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ASB Securities Morning Brief for Friday, 03 February 2012
New Zealand Headlines NZ Market Report. Stocks rose, taking a lead from heightened positivity in offshore equities... Read more The Treasury has lowered its forecast for economic growth for 2013, citing volatile and more expensive global credit markets and the likely impact on commodity prices of a weaker global economy... Read more The much-vaunted brain drain to Australia is no worse than it has ever been, and is actually smaller as a proportion of New Zealand’s total population than it was 40 years ago, a major study by the Department of Labour has found... Read more Landcorp, the state-owned farm vying for management fees over the Crafar farms, tripled its first-year operating profit on strong growth in revenue, particularly from livestock... Read more The unconditional date for the sale of the Crafar farms has been extended again... Read more Briscoe Group, the home ware and sporting goods retailer, posted a 4.7 percent gain in fourth-quarter sales and said a strong finish to the year drove annual profit up at least 25 percent... Read more Bridgecorp's trustees found out five days before it went into receivership that it had been missing payments.... Read more For David Denison, the president and chief executive of one of Canada's biggest investors, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the opaque process of the New Zealand government in blocking him from buying Auckland Airport still rankles... Read more Not enough New Zealanders appreciate the benefits of foreign investment and economic growth, says Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce... Read more The fees paid to directors of State-Owned Enterprises are under review this year with any changes likely to kick in from July, according to the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit... Read more Inland Revenue has warned the Government it faces a billion-dollar bill to replace its ageing First mainframe computer system.... Read more New Zealand commodity prices rose for the first time in eight months in January, led by aluminium and dairy products, though the high kiwi dollar wiped out the benefits in local currency terms... Read more The strong kiwi has stymied growth of high value exports in "knowledge intensive manufacturing", according to briefing papers from MED... Read more The housing market recovery is likely to be underpinned by a turn-around in net migration from the second half of this year and into next... Read more Kiwibank has joined with most of the other banks and cut some of its fixed rate home loan rates, with decreases in its longer term loans... Read more Air New Zealand should grab-a-seat on the board for exiting chief executive Rob Fyfe, says a leading market commentator... Read more Control of some of New Zealand's biggest toilet paper and sanitary product brands has changed hands in a $230 million deal... Read more Dozens of immigrants have alleged their liquor store owner boss abused their personal rights.... Read more Xero, the cloud-based accounting platform provider, raised $20 million in a placement to major shareholders and will offer new shares to other investors at the same price after electing to chase global revenue growth at the expense of profits... Read more New Zealand business owners recorded one of the biggest reductions in holidays last year, with employers working harder to support staff and reduce stress levels, according to the Grant Thornton International Business Report.... Read more Auckland builders, engineers, architects, project managers and quantity surveyors are being sought by a Christchurch firm to help with the city's rebuild and insurance repairs... Read more A major New Zealand beer costs almost three times as much here than in the United States or Britain... Read more New Image Group, which develops colostrum-based health tonics, has announced the resignation of Simon Beuth, its chief financial officer, in a statement to the NZX... Read more Rio Tinto’s 40 year-old aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point, near Bluff, had its biggest production year ever in 2011, churning out 354,0309 tonnes of saleable aluminium, up from a previous record of 352,976 tonnes in 2007... Read more Christchurch-based Wood Scenic Line expects to restore its quake-hit tram and gondola by early next year... Read more Christchurch is losing an extra 40 jobs after a decision by Postie Plus to award a warehousing and distribution contract to an Auckland-based company, the EPMU says... Read more Waihi residents have vowed to fight plans to drill under their town for gold and silver... Read more Solid Energy has bought out its American partner from the underperforming Spring Creek Underground Mine near Greymouth for an undisclosed amount... Read more The Crown succeeded in its attempt to split up the directors of Lombard Finance & Investments, who are being defended by three different counsel, according to the defence... Read more Phil Macalister. For all those property bears out there I have some disconcerting news. The property market is starting to stir and it’s only going to go one way – up... Read more
Australian Headlines Australian Market Report. Shares snap a three-day losing streak as promising economic data cheers investors... Read more The Finance Sector Union claims that 560 jobs are set to go at Westpac Bank, with 150 of those roles going offshore.... Read more Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the financial services sector in Australia has a bright future despite imminent job cuts at Westpac... Read more Economists are urging the Federal Government to boost funding for education and training and abandon plans for a budget surplus as the strong Australian dollar sees jobs slashed around the country... Read more Australians hoping to become investors in Facebook's share sale are likely to miss out- at least for now.... Read more Coles continues to close the gap on Woolworths as it leads in a price war... Read more Glencore is nearing an agreement to combine with Xstrata, adding mines from Africa to Asia to the world's largest listed commodity trader... Read more A prediction that gold could top $US2500 an ounce within five years was not the only lure that Newcrest chief executive Greg Robinson dangled in front of investors yesterday.... Read more Qantas has increased its fares on domestic and international routes in response to increased fuel costs and carbon pricing schemes in Australia and Europe... Read more Iron ore magnate and media investor Gina Rinehart has doubled her fortune to $US18 billion ($17 billion) from last year to become the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Forbes magazine.... Read more Geoffrey Cousins calls on major shareholders to block Gina Rinehart from gaining a board seat at Fairfax Media.... Read more Fairfax Media shares have retreated as analysts questioned whether Gina Rinehart's $192 million raid to expand her influence on the newspaper publisher was a wise financial decision... Read more Mining magnate Clive Palmer says he will consider a tilt at media ownership like his billionaire counterpart Gina Rinehart who has become Fairfax Media's biggest single shareholder... Read more BHP Billiton's early bet on its Australian growth projects now stands at more than $US2 billion... Read more Barriers to improving poor productivity will become greater without reforms to the national economy, according to the Council of Australian Governments... Read more Shares in Lynas Corp soared yesterday after the company was granted a temporary operating licence to refine rare earths at a plant in Malaysia, despite local safety concerns... Read more The Australian Football League and National Rugby League are expected to lodge an appeal early next week against Wednesday's surprise decision giving Optus the right to transmit television to customers - and legislation is in the wings... Read more Telstra's competitors have started spruiking the benefits of mobile television services a day after a landmark decision allowing Optus to sell services that undermine the value of Telstra's sports internet broadcast rights... Read more The Australian Electricity Market Commission is reviewing reliability standards in NSW amid concerns that high standards are pushing prices too high, which is resulting in a rising number of households not being able to pay their power bills... Read more Holden has confirmed that it is cutting about 100 "casual and flexible" jobs at its Elizabeth plant in Adelaide... Read more The housing market is likely to remain soft for a while longer after new data showed building approvals continue to decline... Read more Publisher and direct marketer PMP cuts earnings guidance and conducts further restructuring due to poor trading conditions and weaker printing orders... Read more WA's port authorities will be amalgamated into four main bodies under changes outlined by the State Government today... Read more BHP Billiton has committed $US779 million ($A735.98 million) to a port project that could increase its WA iron ore exports by 100 million tonnes each year... Read more Stephen Bartholomeusz. Facebook has filed for its IPO, and while it is impressively profitable, the social media network's business model is still a work in progress... Read more Adele Ferguson. Weak set of sales figures from Kmart and Target will give the RBA a few more reasons why it should cut rates on Tuesday... Read more Ian McIlwraith. Photon Group is facing another multimillion-dollar legal claim alleging former management engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct... Read more Michael West. The sales results from the supermarket giants show two things: Coles is still whipping Woolies and the RBA can comfortably cut rates... Read more Brian Robins. Unlike property trusts, regulated infrastructure stocks have come through the downturn largely unscathed... Read more Leith van Onselen. It can be tricky to make sense of the real estate price data. Here's what the numbers revea... Read more Alan Kohler. The problem with yesterday's equal pay ruling for community sector workers is that it poses a major threat to enterprise bargaining... Read more
International Headlines US Market Report. Stocks edged higher on Thursday after weekly jobless claims fell in the latest week, but gains were limited as investors were reluctant to make big bets ahead of Friday's payrolls report and a recent rally... Read more World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more The U.S. recovery remains "frustrating slow," and now Europe's debt crisis is posing additional challenges, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke tells Congress.... Read more Mining giant Xstrata and commodities trader Glencore International announce they are in talks over a possible "merger of equals".... Read more Facebook unveiled plans for the biggest ever Internet IPO that could raise as much as $10 billion, but made it clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over the company, leaving investors with little say... Read more Drugs firm AstraZeneca announces a further 7,300 job cuts over the next two years as part of a new restructuring programme... Read more Chinese premier Wen Jiabao says it is 'very important' to resolve the eurozone debt crisis, and hinted that China might provide financial support... Read more Dr Josef Ackermann, the head of Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, warns of a "social time bomb" from wealth and income inequality... Read more Deutsche Bank has reported a sharp fall in profits after the eurozone debt crisis took its toll on the company's investment banking division... Read more The parent company of American Airlines says it will shed 13,000 jobs - around 15% of its workforce... Read more AMR Corp.’s turnaround plan in bankruptcy envisions finding $1 billion in new revenue even as the parent of American Airlines scales back its workforce by 18 percent and prepares to trim overall flying... Read more Concerns about profiteering in the energy sector are likely to be reignited with Shell reporting earnings of £18bn, £2m an hour... Read more Royal Dutch Shell has said it will launch a major investment drive in an effort to boost falling production... Read more Japanese electronics giant Sony reports another quarterly loss after sales were hit by lower production following the floods in Thailand... Read more India's Supreme Court cancels 122 telecommunications licences awarded to several companies, amid an ongoing corruption scandal.... Read more Burma reveals it owes more than $11bn in foreign debt - a figure much higher than the previous estimate... Read more Shareholder group Ethos called for Novartis investors to vote against re-electing board members who were among those deciding on the pay awarded to the Swiss drugmaker's chairman, Daniel Vasella... Read more Merck & Co reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, helped by a decrease in research spending, and predicted relatively flat 2012 results as the No. 2 U.S. drugmaker girds for cheaper generic forms of its biggest product, asthma drug Singulair... Read more Zynga shares jumped as much as 22 percent on Thursday in the first trading session after Facebook revealed it made 12 percent of its revenue last year from the video game publisher... Read more MasterCard Inc., the world’s second- biggest payments network, said fourth-quarter profit climbed 24 percent as spending with credit and debit cards increased... Read more It's been three months since MF Global became the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Did anyone see this coming?... Read more Robert Peston. Arguably there are two great bubbles in the world right now, in internet shares and commodities. But the Facebook share sale and likely merger of Glencore and Xstrata show that these putative bubbles manifest themselves very differently on the stock market... Read more Jeff Jarvis. Mark Zuckerberg believes he is not changing human nature but enabling it. If you buy that – and I do – then I'd suggest buying his stock, for he has created the platform for the sharing economy... Read more
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