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ASB Securities Morning Brief for Tuesday, 16 March 2010
New Zealand Headlines Strategic Finance's receiver says the finance company's assets could be sold to an outside party, but that receivership work on Strategic's troubled loan book is the immediate priority.... Read more Supermarket, retirement and healthcare businesses are lining up to buy Soho Square, Ponsonby's Strategic Finance-funded five-level eyesore... Read more The prime minister says there has been too much "hysteria" in the media over the issue of mining in conservation areas... Read more The electricity industry is keeping a close eye on likely winter power supply as falling South Island lake levels push spot prices up and North Island power gets sent south... Read more New Zealand's service sector activity improved slightly during February, though not enough to suggest a roaring out of last year's economic recession... Read more Development "contributions" to local government can add up to $30,000 for a residential section in some districts, according to a new report... Read more Guinness Peat Group said its largest investment, the Coats Group thread-making business, is over the worst of its trading slump, though recovery may be hampered by rising raw material costs... Read more Multinational electrical giant Siemens was a key member of a sophisticated, 16-year international cartel that counted Transpower and Vector among its New Zealand customers, the High Court at Auckland has been told... Read more New Zealand's biggest retail travel chain, House of Travel, says a big investment in a website farefinder tool should pay off, just as its long-haul bookings growth exceeds budget by 30 per cent... Read more An investment fund aimed at building prisons, schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure is open to Kiwis with $20,000 to spare... Read more Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings, the white ware manufacturer who introduced Chinese Company Haier as a 20% stake holder last year, announced it will take over the sales, marketing and customer care service in Australia for Haier... Read more The New Zealand dollar may rise this week as continued global good economic news increases market appetite for commodity currencies such as the kiwi and Australian currenc... Read more A company related to Timaru-based businessman Allan Hubbard has sold its 17% shareholding in Salvus Strategic Investments to Milford Funds for just under $2.5 million... Read more A sharp increase in costs pushed down the profits of New Zealand's biggest book retailer last year... Read more Murray Horn, former Treasury secretary and head of ANZ Banking Group's New Zealand arm, has been tapped to help lure warring factions of the wool sector out of their trenches to create a new industry body... Read more Fourteen lodges and boutique hotels have changed hands in the last 15 months for more than $75 million... Read more Daily Sharechat. Children's wear company Pumpkin Patch needs either a robust retailing environment in Australian and/or a step change in its wholesale division's earnings to give its share price a genuine boost, says Sarndra Urlich, an analyst at First NZ Capital... Read more NZ Market Report. New Zealand shares were mixed in light trading. Sky City Entertainment Group rose after reiterating its profit forecast and Guinness Peat Group fell after warning that rising raw material costs will dent the recovery at its Coats unit... Read more
Australian Headlines Austraian Market Report. The Australian sharemarket hit a six-day low yesterday as Moody's Investors Service warned that the US government's AAA rating could be at risk... Read more The Reserve Bank board will today explain why it raised interest rates at its March meeting and will give a comprehensive report on the Australian economy... Read more Three of the four major banks have lowered their term deposit rates, just a week after the Reserve Bank raised official interest rates... Read more The Reserve Bank says it is undecided on whether direct regulation or increased competition is needed to reduce the transaction fees that credit card companies charge.... Read more Weak lending finance is evidence of an economy slowing after the government stimulus has worn off and could spare borrowers an April interest rate rise... Read more The corporate regulator forces Seven Network to make significant changes to documents it will send to shareholders about the proposed merger with earth-moving business WesTrac.... Read more Super funds are failing to measure and manage potential risks from climate change, according to a survey of Australia's largest super funds... Read more Coal shipments from Newcastle, the world's largest coal-export terminal, have been cut by about 570,000 tonnes due to a train derailment and scheduled rail maintenance... Read more Unions remain opposed to the sell-off of Queensland's coal rail network in any form... Read more The federal government asks Beijing to stay out of sensitive iron price talks between Chinese steelmakers and Australian miners... Read more Arrow Energy may reject the $3.3 billion takeover bid from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina as early as today as its shares push higher and its liquefied natural gas partner says it is prepared to go it alone on the Fisherman's Landing project... Read more Rio Tinto and Chinalco are getting back together, less than a year after the acrimonious breakdown of their $US19.5 billion investment deal... Read more Goldminer Avoca Resources has tried to acquire the remainder of the Frog's Leg mine in Western Australia, but was rebuffed... Read more A Spanish company intends to build one of the largest solar thermal plants here.... Read more Former Bill Express chief financial officer Mark Lichtenstein has admitted the company's accounts were 'a train wreck waiting to happen', and told a public examination into the $250 million collapse that he raised concerns with the board and chief executive Ian Christiansen three times before he finally quit his job... Read more Telstra's second-largest shareholder positions itself to lead an investor revolt against the federal government's national broadband network... Read more A banker who allegedly made $3.6 million by selling shares to the fund he was managing is fighting to stay out of jail on contempt of court charges... Read more Prominent fund managers have called for greater oversight of large-scale initial public offerings in the wake of the disastrous Myer float.... Read more Hazelwood power station, the most carbon-intensive plant in the developed world, has helped deliver a bumper profit to its owner, British-listed International Power... Read more A former Macquarie fund manager who oversaw a team responsible for handling billions of pounds has told a court he was emotionally distressed when he tried to flee the country illegally earlier this month.... Read more Oil Search's massive Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project has reached a financial close and is proceeding in full.... Read more Peter Hiom has been named deputy chief executive of the ASX and may get the top job next year... Read more Further mergers of credit unions are inevitable as they to seek compete with the big banks and fill the gap left by the takeovers of St George and Bankwest, according to the head of the country's second-largest mutual finance house... Read more Enthusiasm for its Canadian oil play prompts Melbourne-based Molopo Energy to raise $60 million in new equity to accelerate production... Read more Queensland-based Sunland Group has lifted its annual profit expectations by between 15 and 20 per cent thanks to early house and land settlements... Read more The gender wage gap costs Australia $93 billion a year in productivity, a report shows... Read more Three more banks could face investor concern over flawed mortgage outsourcing deals with Perpetual, creating confusion over who has legal transaction authority... Read more Swiss banking giant UBS says Australia, Britain and Canada have filed requests for information after it settled a massive tax evasion case with US authorities... Read more Insurer Suncorp-Metway says claim costs from the recent storms in Victoria will reach $200 million.... Read more Supermarket giant Woolworths says its foray into the telecommunications market is proving successful, with parents and kids looking for non-nonsense plans... Read more Adele Ferguson. Group of victims of unscrupulous practitioners soliciting support to run multi-million dollar class action against corporate regulator ASIC... Read more Ross Gittins. I have no idea whether the next rise in the official interest rate will come at the Reserve Bank board's meeting in three weeks or a month later. But if I were governor I wouldn't be dragging my feet... Read more Stephen Bartholomeusz. Had Chinalco sought less from Rio Tinto, or the timing and context of the merger been different, would the outcome of the controversially failed alliance between the pair been different?... Read more Robert Gottliebsen. A rare warning from Chinese premier Wen Jiabao that the world could return to recession should be heeded closely by all Australians... Read more Barry Fitzgerald. The market is not giving the takeover bid from Belgium-based Nyrstar for base metals group CBH Resources much chance of success... Read more Ian Verrender. There is a major flaw in the legal framework that has been designed to protect shareholders... Read more Michael Evans. The corporate regulator has forced Kerry Stokes's Seven Network to make significant changes to documents it will send to shareholders about the proposed merger with his earth-moving business WesTrac, amid concerns the information Seven wanted to send didn't tell shareholders everything they needed to know... Read more
International Headlines U.S. Market Report. An updated report of the latest action on Wall Street... Read more World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more The United States isn't in jeopardy of losing its gold-plated credit rating, though by one measure America is closer to the ratings-downgrade danger zone than Spain... Read more U.S. lawmakers urged Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to say China manipulates its currency, writing that an undervalued yuan hurts American manufacturers and provides a subsidy to Chinese competitors... Read more US factory output has gone up for the eighth month in a row, despite winter storms that affected industry in the north east... Read more Germany's trade surpluses built on holding down labor costs may be unsustainable for the other countries in the eurozone, France's finance minister said in an unusually blunt warning to Berlin... Read more British Airways will fly about 60% of its customers, even if cabin crew go ahead with their planned strike this weekend.... Read more Europe is growing at half the U.S. pace, the U.K. budget deficit may reach 12.6 percent of gross domestic product, and that's proving no deterrent to the strategists who picked last year's market bottom... Read more Chileans braced for more blackouts after an outage yesterday left 80 percent of the population without power and much of Santiago in darkness for more than two hours, the result of grid damage from last month's earthquake.... Read more Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. agreed to buy clothing maker Tommy Hilfiger BV from private-equity firm Apax Partners LP for 2.2 billion euros ($US3 billion), adding the brand to its Calvin Klein and Izod lines. Phillips-Van Heusen shares jumped in New York trading... Read more Consol Energy Inc., a coal and natural gas producer, agreed to buy Dominion Resources Inc.'s natural gas and oil exploration and production business for $US3.48 billion to expand Marcellus Shale reserves... Read more Google Inc. advertisers in China are being advised to switch to rivals such as Baidu Inc. and business partners are exploring alternatives as speculation grows the U.S. company will shut its Web site in the country... Read more Technicians who tested a Toyota Prius after its owner claimed its gas pedal stuck were unable to recreate the same condition, according to a draft congressional memo obtained Sunday by CNN... Read more American International Group Inc., the bailed-out insurer, cut retention bonuses to be delivered to former employees today by about $US21 million to meet a target imposed by U.S. paymaster Kenneth Feinberg, said a person briefed on the company's plans... Read more Paul La Monica. Big businesses have a lot of cash, and many are starting to put it to use -- to invest in themselves... Read more
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