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ASB Securities Morning Brief for Monday, 30 January 2012
New Zealand Headlines NZ Market Report. New Zealand stocks continued their rise Friday, with a turnaround in the fortunes of Fletcher Building indicating investors were finding favour in cyclical stocks... Read more The criminal trial of four Lombard Finance and Investment directors, including two former Cabinet ministers, enters its final phase today.... Read more Hundreds of Christchurch companies are facing crunch time as the business interruption insurance that has tided them over since the February earthquake last year runs out next month. It's expected some will have to close... Read more One of the country's largest dairy farming groups is set to stay in New Zealand hands.... Read more Public angst over the sale of nearly 8000 hectares of prime central North Island dairy land is bordering on racism, a Government minister says... Read more NZ and Australia have agreed to study bringing the two economies even closer together.... Read more Australia and New Zealand have agreed to a six month trial extending sharing criminal history for employment vetting.... Read more The former chief executive officer of Pike River Coal has set up a mine safety consulting business.... Read more A property commentator says the market has "clearly turned a corner" after house sales broke through a key level last year.... Read more New Zealanders are now paying some of the world's highest prices for basic foods such as milk, chicken and eggs. That may be good news for our farmers and our export economy, but it's hard on family shopping bills... Read more Hundreds of thousands of Genesis Energy customers may be offered the opportunity to pay "multi-rate tariffs".... Read more Kirkcaldie & Stains is preparing to hire brand experts to try to put a price on the Wellington department store.... Read more Two separate but parallel lawsuits have been launched against the former directors of failed property scheme Blue Chip.... Read more Wellington information technology company Datacom has scored a coup after being selected as the preferred prime contractor to build an $80 million information technology system for the Immigration Service.... Read more It took the Henderson-based company Douglas Pharmaceuticals about 10 years to get the thumbs-up from the FDA to sell its New Zealand-developed generic formulation of the acne drug isotretinoin in the US... Read more Peter Jackson's upcoming two-part blockbuster movies based on The Hobbit will bring precious windfalls for Kiwi tourism operators.... Read more Manufacturing in New Zealand is hard enough as it is, but Lower Hutt firm Metco Engineering manages to do it better than China... Read more An American management consultant has been in New Zealand researching what he considers a lost "national treasure" in this country's management history.... Read more
Australian Headlines Australian Market Report. The sharemarket may open slightly higher today, despite weakness on European markets and a mixed performance on US markets... Read more A slowdown in the housing market is starting to strain banks' balance sheets, with the biggest lenders being forced to pay top dollar to lock in longer-term funding... Read more Anxiety levels among bankers are at record levels with Australian finance professionals more worried than elsewhere, a new global report has found... Read more Indonesia has revoked a gold mining exploration permit granted to an Australian miner following a series of violent protests against the project left two dead last month... Read more Oil giant ExxonMobil will begin a ''technical study'' into improving power supplies to its Altona refinery in Melbourne's west, as the ageing facility battles to survive Australia's manufacturing crisis... Read more With Woodside Petroleum seeking to sell off the majority of its stake in the massive Browse liquefied natural gas project, Chinese interests are reportedly in talks to buy as much as 25 per cent of the Browse project, according to The Australian... Read more Israel may hold the key to Australian decision about interest rates... Read more The New Zealand government is expecting strong interest from Australian investors as it prepares to roll out $NZ7 billion ($5.4 billion) worth of part-privatisations over the next three years... Read more Gina Rinehart is planning to give her staff a $500 million equity stake in the Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara, which is set to become one of Australia's biggest and most profitable mines... Read more Sharemarket bottom-feeder David Tweed's business practices are to be tested in court by a 77-year-old widow in a case that could damage his ability to enforce contracts signed by his victims... Read more Telstra and Australia's two biggest sporting codes will learn this week whether Optus has legal protection to keep selling a controversial internet television service... Read more Job seekers outside of the mining industry are likely to face a much tougher time this year... Read more A third of Australian workers plan to return to their studies in order to get a leg up the career ladder, says a study... Read more The Spotless board met on Friday without issuing a peep to the two groups with whom it is at loggerheads: the contract cleaner's suitor, Pacific Equity Partners, and its shareholders, who are demanding the company engage with the private equity firm or face a boardroom spill... Read more Receivers and managers continue to play a leading role in the pub sector with two high-profile assets, the Welcome Hotel and the Australian Youth Hotel, formally up for sale... Read more As the dismal trading in 2011 global share markets ground down to its agonising year-end finish, some Australian investors were heartened by the news that our government was about to lift the ban on uranium sales to India.... Read more Tightening access to the age pension will be up for discussion as part of a new push by the government to make superannuation fairer... Read more The body of Alan Bond's wife, Diana Bliss, was found by her husband in the swimming pool of their beachside mansion in the Perth suburb of Cottesloe, a source has confirmed... Read more Ross Gittins. The economic news from Europe in recent days has not been good. And it could get worse as the year progresses. Those guys have big problems. But let's not spook ourselves by imagining it to be any worse than it is... Read more Adele Ferguson. After suffering their worst year of catastrophes ever, general insurance companies will do it tough again this year... Read more
International Headlines US Market Report. The stock market is off to a good start this year, but this week brings a host of potential pitfalls that could slow the recent momentum... Read more World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more Athens rejects outright German proposals for an EU power of veto over the Greek budget, with a minister threatening to quit over the issue... Read more The German government wants Greece to cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a eurozone "budget commissioner", according to a copy of the proposal obtained by the Financial Times... Read more Inappropriate spending cuts could "strangle" growth, so austerity measures should be tailor-made by each country, the head of the IMF warns.... Read more Facebook will begin the process of becoming a publicly-listed company this week, valuing the social networking site at between $75bn and $100bn, reports suggest... Read more The chief executive of JPMorgan says he can understand some of the grievances of the Occupy movement, describing some of Wall Street's actions as "a total disgrace."... Read more Four current and former employees of News Corp.’s tabloid The Sun were among five men arrested on bribery allegations as a year-long police investigation spreads to Britain’s best-selling daily newspaper... Read more Hedge funds increased wagers on rising commodity prices to the most in two months and the rally in raw materials accelerated as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep borrowing costs low for three more years... Read more US employers probably added workers to payrolls in January, showing companies are gaining confidence the U.S. expansion will weather Europe’s slump, economists said before reports this week... Read more The World Economic Forum in Davos has ended with worries about the economy, but hopes that the eurozone crisis is under control... Read more Plans to commit €22bn to tackling the scourge of youth unemployment across Europe will be considered by EU leaders on Monday as international pressure mounts for action to help young people chart a way through the deepening economic crisis... Read more The creator of the iPhone may soon have more ready cash than the US government and analysts are speculating about acquisitions. But the firm may be more focused on a daring foray into pay television... Read more India and Bangladesh sign a deal to build a plant to address Bangladesh's power shortages, despite opposition from environmentalists... Read more Spanish airline Spanair went bust early Saturday, forcing many passengers to find seats on flights with other airlines at short notice... Read more Starbucks plans to open 300 UK outlets over the next five years, pitting US firms against domestic chains such as Greggs and Costa Coffee... Read more A new team of U.S. trade enforcers will make countries think twice about putting up unfair barriers to American exports, President Barack Obama's top trade official said... Read more Some tech gadgets that once seemed indispensable have been mercilessly superseded over the years, and Research in Motion is trying to avoid that fate for its BlackBerry.... Read more The new Swiss National Bank chief could be named in February, sooner than had been expected after the resignation of former chairman Philipp Hildebrand earlier this month, a newspaper reported on Sunday... Read more Royal Bank of Scotland's Chairman Philip Hampton will not pick up a 1.4 million pound ($2.2 million) stock bonus, the bailed-out bank said, following public anger and political squabbling over a 1 million pound bonus for its chief executive... Read more Top Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives received previously restricted stock awards that are now worth $47.7 million, according to regulatory filings, though the executives are still limited in selling most of their Goldman stock... Read more January has turned out to be strong for stocks with just two trading days to go. If you're afraid to miss the ride, there's still time to jump in. You just might want to wear a neck brace.... Read more A tumultuous 12 months that saw revolutions in the Middle East, a worsening debt crisis in Europe and a tsunami in Japan has set the tone for corporate activity in 2012.... Read more Richard Quest. To hear the European leaders in Davos you would think the eurozone crisis had only just occurred and there was an urgency to deal with it hitherto unforeseen... Read more
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