China’s yuan is facing increasing pressure to appreciate because of a widening interest-rate differential, the country’s top currency regulator said in a statement.
Speculative capital is flowing into China disguised as foreign direct investment and trade accounts through “underground money shops,” Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said at a briefing in Beijing today.
The [...]

China, forex, Interest rates, UK Hide

Four strategists offer their views on the key factors that will drive foreign exchange movements here in the next 12 months.
WHILE 2009 is often remembered for the unexpected economic rebound, the period also saw significantly higher volatility in the foreign exchange markets as the selldown in stocks swiftly hit the currency markets full-force.
This year, as [...]

Asian currencies, forex, Indian rupee, investments, Korean won, Philippine peso, predictions, ringgit, rupiah, Singapore dollar, Taiwan dollar Hide

HONG KONG : Hong Kong stocks have come under pressure amid worries over further credit tightening measures by China.
The Hang Seng is down by some 8 per cent for the year, and 13 per cent lower than its peak in mid-November 2009.
Market watchers have said they expect further weakness in the coming sessions as outflow [...]

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HONG KONG: The IMF chief said Asia may need to erect temporary capital controls, warning of the potential for new economic bubbles as speculative money floods into the region.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the global economy looked on course to beat the 3.1 percent growth forecast currently expected by the International Monetary Fund for 2010, as a [...]

Asia, bu, forex, IMF Hide

WASHINGTON : The lead author of a World Bank report on the global economy published Wednesday said the bank sees “signs of bubbles” in the Chinese economy, a problem he said the Chinese government acknowledges.
“We can already see some signs of bubbles and signs of tensions in the Chinese economy, in particular in the housing [...]

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Taipei: The next decade could be a “Golden Age” for Asia. Dr Tony Tan said this is based on the strong fundamentals in Asia that sees it recovering well from the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/9.
Dr Tan, deputy chairman and executive director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) put forward the view in [...]

Asia, investments, recovery, stock market Hide

TOKYO: Japan’s new Finance Minister Naoto Kan said that he wants the Japanese currency to weaken a bit more.
He also intends to cooperate with the central bank to guide the yen exchange rate to appropriate levels.
The remarks came as he met the press for the first time as finance minister.
Reactions are mixed on whether he [...]

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SHANGHAI: China said on Monday it would soon launch a stock index covering 500 firms listed in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to enhance financial cooperation in the Greater China region.
China Securities Index Co, established by the mainland’s two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen, will start to publish the CSI Cross-Straits 500 Index [...]

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SEOUL : North Korea’s new banknotes have plunged in value against China’s yuan since being introduced a month ago in a move that knocked two zeroes off the currency, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.
By late December traders on China’s border with the North were exchanging 1,000 North Korean won per Chinese yuan compared [...]

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EVERYONE said 2009 was going to be bad for stocks. But hey, on average, the regional markets have gone up 60% year to date. Investors who had been pessimistic have missed out, but is there a still a chance for them to make the same kind of profits?
With the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite [...]

caution, inflation, Interest rates, investments, Malaysia, stock market Hide