China’s Stocks Rise Most in Six Months; Citic Securities Gains

By Bloomberg News

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- China’s stocks rose for a third day, driving the Shanghai Composite Index to its biggest gain in six months, on speculation regulators will adopt measures to boost the nation’s equities following declines in the past month.

Citic Securities Co., the country’s largest brokerage, jumped 6.6 percent and Poly Real Estate Group Co. surged 8.2 percent after newspapers highlighted comments by Liu Xinhua, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, that regulators will promote a “stable and healthy” market. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. rose 9.6 percent after Alcoa Inc. said Chinese demand for aluminum will increase this year. Zijin Mining Group Co. rallied 9.2 percent after gold climbed.

The benchmark index climbed 130.05, or 4.8 percent, to 2,845.02 at the close, the most since March 4. The three-day gain almost erased a 6.7 plunge on Aug. 31. The gauge tumbled 22 percent last month on concern slowing loan growth will stifle economic expansion. The CSI 300 Index, measuring Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, rose 5.6 percent to 3,051.96.

“The regulator’s comment has prompted speculation the government may take steps to support the market,” said Wu Kan, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Dazhong Insurance Co., which manages about $285 million.

Liu’s comments, made at a financial forum in Beijing yesterday, were featured on today’s front pages of the China Securities Journal and the Shanghai Securities News, the nation’s biggest financial newspapers.

Citic Securities advanced 6.6 percent to 26.56 yuan, the most since July 6. Poly Real Estate, China’s second-largest developer by market value, gained 8.2 percent to 23.82 yuan. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., the nation’s biggest steelmaker, rose 7 percent to 6.43 yuan after losing 33 percent in August.

August Slump

The Shanghai stock index slumped the most since October last month as banks reined in lending to avert asset bubbles and policy makers advised industries such as steel and cement to curb overcapacity. The drop stopped a rally that sent the measure up 103 percent from a November low on prospects a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package and record lending would revive growth in the world’s third-largest economy.

The government may take measures to stabilize the market before the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, the start of a weeklong holiday.

“They want everything to be stable and in harmony,” said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd., in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “They will approve more stock market funds and allow them to buy into the market.”

Plunging equity markets last year forced regulators to impose a moratorium on domestic initial public offerings. The nine-month ban on sales was lifted in June as stocks recovered.

Alcoa Forecast

Aluminum Corp. of China, the nation’s largest aluminum producer and also known as Chalco, advanced 9.6 percent to 13.47 yuan. Alcoa expects China’s consumption of the material to rise 4 percent this year, compared with Alcoa’s previous prediction of zero growth, Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld said in an interview in New York.

Zijin Mining, the biggest gold producer, surged 9.2 percent to 8.79 yuan. Zhongjin Gold, the No. 2, climbed the 10 percent daily limit to 52.31 yuan. Gold futures for December delivery rose 2.3 percent yesterday in New York, the most since March 19. Gold for immediate delivery rose 2.4 percent at 3:58 p.m. Shanghai time.

SAIC Motor Co., the Chinese partner of General Motors Co., gained 6.7 percent to 18.55 yuan after GM said full-year sales in China may rise more than 40 percent as tax cuts and stimulus measures helped double demand in August.

Chongqing Changan

Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the Chinese partner of Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp., added 7.4 percent to 10.25 yuan. Changan Ford Sales Co., a Ford venture, said sales in August rose 111 percent to 21,127 units.

China Railway Construction Corp. gained 3.6 percent to 9.24 yuan. The builder of more than half the nation’s railroads expects to beat its full-year sales target as the government boosts infrastructure spending to help revive the economy.

“We are the beneficiary of a once-in-a-hundred-years opportunity,” Vice Chairman Ding Yuanchen said yesterday.

China’s decision makers should refrain from shifting abruptly from their moderately loose monetary policy to a tightening stance as concerns about inflation are “excessive,” Ba Shusong, deputy head of financial research at the Development Research Center, which advises the State Council, said in Beijing yesterday.

Premier Wen Jiabao on Sept. 1 reiterated the government will stick to its pro-active fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy.

--Zhang Shidong. With assistance from Zhang Dingmin in Beijing. Editors: Richard Frost, Reinie Booysen

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Zhang Shidong in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-7014 or szhang5@bloomberg.net
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com

Egyptian stocks dip in light trade

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main stock indexes lost more than two percent of their value on Sunday, as regional sentiment and profit taking depressed prices in very low volume trade, dealers said.

"It is end of year trading and sentiment in the Gulf was also bad today," said Teymour el-Derini from Beltone Financial.

"Volumes were appalling," he said.

Selling pressure pushed El Sewedy Cables down 6.85 percent to 71.53 Egyptian pounds. The stock has traded in a range between 60 and 80 pounds in recent months.

Mobile phone operator Mobinil saw its shares fall 7.42 percent to 132.06 pounds after the firm declared a cash dividend of 3.62 pounds per share.

"Regarding the dividend payment I guess it was not what people were expecting and the stock took some hitting," Derini said.

Further profit-taking was seen in Commercial International Bank, which had risen steadily since late November but lost 5.25 percent to 32.50 pounds. Regional mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom also slipped after recent gains, down 3.09 percent at 27.63 pounds.

Brokers said selling was not uncommon at the time of the year as investors balance their accounts.

"Many institutions are closing their open positions before the end of the year, said Wafik Dawood from Naeem Brokerage. "Local brokerages need to cover credit lines."

Gulf markets were broadly lower, with Dubai's main index off more than 5 percent and Kuwait dipping 2.6 percent as crude oil price falls dent market sentiment in the region.

The benchmark CASE 30 index ended 2.87 percent lower at 4,325.77 points and the rival Hermes index lost 2.65 percent to 405.27 points. The broader CIBC index was down 1.59 percent at 278.6 points.

Investors protest at China bourse as stocks dive

By Royston Chan

SHANGHAI, June 12 (Reuters) - Complaining that they had lost tens of thousands of dollars in the stock market, a small group of angry investors demonstrated outside the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday as the market tumbled to new 14-month lows.

The public protest -- a rare event in China's big cities, where dissent is strictly controlled -- underlined fury and despair among China's millions of individual investors as the stock market crashes.

"More than 100 million investors have been buried in the ruins of the stock market by the earthquake in China's capital markets. Most of them are dying," read a text message widely circulated among mobile phones this week.

Police watched from nearby and security guards tried to stop a television cameraman from filming, but they did not interfere with the demonstration at the stock exchange. One protestor apparently fainted and was taken away in an ambulance.

Hit by tightening monetary policy and slowing corporate profit growth, the Shanghai Composite Index <.SSEC> sank 2.21 percent to a 14-month closing low on Thursday.

It has lost 11 percent in the past three days and 52 percent from last October's record peak. About $1.9 trillion of value in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets has been erased since December.

Public anger over the crash, expressed in a slew of mobile phone text messages and postings in internet chat rooms, may affect economic policy and even have political implications as the government seeks to ensure the appearance of social harmony before the Beijing Olympics in August.

Much of investors' anger is aimed directly at the government officials overseeing the market, who encouraged a bull run last year and are therefore being blamed for its demise.

"Not only human beings but also the gods hate these worthless officials," wrote an anonymous investor on popular investment website guba.eastmoney.com.

Some investors hope the government will be pressured by the discontent into intervening to halt stocks' slide. But it be unable to do that without suspending its monetary tightening campaign -- and with inflation near 11-year highs, that could risk worse discontent down the road.

Whatever happens, authorities' hopes of building the market into a reliable funding source for companies may be set back if individual investors desert stocks for the long term.

"The problem is that in the current situation, people will just take profits on every rebound. More and more investors are likely to stay away from market for some time," said Chen Huiqin, analyst at Huatai Securities in Shanghai.

PROTEST

The group of about eight middle-class demonstrators at the Shanghai exchange on Thursday sat on the steps of the market's main building, one of them typing on his laptop computer, to protest losses suffered on warrants in China Southern Airlines.

A 28-year-old office worker who identified himself as Xu said he had lost 100,000 yuan ($14,500) in the stock market, about 20 months' salary for many Shanghai workers.

"Ninety-eight percent of small investors lost an arm and a leg. I don't know what I can do, so the only decision I can make now is to sit here," Xu said.

The protestors said they had lost money buying one-year put warrants in China Southern <580989.ss>, which more than quadrupled in price over six days to a peak of 1.35 yuan on June 2 but have since plunged to just 0.10 yuan.

The warrants can be exercised at a profit if China Southern's <600029.ss> share price over the 10n days before they expire on June 20 averages less than a strike price of 7.43 yuan.

But the airline's shares closed well above that level on Thursday, at 8.61 yuan, so the warrants look set to expire worthless. The protestors accused big institutional investors of artificially supporting the stock to make money at the expense of small investors.

Such debacles have contributed to a dramatic decrease in the flow of new investors into the market. Stock-focused mutual funds launched in the past few months have each drawn just a few hundred million yuan of subscriptions, compared to tens of billions of yuan in a single day during last year's bull run. (Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Kim Coghill)

ACML to offload more BSE shares

ACML to offload more BSE shares

Nishith Trivedi / Mumbai/ Ahmedabad March 25, 2008

The Ahmedabad Stock Exchange Capital Markets (ACML) is aiming at offloading 6,000 shares of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The exchange is expected get a nod from the BSE by the end of this month. Once the transaction is completed, ACML’s holding in the BSE would come down to 1,000 shares.

“We had earlier decided to sell 2,500 shares of BSE. However, given the existing dull position of stock markets and attractive prices, we have decided to sell 6,000 shares,” Bhadren Darji, chief executive officer of ASE Capital Markets, told Business Standard. He, however, refused to disclose the deal amount.

The stake sale, if it goes through, will be the first open market sale of BSE shares after the oldest Asian bourse demutualised last May when it sold 51 per cent stake to strategic and financial investors including Germany-based Deutsche Bourse and the Singapore exchange.

ACML, a subsidiary of Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, the second oldest bourse in the country, is selling a part of its holding in the BSE for the second time in 12 months. It sold 3,000 shares at the time of the demutualisation last May.

Sources said ACML had invited bids for purchase of BSE shares. ACML has a net worth of Rs 10 crore, which it fears might decrease in the near future and hence the move. Business Standard

Sunrise files financial results, keeps stock listing

Sunrise Senior Living Inc., at risk of losing its New York Stock Exchange listing because of delinquent financial reports, has filed its 2006 report after an investigation into accounting errors.

Its stock will not be delisted by the NYSE as a result.

The McLean, Va.-based company, which manages about 450 retirement communities, including 12 in Maryland, had 2006 net income of $20.4 million, or 40 cents per share, compared to restated 2005 net income of $87.1 million, or $1.82 per share.

Sunrise ousted three top executives in December following an internal investigation that uncovered what the company called inappropriate accounting. Sunrise said accounting restatements for 1996 through 2005 cut its net income by $173 million.

Sunrise still has not filed its financial reports for 2007.

Sunrise stock (NYSE: SRZ) rose $1.21 to $21.66 per share in afternoon trading. Its stock has lost 46 percent of its value in the last year.

msn Money

MaltaPost p.l.c. shares march on

The Malta Stock Exchange index closed at 4626.37 points, down 0.54%. Advancers outnumbered decliners by three to two. The shares in MaltaPost p.l.c. marched on, whereas the shares of Bank of Valletta p.l.c. continued to zoom down.

• The shares in MaltaPost p.l.c. sparkled again, topping the charts with a 2.7% rise. The share price closed at trade range level at Eur0.907 (MTL0.389), up Eur5c9 (MTL0.025) across 12,978 shares. Following a company announcement issued by MaltaPost p.l.c. on Thursday, 20^th March 2008 the said Company advised that it has received Notification from Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Hussain Marafie, to confirm that as a result of a further acquisition of shares on the Malta Stock Exchange on Friday 14^th March 2008, he now holds a total of 1,407,126 shares of MaltaPost plc representing 5.0255% of the equity capital of the company.

• On the banking front, HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. edged forward Eur0c5 (MTL0.002) to close the first session of the week at Eur4.415 (MTL1.895) across 5,842 shares. At the end of trading, bids for 1,758 shares stood at Eur4.405 (MTL1.891) , whereas the best offer for 4,805 shares stood at Eur4.415 (MTL1.895).

• On the winners list, Grand Harbour Marina p.l.c. registered a Eur1c0 (MTL0.004) gain to settle at the Eur1.74 (MTL0.747) level. A total of 5,800 shares were swapped across a single transaction.

• On a negative note, the shares of Bank of Valletta p.l.c. got off to another bad start. The share price traded a notable Eur15c0 (MTL0.064) lower to finish at Eur5.50 (MTL2.361) across 3,888 shares. The lowest traded price during the session was Eur5.50 (MTL2.361), whereas the highest traded price of the day was Eur5.65 (MTL2.426).

• GO p.l.c. was nearly non-existent with a mere 810 shares changing hands, bringing the price down by Eur2c9 (MTL0.012) at Eur3.00 (MTL1.288).

• Today Medserv p.l.c. announced that the board of directors is scheduled to meet on Thursday 27^th March 2008 to consider, and if thought fit approve the Annual Financial Statements of the Company for the financial year ended 31^st December 2007. Furthermore, the board of Directors shall consider the declaration or otherwise of a dividend.

Issued by GlobalCapital Financial Management Ltd, 120 The Strand, Gzira, GZR03 for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute any financial, legal or tax advice. This write up is not to be taken as investment advice to buy or sell any investment. Investors should seek professional advice prior to taking investment decisions and should note that the value of investments may fall as well as rise. Readers who would like more information are invited to send an E-mail to info@globalcapital.com.mt or Tel: 21 310088. GlobalCapital Financial Management Ltd, is a member of the Malta Stock Exchange and is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

TSX rallies back with 300-point gain

Reuters

Published: Monday, March 24, 2008

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index surged more than 300 points on Monday in an across-the-board rally led by a strong bounce in resource and bank shares.

Investors picked up shares that were battered down by a sharp selloff in commodities the previous week due to deepening worries over more fallout from the credit crunch.

A rebound in resource stocks led the way up on Monday, with the energy and materials sectors gaining 2.2 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

Suncor Energy was up $2.84, or 3 percent, at $98.10, while in the materials group, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan rose $7.73, or 5.2 percent, to $155.30.

"(In) the big runup we had in energy prices, we did not see a similar rise in energy equities," said Paul Taylor, chief investment officer at BMO Harris Investment Management Inc.

"So, even if we get some firming of oil prices at levels well above the $75 that a lot of analysts are using as their long-term strategy for oil, then there's good value in the sector."

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 319.67 points, or 2.5 percent, at 13,095.31 at midday with all 10 of its main sectors higher. It lost more than 3 percent the previous week.

The banking sector gained 3.3 percent as investors saw value in stocks that have been beaten down by concerns over troubles in financial markets.

Bank of Montreal continued its upward momentum after it said last week it had reached a deal to restructure two of its commercial paper trusts. BMO rose $2.23, or 5 percent, to $46.74, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was up $3.06, or 4.8 percent, at C$67.32.

Taylor said the banks were also benefiting from news that that JPMorgan Chase & Co has raised its offer for Bear Stearns Cos to about $10 a share from the fire-sale price of $2 that was originally offered.

"(It) is a sign that obviously they are recognizing that there was more significant value than their low-ball bid of $2," Taylor said.

Elsewhere, Biovail Corp was down 48 cents, or 4.1 percent, at $11.30 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company with engaging in a number of fraudulent accounting schemes. Two current senior executives and former Chief Executive Eugene Melnyk were also charged.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Peter Galloway)

© Reuters 2008