidly – would allow only around 1,900 new tables between 2013 and 2023. But if strictly interpreted it will still be necessary to ‘front load’ the feeding of that supply into the market. On the current expected timetable for new projects on Cotai, the industry needs 1,400 tables in 2015 alone. The source said at that time: “We have basically been told by the government that a lot can happen in 10 years. The message we picked up is that in future there may be some actual relaxation of the table cap, not just rescheduling of its implementation.” S.L/M.G.
Bosses, staff, divided on statutory minimum wage for cleaning and security workers
Asked if the employer-labour divide could cause a further delay to the legislation process, the Labour Affairs Bureau head did
not give a direct answer. “The divide is inevitable, but the standing committee will try its best to lead the discussions,” said Mr Wong.
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business daily January 10, 2013
macau
Mainland ambition fuels Air Macau expansion plan Any change to destinations and services offered by the city’s flag carrier depends on Beijing’s visa policy, says chairman Tony Lai
tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
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he mainland will continue to be the biggest market for Air Macau Co Ltd, while route expansion depends on Beijing’s policy of promoting the individual visit scheme, says the airline’s chairman. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of a new route between Macau and Shenyang, in Liaoning yesterday, Air Macau chairman Zheng Yan said Air Macau would launch two to three new routes to the mainland this year. The city’s sole carrier is hopeful of opening routes to Wenzhou, in Zhejiang, and Zhengzhou, in Henan. The airline currently flies to 20 different destinations in Asia, with half located in the mainland. However, the launch of these new routes depends on Beijing’s visa policy. “On our routes there are usually more passengers departing [Macau] than arriving here … as a result of the visa restraints [for Chinese passengers] coming here,” Mr Zheng said. Air Macau’s plans to launch flights to the central Chinese city of Xi’an, announced in October, are on hold as officials in Shaanxi have not yet allowed residents to apply for the individual visit scheme to Macau.
30%
Average occupancy on flights to Japan
Launched in 2003, the scheme allows mainland residents to visit destinations such as Hong Kong and Macau as independent travellers, instead of on a business visa or in group tours. “We cannot rely on tour groups only for our operations but must [rather] seek large numbers of individual travellers,” he said. The airline hopes to increase the frequency of flights to Beijing from its current two a day.
Another record This year’s focus will be on the mainland as “despite the development of the Southeast Asia and North Asia markets, we rely on China for passengers seeking transit and connections”, Mr Zheng said. The number of transit passengers using Air Macau more than doubled last year, he said, adding that passengers were increasingly diverse, with Asian passengers than just Taiwanese using the airport. Before the first direct flight between the mainland and Taiwan was launched in 2008, transit passengers from Taiwan were the biggest source of passengers for the airline. Mr Zheng says December’ opening of the Gongbei station at the end of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway and the high-speed rail link between Guangdong and Beijing would bring “challenges and opportunities”. The Gongbei station is close to the Border Gate in Zhuhai. “Actually the closer connection between the [mainland] cities brought by the railway can serve as a support for aviation companies,” he said. “This will make it more convenient for people, like those living in Zhuhai and
Air Macau has launched a new route to the capital of Liaoning province, Shenyang
Zhongshan, to take flights in Macau.” Last year was another profitable one for Air Macau. “Profits will reach another new high so this means setting new [profit] records three years in a row,” he said, adding the company had benefited from the city’s economic development. The carrier had a five-year streak of losses before breaking even in 2010, when it reported a profit of 231.9 million patacas (US$29 million). Air Macau then posted profits of about 250 million patacas in 2011. However, flights were affected by
heightened political tensions between Japan and the mainland last year. The average passenger occupancy in its routes to Tokyo and Osaka plunged to about 30 percent, Mr Zheng said. After a dip in passengers following the March 2011 tsunami, the number of Japanese tourists to Macau had increased by 3.8 percent year-onyear to 369,048 tourists in the first 11 months of last year. But arrivals from Japan are far behind from the record set in 2010, when they rose by 9 percent year-onyear to 413,507 tourists.
Airport passengers hit four-year high As passenger levels take off, the airport is growing less reliant on transit traffic from Taiwan, says aviation authority
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acau International Airport handled more than 4.49 million passengers last year, the highest number since direct flights between the mainland and Taiwan began in 2008. The improvement represents an 11 percent increase compared to the 4.05 million passengers that used the airport in 2011, with the strong growth partly explained by a rise in arrivals on low-cost airlines from Southeast Asia. Aircraft movements also reached a four-year high of nearly 42,000 last year, an 8-percent increase on the year before. Last year’s passenger traffic bettered the Macau International Airport Company Ltd’s forecasts for 2012, the airport operator said on Tuesday.
The traffic figures are the fourth highest since the airport opened in 1995. The most passengers handled at the airport was 5.5 million people in 2007, a year before a ban on crossStrait flights was lifted and the onset of the global financial crisis that both led to steep downturn. Before 2008, Macau airport served as a main stopover for passengers travelling between the mainland and Taiwan, as political tensions prevented direct flights. Macau Civil Aviation Authority president Simon Chan Weng Hong said the city’s passenger volume had “been slowly recovering from the slowdown of the global economy in 2008” and was becoming “less reliant on the Taiwan market”. “The number of transit passengers,
[which] mainly come from Taiwan, has been gradually decreasing and accounted for less than 4 percent of the total figure last year,” he said during the launch ceremony of a new Air Macau Co Ltd route yesterday. Mr Chan said “Southeast Asia has become the major market and performed particularly well in 2012”. Southeast Asian passengers accounted for 37 percent of all traffic last year, with more than 1.6 million passengers arriving at the airport. The mainland was the second biggest source of arrivals, contributing 32 percent, while Taiwanese passengers reached 31 percent. Mr Chan said expansion of the airport’s Asian network “was doing quite well”.
Macau airport has been slowly recovering from the slowdown of the global economy in 2008 Simon Chan, president, Civil Aviation Authority of Macau
Passengers can now fly to 34 cities in Asia from the airport, including 19 destinations in the mainland and three cities in Taiwan. T.L.
January 10, 2013 business daily | 7
MACAU
Year of Snake stamps sold out in days Zodiac year stamps enjoy wide popularity amongst Macau and mainland consumers Stephanie Lai
sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com
representative from Piu Kei Stamp Service told Business Daily. “For instance, for one complete set of snake year stamps, [originally] priced at 55 patacas, people might have to offer up to 100 patacas to take the set,” the company spokesman explained. Sales of the zodiac year stamps have attracted mainland consumers, in particularly those from northern Chinese cities, which use them mainly as a gift or for speculation, stamp dealers said.
MOP 6.5 mln
Sales of Year of Dragon stamps in 2012
Year of Snake stamp series featuring five elements
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n issue of 250,000 commemorative Year of the Snake stamps by Macao Post on January 3 sold out in three days. The Chinese zodiac series was first issued by the postal service in 1984, making this the 31st year Macao Post has marked the Lunar New Year for the benefit of philatelists around the world. The zodiac issue in 2012, the Year of the Dragon, was the most popular with buyers so far. Other
commemorative series issued to the public recently include ‘Literature and Characters’ and ‘Legends and Myths’, Macao Post told Business Daily. Last year alone, sales of Year of the Dragon stamps amongst local and mainland Chinese consumers generated 6.5 million patacas (US$814,100) for the post office. The popularity of the annual Chinese zodiac series amongst ordinary consumers and collectors
is also matched by its large appeal to speculators, Macau stamp shops told Business Daily. The Chinese zodiac series comes in a set of five stamps, each one dedicated to one of the zodiac’s five elements: earth; wood; fire; water and metal. “The appeal to the buyers has to do with the five elements design, and Chinese are just fond of the zodiac cultural theme,” a sales
“But of course the zodiac stamps did not stir up a collection craze as strong as the lunar year bank notes in mainland China,” said Lap Son, another stamp retailer. Several Macau stamp shops also re-sell commemorative bank notes. “The re-sale prices for the zodiac stamps is fluctuating all the time in China,” said a sales representative from Lap Son. “It is hard to say what has been the highest bid price for the zodiac stamps.”
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business daily January 10, 2013
GREATER CHINA Taiwan wants NT$150 bln of returning investment Taiwan said it will seek to lure NT$150 billion (US$5.17 billion) in returning investment in 2013 from Taiwanese companies with overseas operations, as President Ma Ying-jeou strives to bolster economic growth. The island will provide benefits such as lower tariffs on equipment imports and higher quotas for hiring foreign workers to achieve the goal, Duh Tyzz-Jiun, deputy minister at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said in Taipei yesterday. Mr Ma’s government aims to spur an economy that the International Monetary Fund estimates expanded 1.3 percent last year, the weakest pace since the 2009 global recession.
HK lawmakers debate probe into Leung
New loans expected to have dropped 14 percent last month
Opposition lawmakers introduced a motion yesterday seeking a probe of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying over claims he lied about illegal construction at his property, stepping up pressure on the Chinese-backed leader. The motion, introduced by 27 opposition lawmakers on the city’s 70-seat Legislative Council, would invoke constitutional powers to form a judge-led investigation into allegations that Mr Leung gave false statements to the legislature over the construction. An uproar over illegal housing additions has seen Mr Leung’s popularity fall and led opposition lawmakers to demand that he resign or face possible impeachment hearings. While Mr Leung’s opponents are unlikely to win support in the legislature, where they only hold a third of the seats, the campaign has detracted from Leung’s attempts to focus on the city’s economy. The motion claims Mr Leung intentionally gave “false statements and answers” to the legislature when questioned about the illegal structures found at his house in the city’s Peak district. Mr Leung has repeatedly apologised for being “negligent” in dealing with the unauthorised modifications, which include a trellis, a basement, and a cover over a parking space. The basement room existed before he purchased the property, Mr Leung said in November.
Loan share at record low shows financing risks Borrowers, investors turning to less-regulated banking products Yum cut some chicken suppliers before probe KFC parent Yum Brands Inc. said it had stopped using chicken from suppliers in China that are now under a government investigation before the review was even announced and analysts said they expect the company to recover from the business hit in its biggest market. Yum, which gets more than half of its overall revenue and operating profit from China, on Monday warned that bad publicity from a Chinese government food safety review of chicken suppliers hit its sales in China harder than expected in the latest quarter. Wall Street analysts expect that Yum’s business will rebound as negative media coverage wanes even though consumers continue to criticise the company. “Precedent suggests Yum can weather this type of incident,” Bernstein Research analyst Sara Senatore said. Yum says it is cooperating with the Chinese government’s review of two poultry suppliers – Liuhe Group Co. and Yingtai Food Group Co – that provided chicken to KFC with unapproved levels of antibiotics. Those suppliers “represent an extremely small percentage of product to KFC”, according to Yum. The company had stopped sourcing from Liuhe in August and has halted purchases from a problematic Yingtai plant, Yum spokesman Jonathan Blum told Reuters on Tuesday. Yum stopped using the suppliers after its own random tests showed that they were not meeting the company’s own standards, he said. Reuters
C
hina’s bank loans as a share of funding in the economy may have fallen to a record low, highlighting the growth of alternative financing channels that have prompted warnings of rising credit risks. New yuan loans probably dropped 14 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey of 37 analysts ahead of data due on Tuesday. That would give bank lending a 55 percent share of aggregate financing for 2012, based on UBS AG estimates, the least in figures dating to 2002. The decline underscores the waning ability of official loan data to capture the scale of debt in the world’s second-largest economy as borrowers and investors turn to lessregulated, higher-return shadowbanking products. The People’s Bank of China is putting greater emphasis on aggregate financing and the International Monetary Fund says the growth of nonbank credit poses “new challenges to financial stability.” “China’s economic performance in 2013 will be significantly affected by how seriously Chinese regulators are going to treat non-bank financing,” said Shi Lei, a Beijing- based analyst
with broker Founder Securities Co., who has provided research advice to China’s securities regulator. While a hands-off approach will help the economy, a crackdown “would be really bad for growth”. The PBOC lending figures are among December data in the coming days that will show whether an economic rebound that began in September picked up or slowed last month after a seven- quarter growth slowdown. Trade figures due today may show exports rose at a faster pace and a January 11 report may indicate inflation accelerated.
Closer correlation The government will release fourth-quarter gross domestic product as well as December industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment on January 18. Economic growth probably accelerated to 7.8 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, up from a three-year low in the previous period, according to a Bloomberg News survey last month. The PBOC in April 2011 started providing data on aggregate financing, which includes bank and non-bank lending, on a trial basis
as part of the release on loan and money-supply statistics. In September 2012, the central bank began issuing a separate monthly press release on the broader indicator, emphasising it by waiting at least five hours before putting out the monetary figures. The PBOC also gave historical data for the previous decade, illustrating how bank loans have declined from their 2002 share of 91.9 percent. Sheng Songcheng, head of the PBOC’s statistics department, said in 2011 that aggregate financing is more closely correlated with GDP and inflation than new yuan loans. The slice of funding may shrink further amid China’s “rapid development of financial innovation,” the PBOC said in September. Aggregate financing, also called total social financing, includes banks’ yuan loans and six other categories: foreign- currency loans, entrusted loans, trust loans, bankers’ acceptance bills, corporate bonds and non-financial stock sales. “As trust loans, bonds and other non-bank financing grow, the central bank has a full reason to promote the new indicator,” said Joy Yang, chief Greater China economist at Mirae Asset Securities (HK) Ltd in Hong Kong, who previously worked at the IMF. Bloomberg News
January 10, 2013 business daily | 9
GREATER CHINA
Apple CEO makes second China visit As stores double and company tries to gain more market share
A
pple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook made his second visit to China in less than 10 months, after almost doubling retail outlets in the nation. Mr Cook met Miao Wei, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on Tuesday to talk about the development of China’s information technology industry, global mobile communications and Apple’s business in China, according to a statement posted on the ministry’s website. The Apple chief also visited China in March when he pledged “greater investment” in the world’s largest market for computers and mobile phones. Since then, the Cupertino, California-based company increased its number of stores in China and Hong Kong to 11 from six. Still, the company has yet to offer the iPhone through the world’s biggest carrier, China Mobile Ltd, which last month said Apple needs to talk about “benefit sharing” to reach agreement. “I think there is a good chance of an agreement with Apple this year” for China Mobile to offer the iPhone, Neil Juggins, a Hong Kong-based analyst at JI Asia Research Ltd, said in an e-mail yesterday. “I would put the chances at better than 50 percent.” China Mobile will probably move to a fourth-generation wireless network based on Long Term Evolution technology in the second half of this year, and the iPhone will
Tim Cook, Apple Inc. chief executive
be offered on the new system, Mr Juggins said.
‘Important market’ Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple, yesterday declined to comment on whether Mr Cook would meet with China Mobile during this trip. “Tim is in Beijing meeting government officials and partners,” Ms Wu. “China is an important market. We look forward to
continued customer excitement and growth here.” Li Jun, a Beijing-based spokesman for China Mobile’s state-owned parent company, said he didn’t immediately have information on whether Mr Cook was meeting with executives at the carrier this week. China Mobile uses a homegrown third-generation network standard that hasn’t been adopted by any other carriers, and Apple has yet to design a device for it. Technical issues related to that standard aren’t the
Ping An falls on acquisition rejection concerns Stake sale at risk over funding doubts – report
P
ing An Insurance (Group) Co. fell for a second day in Hong Kong trading after a media report that Chinese regulators will reject Charoen Pokphand Group Co.’s proposed purchase of a 15.6 percent stake in the insurer. China’s second-largest insurer dropped as much as 2.3 percent before closing at HK$68.75 in Hong Kong trading, up by 8.8 percent. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission is set to reject the US$9.4 billion purchase from HSBC Holding Plc on concerns whether the Thai company is the real buyer, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported yesterday, citing unidentified people. “It would be in CP Group’s interest to find a way to fund the deal, and prove it is indeed the real buyer of the Ping An stake, not acting on behalf of other parties,” Deutsche Bank AG’s Hong Kong-based analyst Esther Chwei wrote in a report on Tuesday. “While the stake sale overhang may weigh on Ping An’s share price in the near term, we believe this has limited impact on Ping An’s fundamentals.” HSBC said on December 5 it agreed to sell its stake in Ping An to Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont’s Charoen Pokphand as Europe’s biggest bank by market value moves to revive profit and boost capital.
only obstacles to reaching an iPhone deal with Apple, China Mobile chief executive Li Yue told a conference in Guangzhou last month. “Besides the technical issues, the business model and benefit sharing still need further discussion,” Mr Li said at the time. Apple generated US$5.7 billion in sales in China in the quarter ended September and sold more than 2 million iPhone 5s during its weekend debut there last month. Reuters
It would be in CP Group’s interest to find a way to fund the deal, and prove it is indeed the real buyer of the Ping An stake Esther Chwei, Deutsche Bank AG
Ping An – US$9.4 billion deal at risk
The Shenzhen-based insurer tumbled 4 percent, the most in more than five months, in Hong Kong on Tuesday after a Caixin Online report that China Development Bank Corp. halted loans for the acquisition.
Regulator rules Charoen Pokphand should “do more to explain where and how it will get the money” for the purchase, especially if the government-owned CDB isn’t providing the funding, the Hong Kong English-language newspaper said, citing one of the
people. The deadline for the CIRC’s approval is February 1, it added. Ping An’s Shenzhen-based spokesman Sheng Ruisheng didn’t answer a call to his mobile phone, while calls to Charoen Pokphand’s corporate communications department went unanswered before office hours. Gareth Hewett, a spokesman for HSBC in Hong Kong, declined to comment. Charoen Pokphand’s purchase will take place in two phases, with the first to have been completed by December 7, while CDB will finance part of the deal through its Hong
Kong branch, according to HSBC. Caixin reported last month that about two-thirds of the first payment of the deal came from Chinese investors and that Ping An’s management may have helped finance the Chinese backers, which both the insurer and Charoen Pokphand denied at the time. Under CIRC rules, any purchase of a stake in an insurance company in China has to be financed by internal funds and external funds or financing are not allowed, according to the Deutsche Bank report. As such, CP Group would not be able to use CDB loans to finance their purchase of Ping An shares and hence, the halting of CDB loan seems to be a natural outcome, Ms Chwei wrote in the report. Bloomberg News
10 |
business daily January 10, 2013
ASIA
BOJ may ease again, double inflation target But central bank may disappoint markets seeking new, Panasonic may shut bolder action Leika Kihara businesses: Tsuga Panasonic Corp., the Japanese electronics maker forecasting a second straight annual loss, is holding talks about shutting businesses, president Kazuhiro Tsuga said. Closing divisions is a “worst-case” scenario, and securing jobs for employees is important if the company sells any businesses, Mr Tsuga told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Osaka-based company is also considering ventures and other options for its semiconductor business, he said. Mr Tsuga is set to announce a midterm plan by March 31 to revive Panasonic, hit by a total of 1.1 trillion yen (US$12.6 billion) in restructuring charges for its TV, solarpanel, lithium-ion battery and mobile-phone operations. Japan’s second- biggest TV maker may pull out of businesses with operating margins of less than 5 percent by March 2016, Mr Tsuga said in October. Panasonic reversed its full-year profit target in October, forecasting a deficit 30 times bigger than analyst estimates as sales of TVs, handsets and personal computers slumped. The projected 765 billion-yen loss for the year ending March 31 is the biggest loss estimate by a publicly traded Japanese company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company eliminated more than 38,800 jobs, or about 11 percent of its staff, in the year ended September 30 as Japanese electronics makers struggle to compete with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Panasonic plans to cut 8,000 jobs in the six months started October 1, the company said in November. Mr Tsuga, 56, was promoted in June after leading a restructuring of the unprofitable TV business.
S.Korea adds workers in Dec South Korea’s workforce expanded last month, with the unemployment rate unchanged from November as jobs increased in manufacturing and in the service sector. The jobless rate was at 3 percent in December, Statistics Korea said in an e-mailed statement. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 economists was for a rate of 3 percent. The number of employed people increased by 277,000, or 1.1 percent, to 24.4 million last month from a year earlier. Incoming President Park Geun Hye has vowed to make it more difficult for companies to fire employees and to increase assistance for low-income workers burdened with record household debt. The nation will create 320,000 jobs this year, the Finance Ministry said in a December 27 report, down from an estimated 440,000 million new positions in 2012. “The unemployment rate looks good, but it is unlikely to help lift domestic consumption,” Ma Ju Ok, an economist at Kiwoom Securities Co. in Seoul said before the release. “There are many workers in temporary positions.” The ranks of self-employed increased to 5.7 million as of last month, from 5.6 million in December 2011, according to the most recent report from Statistics Korea. South Korea’s won is Asia’s bestperforming currency this year, dragging on exports that unexpectedly fell in December for the first time in three months. The won strengthened 0.1 percent to 1,062.90 per dollar yesterday in Seoul. The seasonally unadjusted jobless rate was at 2.9 percent in December, up 0.1 percent from November, yesterday’s report showed. Bloomberg News
T
he Bank of Japan will consider easing monetary policy again this month as it eyes doubling its inflation target to 2 percent, sources say, as weakness in the economy threatens to delay the country in getting out of deflation. Any easing will likely take the form of another increase in the BOJ’s 101 trillion yen (US$1.2 trillion) asset buying and lending programme, mostly for purchases of government bonds and treasury discount bills, sources familiar with its thinking say. Under intense pressure from new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the BOJ will likely adopt a 2 percent inflation target at its January 21-22 rate review, double its current goal, and issue a statement with the government pledging to pursue bold monetary easing steps, the sources say. By accompanying the new target with more stimulus, the BOJ hopes to show its determination to get the country out of deflation, and fend off more radical demands from politicians such as a revision to the BOJ Law guaranteeing its independence in guiding monetary policy. Markets have not been expecting
the BOJ to follow up December’s stimulus so quickly, and instead had been speculating on new policy steps it might take. The 2 percent inflation target has been largely priced in after the BOJ pledged last month to review its current price goal. “The trend for prices is weak and that’s a concern. The outlook for overseas economies is also highly uncertain,” said one of the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. If the BOJ does ease this month, it would be the first time it has expanded stimulus at successive meetings since 2003, when it was battling a banking crisis amid its five-year experiment with quantitative easing that lasted until 2006. After the December easing, Governor Masaaki Shirakawa stressed how much money the BOJ was already pumping into the economy via asset purchases, seen as a sign of his reluctance to boost stimulus further. However, an increase in asset purchases would still be disappointing to those expecting the BOJ may try bolder new measures in response to
Cambodia risks overheating as credit booms: IMF National income expanded by 6.5 percent last year
C
ambodia’s financial system could be overheating, posing a risk to the country’s strong economic growth, International Monetary Fund staff reported after their annual health check on the economy. In the past year, private credit expanded by nearly a third in Cambodia and reached 37 percent of national income, zooming above levels seen in similar low-income countries in Southeast Asia, IMF staff said in documents released late on Tuesday. The ratio between credit and national income is now much higher than the long-term trend, which puts the economy at risk. The National Bank of Cambodia should do more to cool down bank lending beyond simply raising reserve requirements, as it did recently, the IMF staff said. While the staff views do not represent the official position of the IMF, the Fund’s executive board largely agreed with the staff’s conclusions, according to a separate document released on the same day. “While the recent increase in the reserve requirement for foreign currency deposits is welcome, [the
directors] considered that further gradual increases may be needed to guard against excessive risk-taking by banks,” the IMF said after the board’s discussion. Easy financial conditions and demand for credit have helped fuel the boom. Cambodia has been a rare bright spot in the sluggish global economic recovery, with national income expanding 6.5 percent last year,
Private credit rose by nearly a third last year
KEY POINTS Any easing likely an increase in asset purchases – sources Pessimists fret over weak price growth, no BOJ consensus yet Govt turning up heat, wants action to match new price goal Abe’s calls for radical steps. Some BOJ board members have floated other options, such as committing to buy assets openendedly or cutting the 0.1 percent interest the BOJ pays on excess reserves that banks park with the central bank. But those ideas have not made much headway and may be put on hold until the conservative Mr Shirakawa’s term at the central bank
buoyed by garment exports to Europe and a burgeoning tourist industry. The IMF projects the economy will grow 7.5 percent by 2017, in line with its potential. Cambodia is also attracting a small but growing share of foreign investment in Southeast Asia as companies seek cheaper alternatives to China and as Cambodia expands its electricity supply. It also helps that Cambodia is perhaps Asia’s most open place for investors, allowing 100 percent foreign ownership, easy repatriation of profits and a dollarized economy that minimises currency risks. Separately, Cambodia’s executive director on the IMF’s board, Der Jiun Chia, defended the country’s credit policies and said most loans have been of good quality. “Credit growth does not appear to be out of line with the vast development needs in Cambodia nor with the need to diversify the economic base,” he said in a statement. The IMF directors said Cambodia also faces risks from an expansion of the euro area crisis, and from extreme weather such as drought or floods that could hit the dominant agricultural sector. They also called on the government to improve infrastructure and the investment climate, and to promote rural development. Cambodia has one of the lowest incomes per capita in Southeast Asia, about US$820 in 2011, according to the World Bank. The government’s land policies have also drawn increasing scrutiny from the country’s international donors, which supply almost half the country’s budget. The World Bank froze fresh aid to Cambodia in 2010 over forced evictions of families. Reuters
January 10, 2013 business daily | 11
ASIA
India industrial output barely grew: survey I
Trying to get the country out of deflation
ends in April. A lack of new steps could disappoint markets and trigger a rebound in the yen, analysts say.
No consensus yet The central bank has yet to reach a consensus on whether further action is necessary. Some officials feel the bank has offered enough stimulus for now, having set a 1 percent inflation target last February and eased policy via an increase in asset purchases five times in 2012. But a growing number of pessimists fret about persistent price declines and risks for the export-reliant economy, such as the continued slowdown in global growth
and slumping sales to China following last year’s territorial dispute. In a quarterly review of its longterm forecasts, also scheduled at this month’s meeting, the BOJ is likely to cut its economic forecast for the fiscal year ending in March from a 1.5 percent expansion projected in October, the sources said. While it may slightly revise up its forecast for the following year, the feeble growth projections would suggest a convincing exit from deflation remains distant – giving the central bank justification to loosen policy again. Government officials are also turning up the heat, demanding further stimulus aside from a higher
Malaysia exports rebound as China demand returns November exports rose 3.3 percent to US$19.28 billion
M
alaysian exports returned to a growth path in November following a one-month contraction, as demand from the important Chinese market rebounded, the trade ministry said yesterday. The total value of all exports rose 3.3 percent in November, yearon-year, to 58.67 billion ringgit
US$ 19.28 bln
Total value of exports in November
(US$19.28 billion), the ministry said. Total exports had declined 3.2 percent in October as shipments to China – which has increasingly emerged as a buffer against stuttering Malaysian exports to the crisis-hit European market – plunged in that month. Chinese economic growth slipped to a more than three-year low of 7.4 percent in the third quarter ending in September but more recent data has suggested a recovery was under way. Malaysian exports to China recovered in November, growing 5.4 percent to 7.7 billion ringgit on higher exports of chemical and rubber products. Exports to fellow member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) continued to take the bulk of Malaysian goods, rising 7.8 percent to 15.2 billion ringgit. “Much of the rise in exports for November could be driven by the yearend festivity related demand,” said Bank Islam chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin in Kuala Lumpur.
Growth pickup Resource-rich Malaysia relies heavily on exports of commodities such as palm oil and energy products, as well as electronics and other manufactured goods. Shipments to the United States
inflation target to end nearly two decades of grinding deflation. Core consumer prices, Japan’s key gauge of inflation, were down 0.1 percent in November from a year earlier. Pressure on the BOJ intensified after Mr Abe’s party won December’s lower house election by a landslide, calling on the central bank to set a 2 percent inflation target and ease policy “unlimitedly” to achieve it. The central bank then pledged to review its price target in January. It will likely meet Mr Abe’s calls for a 2 percent inflation target, although it remains opposed to setting a specific deadline for achieving that goal. Reuters
grew for the seventh consecutive month, rising 11 percent in November to 4.96 billion ringgit. Exports to the troubled European Union continued to suffer, however, shrinking 11.3 percent to 5.07 billion ringgit, while shipments to Japan’s moribund economy dived 16.2 percent. Malaysian exports for the first 11 months of the year were 3.9 percent higher, at 1.2 trillion ringgit. Imports grew 4.3 percent in November from a year earlier to 49.39 billion ringgit. November’s trade balance eased to 9.3 billion ringgit. “The Malaysian economy has been growing around 5 percent, although much less than the coveted 6 percent targeted under the ETP and the 10th Malaysian Plan, it is still a commendable growth rate,” said Mr Azrul. “The main point is it has not translated into better livelihood for the masses. One of the major grouses of the people is the unchecked rise in prices of basic necessity items. That could be a big issue for the masses who form the majority of registered voters,” he added. Analysts had expected November exports to slip, but they now looked set to resume steady growth in 2013 thanks to improving economic pictures in China and the United States, said Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist with financial research firm RAM Holdings. Malaysia’s economy grew a betterthan-expected 5.2 percent in the third quarter as domestic demand compensated for the weakening exports, spurred on by government spending ahead of elections this year. The government has forecast 5.0 percent full-year growth for 2012. AFP/Reuters
ndia’s manufacturers barely increased production in November compared to the year before as factories closed for holidays a month later than in 2011, a Reuters poll found yesterday. The survey of 25 economists predicted that the index of industrial production (IIP), measuring output at factories, mines and utilities, rose just 0.7 percent year-on-year in November following an 8.2 percent rise in October. Production was likely hit as Diwali, a widely observed religious festival in India that sees many factories shutting shop for a day or two, was celebrated in November last year. The year before it was in October. “Comparatively there were lesser working days in November 2012 and hence the base effect,” said Aman Mohunta, economist at Nomura. Forecasts for the notoriously volatile indicator ranged from a contraction of 3.3 percent to growth of 6.3 percent. November’s reading will be knocked by the previous year’s IIP clocking a high 6 percent. November’s median expectation is lower than the average 1.1 percent growth seen so far in calendar 2012 and is significantly below the doubledigit growth rates that IIP posted between late 2006 and early 2008. “The momentum continues to be slow. We don’t expect a spectacular pick up, at the same time we don’t expect a further fall either,” added Mr Mohunta. Mr Mohunta saw November’s factory output shrinking by 3 percent annually but expects it to grow around 0.5-1 percent in the next couple of months. Other economists share expectations of a pick up over the next few months. “Infrastructure has been seeing some improvement. We are not seeing a very sharp rebound, but sentiment has improved,” said Quant Capital Economist Bhupesh Bameta, adding that annual IIP growth is moving towards the 3-4 percent range in the near term. Infrastructure output, or core output data, which is typically released before the headline number and accounts for nearly 38 percent of overall industrial production, grew 1.8 percent year-onyear in November, sharply slower than in the previous month. Reuters
12 |
business daily January 10, 2013
MARKETS Hang SENG INDEX NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
13.62
-0.5839416
17677852
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
SANDS CHINA LTD
37.45
1.490515
65.3
0.1533742
3192548
10629244
SINO LAND CO
14.88
3.047091
CNOOC LTD
16.64
-1.187648
74156384
10161418
SUN HUNG KAI PRO
123.5
2.404643
COSCO PAC LTD
11.82
0
7158155
9991293
SWIRE PACIFIC-A
97.75
1.505711
1532557
11.34 31.15
1.25
5048796
TENCENT HOLDINGS
253.2
-0.9389671
3392003
1.631321
5886713
TINGYI HLDG CO
20.8
-0.952381
10366688
-0.2523129
2857303
WANT WANT CHINA
10.42
-0.1915709
16574966
2.604167
3265599
WHARF HLDG
63.1
2.186235
3675567
75.7
1.000667
2614089
WHARF HLDG
61.75
-1.278977
3498433
HONG KG CHINA GS
21.25
0
8535400
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.82
1.058201
23351049
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.59
1.126761
333635069
BANK OF COMMUN-H
6.08
1.502504
29190689
BANK EAST ASIA
30.9
1.644737
2897886
16.94
0.5938242
11819922
ESPRIT HLDGS
24.8
0
8954257
HANG LUNG PROPER
CATHAY PAC AIR
14.64
-0.6784261
2741808
HANG SENG BK
118.6
CHEUNG KONG
124.7
1.879085
3673536
HENDERSON LAND D
59.1
CHINA COAL ENE-H
8.73
-0.5694761
25832363
HENGAN INTL
CHINA CONST BA-H
6.43
0.7836991
201998020
CHINA LIFE INS-H
26.45
0.5703422
25596595
CHINA MERCHANT
25.75
2.589641
3902787
88.7
0
BELLE INTERNATIO BOC HONG KONG HO
CHINA MOBILE CHINA OVERSEAS
CITIC PACIFIC CLP HLDGS LTD
HONG KONG EXCHNG
145.4
1.607268
5882134
HSBC HLDGS PLC
82.65
-0.1208459
8066140
25367331
HUTCHISON WHAMPO
83.05
1.034063
5304673
25.25
1.202405
14709921
IND & COMM BK-H
5.69
0.8865248
216150435
CHINA PETROLEU-H
9.01
-0.6615215
69394693
LI & FUNG LTD
14.16
-0.4219409
14188319
CHINA RES ENTERP
28.15
-0.3539823
3529491
MTR CORP
30.95
0
2095769
NAME
MOVERS
29
13
8 23390
INDEX 23218.47 HIGH
23380.95
49737887
LOW
23100.42
52W (H) 23402.44922
CHINA RES LAND
23.05
0
13346000
NEW WORLD DEV
12.94
3.189793
CHINA RES POWER
19.98
3.630705
7522440
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.92
0.1834862
76890351
CHINA SHENHUA-H
34.2
0
9335160
PING AN INSURA-H
68.75
0.8804109
27021891
CHINA UNICOM HON
13.08
3.154574
51679449
POWER ASSETS HOL
66.1
0.7621951
2648652
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
31.05
2.81457
21252872
YANZHOU COAL-H
23090
(L) 18056.4 7-January
9-January
Hang SENG CHINA ENTErPRISE INDEX NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-H
3.95
2.331606
123616721
AIR CHINA LTD-H
6.72
0.9009009
10735325
CHINA PETROLEU-H
9.01
-0.6615215
69394693
ZIJIN MINING-H
ALUMINUM CORP-H
3.82
1.058201
23351049
CHINA RAIL CN-H
9.36
2.970297
11177006
ANHUI CONCH-H
28.7
-0.173913
6886286
CHINA RAIL GR-H
4.94
5.106383
39594220
BANK OF CHINA-H
3.59
1.126761
333635069
CHINA SHENHUA-H
34.2
0
9335160
BANK OF COMMUN-H
6.08
1.502504
29190689
CHINA TELECOM-H
4.28
0.9433962
43948756
26
9.243697
10683680
DONGFENG MOTOR-H
12.24
2.341137
31900448
CHINA CITIC BK-H
4.88
2.736842
54557049
GUANGZHOU AUTO-H
7.38
7.423581
13267024
CHINA COAL ENE-H
8.73
-0.5694761
25832363
HUANENG POWER-H
7.15
1.274788
13180273
CHINA COM CONS-H
7.71
0.7843137
17967238
IND & COMM BK-H
5.69
0.8865248
216150435
CHINA CONST BA-H
6.43
0.7836991
201998020
JIANGXI COPPER-H
21.05
0.2380952
6760826
CHINA COSCO HO-H
4.41
1.612903
15241304
PETROCHINA CO-H
10.92
0.1834862
76890351
BYD CO LTD-H
CHINA PACIFIC-H
26.45
0.5703422
25596595
PICC PROPERTY &
11.38
2.154399
18838100
CHINA LONGYUAN-H
6.41
9.57265
59008985
PING AN INSURA-H
68.75
0.8804109
27021891
CHINA MERCH BK-H
17.58
1.034483
10397147
SHANDONG WEIG-H
7.66
-0.5194805
34981955
CHINA LIFE INS-H
CHINA MINSHENG-H
9.51
2.478448
26553260
SINOPHARM-H
25.8
-0.5780347
2403956
CHINA NATL BDG-H
12.12
0.3311258
24654887
TSINGTAO BREW-H
46.65
0.2148228
1171745
CHINA OILFIELD-H
15.74
0
8285051
WEICHAI POWER-H
35.05
1.154401
2391379
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
13.92
0.2881844
29529757
3.08
0.6535948
28626393
ZOOMLION HEAVY-H
11.04
-6.440678
133548493
ZTE CORP-H
15.12
7.386364
26082865
MOVERS
30
7
3 12000
INDEX 11817.77 HIGH
11987.4
LOW
11707.24
52W (H) 11996.19 11700
(L) 8987.76 7-January
9-January
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 NAME
NAME
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
AGRICULTURAL-A
2.82
-0.7042254
101774321
AIR CHINA LTD-A
5.68
-0.1757469
16472381
CITIC SECURITI-A
CHINA YANGTZE-A
PRICE
DAY %
VOLUME
PRICE
DAY %
6.79
-0.7309942
29468954
QINGHAI SALT-A
26.65
1.5625
8544920
13.03
-0.1532567
85897404
SAIC MOTOR-A
16.93
0.1182732
26799420
NAME
VOLUME
ALUMINUM CORP-A
5.18
0.3875969
26445756
CSR CORP LTD -A
5.05
-0.9803922
40466684
SANY HEAVY INDUS
9.98
-0.9920635
57366892
ANGANG STEEL-A
4.09
-1.445783
31238957
DAQIN RAILWAY -A
6.77
0.5943536
23338533
SHANDONG GOLD-MI
36.68
0.02727025
14085775
ANHUI CONCH-A
18.63
-1.324153
20962148
DATANG INTL PO-A
4.05
0.7462687
18705694
SHANG PHARM -A
11.4
-0.6968641
11618444
BANK OF BEIJIN-A
9.07
-1.305767
43332155
EVERBRIG SEC -A
13.47
-0.6637168
18312462
SHANG PUDONG-A
10.14
0.1976285
175906181
BANK OF CHINA-A
2.93
-0.3401361
40122182
GD POWER DEVEL-A
2.57
-0.3875969
36956338
SHANGHAI ELECT-A
4.12
0
7316619
BANK OF COMMUN-A
4.91
-1.405622
85105428
GEMDALE CORP-A
7.07
-0.5625879
66519987
SHANXI LU'AN -A
21.78
4.81232
28421809
10.27
-1.722488
15903314
GF SECURITIES-A
15.02
1.281187
43539211
SHANXI XINGHUA-A
42.51
5.248824
10661298
26.07
0.2692308
18488080
SHANXI XISHAN-A
14.1
2.694829
26659890
BANK OF NINGBO-A BAOSHAN IRON & S
4.97
0
28163275
GREE ELECTRIC
BBMG CORPORATI-A
7.61
-1.297017
19400828
GUANGHUI ENERG-A
16.79
1.757576
38237654
SHENZEN OVERSE-A
7.27
0
30061895
21.26
5.247525
9212403
HAITONG SECURI-A
9.93
-0.997009
52833303
SUNING APPLIAN-A
6.94
-1.977401
76898553
CHINA CITIC BK-A
4.23
-0.7042254
19863330
HANGZHOU HIKVI-A
29.74
0.7793968
5665414
TSINGTAO BREW-A
33.81
1.531532
1807986
CHINA CNR CORP-A
4.61
-1.914894
44494080
HENAN SHUAN-A
61.44
-0.08131403
4190858
WEICHAI POWER-A
24.55
-0.4056795
12855057
BYD CO LTD -A
CHINA COAL ENE-A
7.82
0.9032258
21536370
HONG YUAN SEC-A
18.29
-0.9209101
14105319
WULIANGYE YIBIN
28.63
1.777462
45961705
CHINA CONST BA-A
4.6
-1.075269
41272411
HUATAI SECURIT-A
9.39
0.2134472
22895718
YANGQUAN COAL -A
14.62
3.541076
41211290
CHINA COSCO HO-A
4.47
-0.886918
23815369
HUAXIA BANK CO
10.1
-1.174168
34803651
YANTAI CHANGYU-A
48.49
0.6016598
3082467
CHINA CSSC HOL-A
22.56
-1.998262
11068580
IND & COMM BK-A
4.15
0.2415459
72087117
YANTAI WANHUA-A
15.99
-1.23533
10165169
CHINA EAST AIR-A
3.39
0.295858
24587314
INDUSTRIAL BAN-A
16.79
-1.351351
88960832
YANZHOU COAL-A
18.35
2.858744
7528751
CHINA EVERBRIG-A
3.03
0.6644518
165150123
INNER MONG BAO-A
36.44
-2.956059
54451570
YUNNAN BAIYAO-A
66.62
-0.2694611
3388788
CHINA INTL MAR-A
12.61
-0.2373418
15537404
INNER MONG YIL-A
23.3
-0.6396588
9534140
ZHONGJIN GOLD
16.14
0.1862197
21850045
CHINA LIFE INS-A
20.95
-1.272385
18851727
INNER MONGOLIA-A
5.31
-1.48423
58597313
ZIJIN MINING-A
3.8
0.2638522
52526112
96559071
JIANGSU HENGRU-A
29.62
0.4748982
4997753
ZOOMLION HEAVY-A
8.9
-3.155604
154295186
ZTE CORP-A
10.24
7.789474
86889574
CHINA MERCH BK-A
13.5
CHINA MERCHANT-A
30.05
0.2000667
17189707
JIANGSU YANGHE-A
102.94
7.453027
9668212
CHINA MERCHANT-A
10.12
-0.2955665
12035337
JIANGXI COPPER-A
24.66
-0.2023472
16403956
CHINA MINSHENG-A
8.18
-0.1221001
128960387
JINDUICHENG -A
11.54
-0.1730104
9928699
CHINA NATIONAL-A
7.81
-2.496879
44665716
14.6
3.840683
32102869
CHINA OILFIELD-A
16.44
-0.4239855
5855723
KANGMEI PHARMA-A
14.29
1.347518
63850549
CHINA PACIFIC-A
21.89
-0.0456621
20571915
KWEICHOW MOUTA-A
216.45
2.660785
5374932
6.9
-0.1447178
35857621
LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A
37.15
3.916084
17089655
2.25
-0.8810573
52240988
CHINA PETROLEU-A
-0.6622517
JIZHONG ENERGY-A
MOVERS 131
151
18 2540
INDEX 2526.126
CHINA RAILWAY-A
6.24
-0.952381
25492546
METALLURGICAL-A
CHINA RAILWAY-A
3.26
-0.6097561
33706093
NINGBO PORT CO-A
2.53
0
26506580
4.08
-2.158273
82982008
HIGH
2538.21
LOW
2505.1
CHINA SHENHUA-A
25.35
1.440576
13226271
PANGANG GROUP -A
CHINA SHIPBUIL-A
4.69
-0.4246285
62657732
PETROCHINA CO-A
9.02
0
18547363
CHINA SOUTHERN-A
3.79
-0.2631579
28841733
PING AN BANK-A
15.86
-0.875
25132915
CHINA STATE -A
3.8
-0.5235602
128412921
PING AN INSURA-A
45.07
-0.8578971
40820846
CHINA UNITED-A
3.57
2
162779509
POLY REAL ESTA-A
13.99
1.523948
65961779
10.12
0
166448824
QINGDAO HAIER-A
13.07
-0.8345979
10178458
PRICE DAY %
Volume
PRICE DAY %
Volume
PRICE DAY %
Volume
80 -0.1248439
2757603
TAIWAN MOBILE CO
106 -0.4694836
6219140
TPK HOLDING CO L
484
-1.22449
7604437
100
0.3009027
26247262
CHINA VANKE CO-A
52W (H) 2717.825 (L) 2102.135
2500
7-January
9-January
FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX NAME ACER INC
24.75
0.2024291
9182622
ADVANCED SEMICON
24.7
-2.178218
42028439
ASIA CEMENT CORP
36.9
0.1356852
1729969
ASUSTEK COMPUTER
321
-1.230769
AU OPTRONICS COR
12.9
-2.272727
NAME FORMOSA PLASTIC FOXCONN TECHNOLO
88.3
0.6841505
7095798
FUBON FINANCIAL
36
2.564103
37251161
TSMC
5029624
HON HAI PRECISIO
87.8
0.9195402
27602004
UNI-PRESIDENT
158112268
HOTAI MOTOR CO
235
-1.260504
202506
CATCHER TECH
146
1.388889
12874067
HTC CORP
CATHAY FINANCIAL
31.3 -0.3184713
17594505
HUA NAN FINANCIA
CHANG HWA BANK
15.8 -0.3154574
5530228
CHENG SHIN RUBBE
74.2
0
4200948
CHIMEI INNOLUX C
15.6
-4.587156
153869161
MEDIATEK INC
CHINA DEVELOPMEN
7.47 -0.5326232
44071188
MEGA FINANCIAL H
CHINA STEEL CORP
27.9
0.1795332
12141953
NAN YA PLASTICS
CHINATRUST FINAN
16.6 -0.3003003
127553176
PRESIDENT CHAIN
CHUNGHWA TELECOM
94.1 -0.1061571
5696156
COMPAL ELECTRON
19.3
7819047
0.7832898
NAME
281
1.627486
14673694
16.75
-0.297619
3851003
YUANTA FINANCIAL
LARGAN PRECISION
742
0.5420054
2072930
YULON MOTOR CO
LITE-ON TECHNOLO
39.5
0
2980057
312
3.140496
11631395
22.9
0.2188184
22080876
57.7
-1.367521
6566054
158.5
1.92926
1520707
QUANTA COMPUTER
62.4
0.4830918
21264908
SILICONWARE PREC
30.25
-2.889246
7286581
DELTA ELECT INC
104
0
4077946
SINOPAC FINANCIA
12.8
1.587302
23623315
FAR EASTERN NEW
34.2
3.636364
15533926
SYNNEX TECH INTL
55.7
0.7233273
8473173
FAR EASTONE TELE
72.1
-2.567568
13023855
TAIWAN CEMENT
38.55
0.1298701
5776333
FIRST FINANCIAL
17.5 -0.5681818
6669284
TAIWAN COOPERATI
16.25
0
4487306
FORMOSA CHEM & F
77.6
-1.020408
3707807
TAIWAN FERTILIZE
75.3
0.5340454
2860706
FORMOSA PETROCHE
85.3
0.9467456
1540630
TAIWAN GLASS IND
30.2
-1.145663
596745
53.5 -0.3724395
UNITED MICROELEC
11.85
WISTRON CORP
MOVERS
-2.066116
29.5 -0.8403361
24
4635957 70863789 4908327
15
0.3344482
17891172
55.8
0.3597122
2685315
22
4 5440
INDEX 5401.47 HIGH
5435.8
LOW
5368.27
52W (H) 5621.53 5360
(L) 4719.96 7-January
9-January
January 10, 2013 business daily | 13
MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) 50.2
16.0
49.90
15.5
33.28
49.6
15.0
37.8
19.8
23.4
37.5
19.6
23.3
37.2
19.4
23.2
36.9
19.2
23.1
36.6
19.0
23.0
33.8
33.68
33.48
Commodities ENERGY
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES
NAME
PRICE
WTI CRUDE FUTURE Feb13
93.25
0.107353731
1.557394903
109.4300003
80.05999756
BRENT CRUDE FUTR Feb13
112.05
0.098266929
0.84600846
119.2999954
90.38999939
GASOLINE RBOB FUT Feb13
277.73
-0.611938162
0.564869464
292.9699898
220.3500032
GAS OIL FUT (ICE) Feb13
950.75
0.449022715
2.562028047
1031.5
800.25
3.194
-0.745804848
-4.685168606
4.090000153
3.049999952
NATURAL GAS FUTR Feb13 HEATING OIL FUTR Feb13 METALS
Gold Spot $/Oz Silver Spot $/Oz Platinum Spot $/Oz
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
306.45
0.196174595
1.078566132
333.4599972
255.6599855
1665.32
0.6929
0.0517
1796.08
1527.21
30.545
0.7421
1.4447
37.4775
26.1513
1590.35
1.5874
4.7834
1736
1379.05
684
1.2179
-2.2382
725.19
553.75
Palladium Spot $/Oz
PRICE
(L) 52W AUD GBP CHF EUR JPY MOP HKD CNY INR THB SGD TWD PHP IDR AUDJPY EURCHF EURGBP EURCNY EURMOP EURJPY HKDMOP
LME ALUMINUM 3MO ($)
2067
0.0968523
-0.289435601
2361.5
1827.25
LME COPPER 3MO ($)
8080
0.111510346
1.87870382
8765
7219.5
LME ZINC
2020
-0.049480455
-2.884615385
2220
1745
17325
0.668216153
1.553341149
22150
15236
15.2
-0.03288392
0.164744646
16.84000015
14.89999962
687.5
-0.181488203
-1.539563194
846.25
511
WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) Mar13
747.75
-0.366422385
-3.888174807
948.25
652
SOYBEAN FUTURE Mar13
1385.25
-0.090155067
-1.720468251
1728.25
1194.5
ARISTOCRAT LEISU
COFFEE 'C' FUTURE Mar13
146.55
-1.0799865
1.912378303
249
141.25
3MO ($)
LME NICKEL 3MO ($) AGRICULTURE ROUGH RICE (CBOT) Mar13 CORN FUTURE
Mar13
1.0515 1.6068 0.9234 1.3093 87.62 7.9843 7.7518 6.2261 54.7613 30.35 1.2267 29.007 40.79 9663 92.132 1.20902 0.81486 8.1456 10.4534 114.72 1.03
DAY %
0.1143 -0.1181 -0.2274 -0.2362 -0.1826 -0.0013 -0.0052 -0.0321 0.445 0.2636 0.0897 0.0931 0.0735 1.6972 -0.3028 0.0149 0.1215 0.178 0.242 0.0523 0
1.3201 -0.6677 -0.8664 -0.7354 -1.7348 -0.0138 -0.0155 0.0723 0.4268 0.7578 -0.4321 0.0896 0.5271 1.3453 -3.0445 -0.1274 0.0687 0.8827 0.7366 -1.0024 -0.0097
YTD %
(H) 52W
1.0857 1.6381 0.9972 1.3487 88.41 8.0039 7.7713 6.3964 57.3275 32 1.2971 30.203 44.095 9855 92.845 1.21846 0.8506 8.4894 10.7712 115.99 1.0314
(L) 52W
0.9582 1.5235 0.8931 1.2043 76.03 7.9823 7.7498 6.2105 48.6088 30.2 1.2152 28.914 40.735 8875 74.482 1.19995 0.77553 7.7018 9.6245 94.12 1.029
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 NAME
PRICE
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
3.36
DAY % YTD % 0
6.666663
3.44
2.17
VOLUME CRNCY 2953463
CROWN LTD
11.24
1.535682
5.34208
11.3
7.95
1411001
SUGAR #11 (WORLD) Mar13
18.74
0.374933048
-3.946694003
25.12999916
18.30999947
AMAX HOLDINGS LT
0.082
0
17.14286
0.119
0.055
20545000
COTTON NO.2 FUTR Mar13
75.19
0.093184239
0.066542454
98.5
66.84999847
BOC HONG KONG HO
24.8
0
2.904563
25
18.2
8954257
CENTURY LEGEND
0.305
7.017544
15.09435
0.335
0.215
4000
5.81
-0.3430532
-3.005005
6.25
2.76
39000
CHINA OVERSEAS
25.25
1.202405
9.307358
25.6
12.066
14709921
CHINESE ESTATES
12.34
0
-5.657492
13.26
8.3
11413
CHOW TAI FOOK JE
12.8
-0.621118
2.893894
15.16
8.4
7781068
EMPEROR ENTERTAI
1.92
2.12766
1.587302
1.93
0.99
2130000
FUTURE BRIGHT
1.52
2.013423
24.59016
1.54
0.41
3282000
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
33.35
1.676829
9.884677
33.8
13.28
9653471
CHEUK NANG HLDGS
World Stock MarketS - Indices NAME
COUNTRY
PRICE
DAY %
YTD %
(H) 52W
(L) 52W
DOW JONES INDUS. AVG
US
13328.85
-0.414217
1.714801
13661.87
12035.08984
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX
US
3091.809
-0.2260542
2.394273
3196.932
2662.96
HANG SENG BK
118.6
-0.2523129
-0.08424343
120
92
2857303
FTSE 100 INDEX
GB
6076.85
0.3835715
3.035704
6091.5
5229.76
HOPEWELL HLDGS
34.15
2.092676
2.706767
34.3
19.049
1379335
DAX INDEX
GE
7719.69
0.310038
1.409542
7789.94
5914.43
HSBC HLDGS PLC
82.65
-0.1208459
1.660513
83.4
58.55
8066140
HUTCHISON TELE H
3.41
-2.571429
-4.213482
3.88
2.92
5964160
LUK FOOK HLDGS I
28.05
1.263538
14.95902
33.2
14.7
2074940
MELCO INTL DEVEL
11.2
3.512015
24.30632
11.22
5.12
16180066 23474371
NIKKEI 225
JN
10578.57
0.6710087
1.764189
10743.69
8238.96
HANG SENG INDEX
HK
23218.47
0.4641907
2.478496
23402.44922
18056.4
CSI 300 INDEX
CH
2526.126
0.03152063
0.1258079
2717.825
2102.135
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
15.86
7.017544
13.1241
16
9.573
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX
TA
7738.64
0.2199009
0.5083464
8170.72
6857.35
MIDLAND HOLDINGS
4.07
0.9925558
9.999999
5.217
3.249
2650000
NEPTUNE GROUP
0.159
1.273885
4.605267
0.222
0.084
10570000
NEW WORLD DEV
12.94
3.189793
7.653906
13.2
6.63
49737887
SANDS CHINA LTD
37.45
1.490515
10.30928
37.7
20.65
10629244
SHUN HO RESOURCE
1.48
0
5.714288
1.5
1
320000
SHUN TAK HOLDING
4.41
2.320186
5.250595
4.48
2.506
5558863
KOSPI INDEX
SK
1991.81
-0.306816
-0.2623865
2057.28
1758.99
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX
AU
4708.138
0.3813869
1.273147
4750.7
3985
ID
4362.928
-0.7871892
1.07122
4427.652
3635.283
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI
MA
1689.45
0.03197328
0.02960419
1699.68
1509.06
NZX ALL INDEX
NZ
891.356
0.272574
1.054703
892.419
718.491
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
19.74
3.459119
9.666667
19.8
12.15
5456483
PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX
PH
3835.29
0.5674354
3.685072
3837.34
3055.16
SMARTONE TELECOM
14.22
-0.4201681
0.9943187
17.5
12.96
2152547
WYNN MACAU LTD
23.25
1.30719
10.97852
25.5
14.62
7505351
ASIA ENTERTAINME
3.6
6.824926
17.64706
7.24
2.4
307907
BALLY TECHNOLOGI
46.93
0.02131287
4.965334
51.16
39.14
439495
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX
HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor
SI
624.33
-0.46
0.52
NA
NA
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX
TH
1425.11
0.5489194
2.383736
1428.98
1033.42
HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX
VN
448.77
0.3600501
8.469286
492.44
332.28
BOC HONG KONG HO
3.07
0
0
3.3
2.33
9700
Laos Composite Index
LO
1250.36
0.7371839
2.92977
1261.55
876.33
GALAXY ENTERTAIN
4.19
0.02387205
5.541561
4.19
1.82
32500
INTL GAME TECH
14.79
0.7493188
4.375441
18.1
10.92
2952874
JONES LANG LASAL
85.96
0.3736572
2.406478
87.62
61.39
208169
LAS VEGAS SANDS
52.11
2.417453
12.88995
58.3216
32.6127
9681991 5349475
Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalisation. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.
MELCO CROWN-ADR
19.1
-0.7792208
13.42043
19.2775
9.13
MGM CHINA HOLDIN
1.8657
0
0.8486473
1.96
1.2863
259800
MGM RESORTS INTE
12.95
2.129338
11.25429
14.9401
8.83
20627027
SHFL ENTERTAINME
14.65
-0.4105939
1.034483
18.77
11.75
171801
SJM HOLDINGS LTD
2.48
-1.587302
7.35931
2.52
1.5681
1000
121.0853
-0.08639327
7.640948
129.6589
84.4902
976235
WYNN RESORTS LTD
AUD HKD
USD
14 |
business daily January 10, 2013
Opinion Will more integration save Europe’s social model? Daniel Gros
A
Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies
t high-level gatherings of the European Union elite, one often hears the following type of statement: “Europe must integrate and centralise economic governance in order to defend its social model in an age of globalisation.” European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and his counterpart at the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, are particularly keen on this argument. But the claim that only deeper EU integration can save the “European” social model from the onslaught of emerging markets is not true. Yes, globalisation represents a challenge to all EU member states; but it is not clear how more integration would help them to confront it. More European economic governance is not a panacea. In fact, it is not even clear which European social model needs to be saved. There are enormous differences among EU members in terms of the size of their public sectors, the flexibility of their labour
markets, and almost any socio-economic indicator that one can think of. The common elements that are usually identified with the “European” social model are a quest for equality and a strong welfare state. But neither of the main problems confronting Europe’s social-security systems – slow economic growth and aging populations (a function of low fertility) – can be addressed at the European level. This is obvious for fertility, which is determined by deeper social and demographic trends that cannot really be influenced by government action. And, while ageing could be transformed into an opportunity if the elderly could be made more productive, this requires action at the national and societal levels, not more European integration. It is understandable that European leaders talk so much about globalisation, given that the European economy is rather open for its size, with exports amounting to about 20 percent of GDP, compared
to just 12 percent in the U.S. The (re-)emergence of big economies like China is thus bound to have a greater impact on Europe than on the U.S.
More harm? Economists long ago recognised that it is theoretically possible that the emergence of new growth
The claim that Europe needs more integration to save its social model has long lost credibility
poles abroad does more harm than good to an economy. This can happen if the new economic powers are more important as competitors than they are as customers. But this does not seem to be the case, even with respect to China. The EU does have a bilateral trade deficit with China, but it also exports a lot to the Chinese market – much more than the U.S. does. More important, even if one accepts the view that globalisation constitutes a threat to Europe’s social model, there is little scope for further integration, given that trade policy is already fully unified at the EU level. In any case, the EU has generally contributed constructively to all major rounds of global trade liberalisation. With the EU helping to keep global markets open, European exports have held up rather well, with the EU maintaining its market share. Although it has lost ground relative to the emerging markets (especially China), it has far outperformed other
developed economies like the U.S. and Japan. This is true even in services, despite slow productivity growth in Europe. It is thus wrong to assume that economies based on cheap labour are massively outcompeting the EU. Moreover, this relatively good trade performance has been achieved with a much lower increase in wage inequality in Europe than in the U.S. The various European social models have thus been, on average, quite robust – most likely because of the absence of a master plan from Brussels on how to respond to globalisation. Each member country has had to adapt in its own way, knowing that it could not bend the rules of the game in its own favour. Not all succeeded; but the successes (Germany, for example) far outweigh the failures (see Greece). The key to ensuring the future of Europe’s socialsecurity systems, and thus its social model, is faster growth. And, again, it is difficult to see how more Europe would improve the situation. The obstacles to growth are well known, and have existed for a long time without being removed. The reason is quite simple: if there were a politically easy way to generate growth, it would have been implemented already. Moreover, most national policy makers have a tendency to blame “Brussels” for all of their difficult choices, thus creating the impression at home that the economy would improve if economic affairs could be managed without EU interference. More integration is preached at the European level, but implicitly portrayed at home as an obstacle to growth. This double-speak on the part of national political elites is perceived as such by voters, whose trust in both national and EU institutions is naturally declining. The claim that Europe needs more integration to save its social model has long lost credibility. Integration is irrelevant to that question, and, in those areas where deeper integration really would benefit Europe, it appears to be the last thing that national leaders want. © Project Syndicate
editorial council Paulo A. Azevedo, Tiago Azevedo, Duncan Davidson, Emanuel Graça Founder & Publisher Paulo A. Azevedo | pazevedo@macaubusinessdaily.com Editor-in-Chief Tiago Azevedo DEputy Editor-in-Chief Vitor Quintã Associate editor Michael Grimes Newsdesk Alex Lee, Stephanie Lai, Tony Lai Creative Director José Manuel Cardoso Designer Janne Louhikari Contributors Frederico Rato, José I. Duarte, Pereira Coutinho, Ricardo Siu, Rose N. Lai, Zen Udani Photography Carmo Correia, John Si, Manuel Cardoso Assistant to the publisher Laurentina da Silva | ltinas@macaubusinessdaily.com office manager Elsa Vong | elsav@macaubusinessdaily.com Agencies Bloomberg, Reuters, AFP, Xinhua, Lusa, Project Syndicate Printed in Macau by Welfare Ltd.
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January 10, 2013 business daily | 15
OPINION India’s accelerating shift wires toward free markets Business
Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers
Yomiuri Shimbun
A. Gary Shilling President of A. Gary Shilling & Co. and author of ‘The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation’
To strengthen support for small and medium enterprises, the government plans to reorganise the current Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) in April, an organisation backed by both public and private investment. The change will be included in an emergency economic package the government will compile shortly, and necessary bills will be submitted in the ordinary Diet session. The new body – tentatively called the local revitalization initiative corporation – will be able to invest in funds, set up by local or shinkin credit union banks, aimed at corporate turnarounds.
Also, India recently announced a five-year plan containing what is probably an unrealistic goal for reducing the budget deficit to 3 percent in 2017, from 5.3 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. The vague proposal recalls the Soviet Union’s five-year plans that were seldom met.
Cultural forces
Economic Times The cold wave and dense fog in north India have triggered a sharp rise in the price of some vegetables because farmers are struggling to find labourers to work in icy conditions and trucks are taking longer to reach markets. Traders say prices would rise further if conditions did not improve. “About 300 trucks are arriving in the mandi instead of the normal 550-600 trucks on a sunny day,” Surinder Kohli, president of Azadpur Vegetable Merchants Association in Delhi, was quoted as saying.
The Star U.S.-based theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment Corp is planning to invest between RM1.2 billion (US$394 million) and RM1.5 billion to set up a theme park in Iskandar Malaysia. Sources told StarBiz that the theme park, which will be double the size of Legoland Malaysia and the company’s first theme park in Asia, would offer more than 40 rides. The company maintains 19 properties throughout North America consisting of theme parks, thrills parks, water theme parks and family entertainment centres.
Bangkok Post Thailand’s cabinet has approved tax relief proposals for small and medium enterprises affected by the increase in the nationwide minimum daily wage to 300 baht (US$9.4), which took effect on January 1. The measures are aimed at helping SMEs with annual revenue not exceeding 50 million baht a year, and were proposed by the Finance Ministry after an approach by the private sector. Revenue Department chief Sathit Rangkasiri said the measures include raising the income tax exemption limit for SMEs from 150,000 baht to 300,000 baht a year.
F
or a half-century after gaining independence in 1947, India’s politics were dominated by the Congress Party’s socialist orientation and tilt toward the Soviet Union. In the 1950s, steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, electricity generation and other industries were effectively nationalised. The banks followed in 1969. The country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, also pursued land redistribution. Innovation was stifled by the Industries Act of 1951, which required all businesses to obtain licences from the government before they could introduce, expand or change their products, a system known as the “Licence Raj.” The government also imposed import tariffs in the name of encouraging domestic production, and Indian companies were prohibited from opening foreign offices. Foreign investment dried up under stringent restrictions and a labyrinthine bureaucracy. As a result, manufacturing never blossomed and the economy stagnated at what the economist Raj Krishna called the “Hindu rate of growth” of 3 percent to 4 percent annually, distinctly subpar for a developing economy and far lower than in other Asian economies. From 1950 to 1973, annual growth in India was 3.7 percent, or 1.6 percent per capita, while Japan’s economy grew 10 times faster, and South Korea’s five times faster. China’s expanded at a sustained 8 percent annual rate.
State enterprises India’s economy began to change dramatically in 1991 with the shift toward
capitalism. In addition, India has historically had a much more free-market orientation than some other large developing countries, notably Russia and China. Its film industry, Bollywood, freely cranks out movies that range in quality from excellent to awful, while in China, films are largely propaganda tools whose content is tightly controlled by the government. State-controlled enterprises in India account for 14 percent of gross domestic product, compared with about 50 percent in China. India has the advantage, at least in our world of slow growth and meagre import demand in the U.S. and Europe, of being much more domestically oriented than China and the other export-led countries in Asia. After independence, Indian leaders advocated self-sufficiency and used high tariffs to keep out imports in order to encourage local production. India’s turn from socialism to capitalism, which culminated in 1991, wasn’t voluntary; it was a consequence of severe economic and
The heat is on India’s leaders to move quickly to reform an economy that is under pressure
financial pressures. In the 1980s, persistent budget deficits forced the enactment of austerity policies. In 1991, a foreignexchange crisis pushed the government to align spending with revenue and move away from fixed exchange rates. The rupee, which was overvalued and discouraged foreign investment, fell. Led by Manmohan Singh, then finance minister and now the prime minister, the government also opened the door to foreign investment and Indian companies were allowed to borrow in foreign capital markets and invest abroad. High inflation was tamed. These new policies initiated the boom in information technology. At the same time, life expectancy jumped to 64 in 2008 from 58 in 1991. Literacy has risen. GDP per capita grew to US$3,270 in 2009, from US$925 in 1991. Airlines and telecommunications companies were privatised. Nevertheless, progress since the early 1990s has been limited, as shown by the slower growth in India’s real GDP compared with China’s.
Change occurs slowly in India. Its culture has evolved over millennia and is heavily influenced by Hindu philosophy, which doesn’t emphasise urgency. According to Hindu belief, death is followed by reincarnation. The process of birth and rebirth – the transmigration of souls – occurs until one achieves “moksha,” or salvation. Hindus also believe in karma, which holds that what one does in this life will have consequences in the next, and what isn’t accomplished in this life can probably get done later. Also, belief in predestination gives Hindus a sense of fatalism. Hinduism also incorporates other forms of belief and worship. This creates a spirit of independence and a resistance to authority that makes it difficult for the government to enforce family planning and other policies. The chaos on Indian roads – where cars, trucks, ox carts, bicycles, rickshaws, pedestrians and stray cows all compete for the right of way – is an illustration of this independent spirit. The contrast with the disciplined Chinese society, where family planning is reinforced throughout the structure, is marked. Nevertheless, the heat is on India’s leaders to move quickly to reform an economy that is under pressure as it struggles with ballooning deficits, sagging global growth, bad policy decisions and declines of its currency and in foreign direct investment. Bloomberg View
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business daily January 10, 2013
CLOSING Sands COO’s hopes for table allocation
‘Deal’ in China censorship row
David Sisk, executive vice president and COO of Sands China Ltd said yesterday he hoped the Macau government would take into account the size of investment in general resort facilities when allocating gaming tables. “It’s important to build and expand the presence of a resort industry in Cotai and certainly a resort industry in Macau. So I think certainly that should be how the tables should be determined. But that’s not for us to decide. It’s for the government to decide,” Mr Sisk said on the sidelines of a responsible gaming training scheme for casino workers launched at The Venetian Macao.
A Chinese weekly newspaper at the centre of rare public protests about government censorship will publish as usual today, a senior reporter said, following reports of a deal to end the row. “The newspaper will publish as normal,” the reporter at Southern Weekly told AFP. The row at the popular liberal paper, which had an article urging greater rights protection replaced with one praising the ruling party, has seen demonstrators mass outside its headquarters in Guangzhou. Under the deal, journalists involved in the protests would not be punished and propaganda authorities would no longer directly interfere in content before publication, Dow Jones Newswires said.
Peugeot hit by slump in EU sales Fourth quarter car sales fell 20 percent Mathieu Rosemain
Paris-based Peugeot said yesterday in a statement. “The sales figures look as bad as one would expect,” said Sascha Gommel, an analyst at Commerzbank AG with a “reduce” recommendation on the shares. “The company is suffering heavily in Europe, but also in other regions like Latin America,” and losing market share to competitors such as Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co. A European car market that’s the smallest in almost two decades has led to cash depletion at Peugeot. The company said yesterday that its banking unit sold 3.1 billion euros (US$4 billion) in asset-backed securities in 2012 to bolster finances. The manufacturer entered a modeldevelopment alliance last year with General Motors Co., and it introduced the Peugeot 301 sedan in November in Turkey, part of a strategy to expand in emerging markets.
Peugeot – global sales fell sharply last year
Market forecast
P
SA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-largest carmaker, delivered 20 percent fewer cars in the fourth quarter as a push abroad in the final months of the year failed to protect the company from a recession in its home region. Sales by the company’s Peugeot
and Citroen brands, including kits of components ready for assembly, fell to about 720,000 vehicles from 901,000 a year earlier, based on calculations derived from nine-month and fullyear published figures. Deliveries last year fell 17 percent to 2.97 million vehicles,
Deliveries were also reduced as Peugeot stopped supplying kits to a partner in Iran in line with international trade sanctions, the company said yesterday. Excluding the kits, fourth-quarter sales fell 7 percent to about 718,500 vehicles. Full-year deliveries on that
basis dropped 8.8 percent to 2.82 million autos. The Peugeot division’s 12-month sales declined 6.1 percent to 1.56 million vehicles, and the Citroen marque’s deliveries slid 12 percent to 1.27 million autos. The economy of the 17 nations using the euro entered a recession in the third quarter, and the European Central Bank forecasts a contraction in the bloc’s gross domestic product of 0.3 percent in 2013. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, has predicted that sales in the region last year would fall to about 12 million cars, the lowest figure since 1995. The group is scheduled to release registration numbers for 2012 in mid-January. “The European market should continue to contract in 2013, by 3 percent to 5 percent,” Peugeot said yesterday. “In this environment, the Peugeot and Citroen brands will step up their sales offensive with 17 launches worldwide, of which nine in Europe. This should lower the line-up’s average age to 3.5 years.” The proportion of cars sold outside the region increased to 38 percent last year from 33 percent in 2011, and “the group confirms its target of generating 50 percent of sales outside Europe in 2015,” Peugeot said. Bloomberg News
Axiata eyeing deals as Asia cellphone market booms Potential targets in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia
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alaysia’s Axiata Group Bhd , Asia’s third-largest mobile services group outside Japan and China by subscribers, is eyeing deals in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, but reckons getting into Myanmar will be “very tough”, chief executive Jamaludin Ibrahim said in an interview. Axiata, valued at close to US$19 billion and with a cash pile of US$2.8 billion, is expanding in the fast-growing Asian telecoms sector as Jamaludin nips at the heels of Southeast Asian market leader Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. Its expansion comes at a time of
surging demand for smartphones as Asian consumers’ spending power grows and relatively untapped economies such as Myanmar and Laos open up for business. Consumers in the seven major Southeast Asian countries spent nearly US$14 billion on mobile phones in the year to September, according to market research firm GfK Asia. Smartphone sales surged 78 percent. Axiata, which already has more than 200 million subscribers, agreed last month to pay around US$155 million for Cambodia’s Latelz Co Ltd, creating the country’s No.2 mobile firm with 5 million subscribers. “That’s a good reflection of what
we intend to do,” Mr Jamaludin told Reuters at Axiata’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. “It can be a small company, it can be a relatively large company. Generally what we would like to do is consolidation.” Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia – where Axiata spent more than half its record 5.4 billion ringgit (US$1.8 billion) capital expenditure last year – were the most likely candidates for similar deals, Mr Jamaludin said. “That’s the inorganic expansion. Of course, there are opportunities for new countries but in reality there’s very few left,” he added. Reuters
Axiata has US$2.8 billion cashpile to invest