October 2005 Archives

By Rhona O'Connell -

LONDON (Mineweb.com) -- Dubai is continuing its relentless march into the centre of the bullion market, with plans to start futures trading in the precious metals and other innovations proving successful.

Dubai is rightly known as the hub of the physical gold market, feeding both to the Indian sub-Continent and to the Middle East, which on average over the past ten years have accounted for 38% of gold fabrication and in 2004 accounted for 43% of total (GFMS figures). We have written before about the development of the Dubai Metals and Commodity Centre and its proactive behaviour towards the gold market with the latest development being the establishment of futures trading. The organisation now reports that the response has been overwhelming with the team working overtime to review and accept applications.

By Conrad de Aenlle -

Good companies should be good investments, but there are times when the opposite is true. Unfortunately for holders of blue-chip stocks, this has been one of those times.

Research by Richard Bernstein, a strategist at Merrill Lynch, shows that companies whose stocks receive an A-plus rating from Standard & Poor's - meaning they have 10-year histories of fast yet stable growth of earnings and dividends - have reached a deep valuation discount to weaker B-minus companies. The discount follows a spate of poor performance by the A-plus stocks, but Bernstein said it might be worth betting on a turnaround.

TORONTO (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Over the past few years, the Canadian equity market has been denominated by income trusts, a business structure that eliminates taxes at the corporate level and allows net income to flow to investors, where it is taxed at the personal level.

For the 10-year period ending September 30, 2005, the Scotia Capital Income Trust Index (SCITI) has generated a total return of 18.9%, versus 11.2% for the S&P/TSX Composite equities index. Since the end of 1998, income trusts have posted an annualized total return of 24%.

Vern Hayden, CFP, President of Hayden Financial Group, to speak on November 15 at 7:30 p.m. at The Westport Library. He will discuss topics from Getting an Investing Game Plan, as well as his work in progress, Who Can You Trust?: Avoiding Financial Scams.

(PRWEB) October 26, 2005 -- You are cordially invited to hear Vern Hayden, CFP, President of Hayden Financial Group, speak on November 15 at 7:30 p.m. at The Westport Library. He will discuss topics from Getting an Investing Game Plan, as well as his work in progress, Who Can You Trust?: Avoiding Financial Scams.

SHANGHAI, China -- China is relaxing controls on companies seeking overseas financing in a move meant to boost development of private and high-tech companies, the country's foreign exchange regulator said.

The change in policy will enable mainland Chinese companies to set up offshore companies to raise funds and conduct mergers and acquisitions inside China.

KARACHI: US topped among the countries investing in Pakistani stock markets with $88.2 million investments by US investors during first quarter of current fiscal year—a record 27 percent jump as compared to the same period previous year.

According to the figures released by State Bank of Pakistan, overall foreign investments in Pakistan stock markets during fiscal year 2004-2005 amounted to $27.00 million. British investors with $38.3 and Hong Kong investors with $10 million investments in Pakistan bourses ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively. Courtesy Geo

The five gold-backed investment funds already traded around the world could be the tip of the iceberg if investors allocate more of their funds to the metal, an official at the World Gold Council said this week.

"We are just starting to see a transition," Katharine Pulvermacher, head of asset allocation research at the World Gold Council, said.

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones China Offshore 50 Index.

The Dow Jones China Offshore 50 Index represents the largest, super-sector leaders of companies whose primary operations are in mainland China but trade at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq or American Stock Exchange. Stocks included in the index are H shares, red chips, ADR/ADS and Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. If a stock is traded on two or more overseas exchanges, only the listing with the highest trading volume is included in the selection universe.

(PRWEB) - Beaverton, OR, (PRWEB) October 18, 2005 -- www.pacificsecuritycapital.com - Pacific Security Capital (“PSC”), a leading commercial real estate investment bank providing commercial loans, structured finance, equity financing, investment sales and advisory services, explains the risks and benefits of investing in emerging markets.

Commercial real estate investors are facing the most competitive commercial real estate market environment in recent history. Improved market efficiencies coupled with today’s surplus of capital flow have created a reduction in the total investment returns that can be achieved on investments in the U.S. commercial real estate industry.

By Shawn McCarthy -

NEW YORK — Faced with lawsuits and regulatory pressure, William Parrett, chief executive officer of one of the world's Big Four accounting firms, says the investing public is demanding more from auditors than they possibly can deliver.

Like other auditing firms, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has been on the defensive since Arthur Andersen LLP was forced out of business three years ago, as a result of the failure of its auditors to sound the alarm over financial chicanery at Enron Corp.

by Chet Currier -

A hungry multitude of investors is about to open the doors to a cupboard that is almost bare.

The throng we speak of is the U.S. Baby-Boom generation born after World War II. Its 75 million members will soon start hitting age 60, reaching the time of life when savers' and investors' minds start turning seriously to income.

BY Daljit Dhesi -

INVESTORS with higher-risk appetite should seriously consider investing in global properties through real estate investment trusts (REITs) as this has proven to offer better returns than other asset classes over a long-term period.

Citibank vice-president (wealth management products) Charles Sik said with the liberalisation of foreign exchange administration rules, coupled with de-pegging of the ringgit, such investments also provided investors the opportunity to diversify their risks and investment portfolios.

G. Chandrashekhar -

CHINA'S commodities bull story which has held everyone's attention in recent years, is far from over. In the near future, the Asian giant's growth could be even stronger than the scorching rate so far.

Support for this extremely optimistic view is drawn from China's Communist party endorsement of doubling the country's GDP per capita by 2010 as compared with the year 2000.

TORONTO, Oct. 11 /CNW/ - While the global expansion was still on track in the waning days of summer, the negative fallout from a growing list of natural disasters, related energy market turbulence and periodic terrorist attacks points to slower growth during the fall and winter, according to Scotia Economics' flagship report, Global Outlook entitled Tipping Points.

By Clifford Krauss, Steven Lee Myers, Andrew C. Revkin and Simon Romero -

CHURCHILL, Manitoba It seems harsh to say that bad news for polar bears is good for Pat Broe. Mr. Broe, a Denver entrepreneur, is no more to blame than anyone else for a meltdown at the top of the world that threatens Arctic mammals and ancient traditions and lends credibility to dark visions of global warming.

Still, the newest study of the Arctic ice cap - finding that it faded this summer to its smallest size ever recorded - is beginning to make Mr. Broe look like a visionary for buying this derelict Hudson Bay port from the Canadian government in 1997. Especially at the price he paid: about $7.

By Anna Flavia Rocha e Silva -

(AXcess News) Washington - Getting Afghan girls into school, combating the spread of HIV in Rwanda and helping to monitor the Amazon forest in Brazil have proven to be rewarding deals for American businesses.

The Center for Global Engagement, a new U.S. government group, recognized 12 success stories of American investments abroad at a news conference Thursday.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Mean Market making you miserable? Look overseas.

As U.S. stocks closed Wednesday at three-month lows, the Mean Market - my name for stocks' prolonged sidewinding shuffle marked by the Dow in the 10,000s - appears to have decided to torture the bulls again.

By John Waggoner -

For nearly a decade, Japan dealt with its collapsing banking system by putting its hands over its ears and singing loudly. Not surprisingly, this strategy didn't work. But recent reforms have restored Japan's banks -- and its stock market, as well.

If you decide to go east, however, go through a diversified Pacific fund: As tempting as Japan looks now, there's no need to confine yourself to one country.

By Barbara Wall -

We all know how important a manager is to the success of a fund, but the poaching of top talent has become so widespread in the asset management industry that it is threatening to undermine investor confidence.

Fund-hopping is an occupational hazard for Robert Burdett, who runs several funds of funds for Credit Suisse Asset Management. But even he said he was alarmed at the extent of the practice.

Even a humble savings account will net £251m in interest a year

By Mark Atherton and Joe Morgan -

HOW do you invest a windfall of more than £5 billion for a man who is already a billionaire several times over?

The normal concerns of a 38-year-old man — buying a bigger home, keeping up the mortgage payments and saving for a decent pension — hardly apply to Roman Abramovich.