ASB Securities Morning Brief for Thursday, 29 July 2010

Pacnet, the owner of Asia’s largest undersea cable, has teamed with local start-up Pacific Fibre to build a US$400 million cable linking New Zealand, Australia and the US... Read more

Pacific Fibre is a step closer to turning its international data cable ambitions into reality with the sign-up of Asian telco Pacnet as an equal partner... Read more

State-owned telco Kordia has thrown in the towel on its trans-Tasman fibre-optic-cable bid after rival Pacific Fibre announced a major partnership deal... Read more

New Zealand business confidence has dimmed for a third month in a row, marking “a clear change of direction” in sentiment, according to the National Bank Business Outlook... Read more

Cash-strapped South Canterbury Finance is hopeful of finding a buyer for the business by an August 31 deadline after a call for it to be placed in statutory management... Read more

The Inland Revenue Department has joined another major creditor objecting to the 6 cents in the dollar offer from failed property developer and would-be dairy farm purchaser May Wang... Read more

Many public companies need to improve their disclosure on such matters as ethical standards and directors' and executives' remuneration, according to the Securities Commission... Read more

Jetstar is planning a significant expansion in New Zealand, with two new trans-Tasman routes, and increases to its domestic services... Read more

Rugby World Cup sponsor Emirates is ramping up preparations for the tournament as the one-year countdown approaches... Read more

Investors in AMP suffered a poor June quarter as world share prices plunged, but overall returns for the year were still up around 7 per cent, across a range of diversified funds... Read more

AMP Capital Investors is holding more cash than normal after a turbulent quarter raised the prospect of a double-dip recession... Read more

Waikato-Tainui's commercial arms has had a $61.1 million turnaround, it reported yesterday... Read more

Local software company Pingar has begun an ambitious push into what seems an unlikely niche market for a New Zealand business... Read more

Scott Technology says it will pay less than $1.5 million for the assets of a key supplier which will immediately contribute positively to earnings... Read more

Debenture-holders in Dorchester Finance should be wary of an offer by Stock & Share Trading Company Pty Limited to buy their debentures for 5c in the dollar... Read more

PGG Wrightson Finance failed to get a quorum at a special meeting of bondholders to vote on extending the term of its October 2010 bonds for 12 months... Read more

Budget gym franchise Jetts Fitness plans to open 25 stores around the country... Read more

The Securities Commission is considering action against Christchurch finance firm Prudential Mortgage following complaints it withheld material information from Kingston Flyer investors... Read more

Express package company Freightways is launching a service catering specifically for customers buying and selling on Trade Me.... Read more

Trade Minister Tim Groser owns 40,000 shares in a company which uses New Zealand technology to develop dairy farms in South America but he hasn't broken Parliament's rules... Read more

The Inland Revenue's just-completed three-year programme targeting the property market has produced a number of lessons for the department, says Commissioner for Inland Revenue Bob Russell... Read more

House prices look set to continue falling, with Westpac predicting they could fall around 4.7%, while rents look set to rise... Read more

While house prices increased in June from a month earlier, the general trend over the past three months has been flat at best, according to ANZ... Read more

Patrick Smellie. For as long as I can remember, there’s been national angst over what to do about superannuation... Read more

Daily Sharechat. Although Steel & Tube Holdings' trading conditions have stabilised, they are still challenging, says Craigs Investment Partners... Read more

NZ Market Report. New Zealand stocks rose for the fifth time in seven sessions, helped into positive territory by PGG Wrightson, which lead gainers on the bourse on the prospects of a windfall gain from the sale of its stake in NZ Farming System... Read more

Australian Market Report. Recovering offshore equity markets helped to boost the Australian sharemarket for a fourth straight day yesterday... Read more

Julia Gillard will go to the polls with the ultimate economic double, falling inflation and falling unemployment, after a surprise dive in inflation removed the prospect of higher mortgage rates in the lead-up to the election... Read more

Strong coal prices are forecast to deliver surprisingly little in additional revenue under the Gillard government's reworked resources rent tax... Read more

Business has welcomed the Coalition's plan to cut the company tax rate but wants the main parties to commit to more reform and tax cuts in line with the Henry review... Read more

One can only speculate on the number of air punches the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, threw when he discovered underlying inflation, at 2.7 per cent, had clocked in at the lowest level on his watch - the lowest since mid-2007... Read more

Retailers are breathing a collective sigh of relief amid signs interest rates will stay on hold for now, having slashed prices to entice shoppers to open their wallets... Read more

Rio Tinto is poised to seal a crucial joint venture with its largest shareholder, Aluminum Corp of China... Read more

Telstra has been ordered to pay more than $18.5 million in fines for locking broadband competitors out of its telephone exchanges... Read more

Optus has taken a leaf out of Telstra's book.... Read more

Australia's largest super funds have barely outperformed inflation this decade... Read more

Iinet is locked in a battle with TPG Telecom to acquire Telecom New Zealand's struggling AAPT unit... Read more

Austar boss John Porter jokes that after 15 years he has given up waiting for the regional pay-TV group to merge with Foxtel.... Read more

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warns that miners have too much say in mining tax debate.... Read more

RBA member Warwick McKibbin says it is "stunning" that Australia's government would change the mining tax regime while there is a sovereign risk crisis... Read more

The banking watchdog is considering whether to allow Australian banks to hold on to assets other than top-rated corporate bonds and government securities to help protect against financial shocks... Read more

Major Australian banks could be forced to restructure their funding models.... Read more

Major foreign investors have fled the Australian equities market after being the largest contributor of fresh money for the past two years... Read more

Shell is likely to join Chevron's giant Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in competition with Woodside Petroleum's Pluto project... Read more

Chevron, developing the $22.9bn Wheatstone gas project in WA, has sealed a vital land-use agreement with native title holders.... Read more

Militant unionist Kevin Reynolds has warned of mass resignations at Woodside's $13 billion LNG project in Western Australia... Read more

Downer EDI has secured contracts worth $2 billion with one of Australia's largest coal exporters, sending its share price to a two-month high... Read more

Qantas has highlighted its interest in building a base in mainland China as part of a launch pad for flights to Europe, despite its recent choppy history in the country... Read more

The sales pitch to investors for the coal and freight rail operator QR National being listed on the sharemarket is ''coming down to the wire'' with expectations a prospectus will be released in late September... Read more

Macarthur Coal chalked up record sales in the financial year just ended, despite a dip in the June quarter... Read more

Football Federation Australia has objected to the federal government releasing documents about its hiring of three European consultants who stand to receive up to $14 million in taxpayer funds for their work on the 2022 World Cup bid... Read more

The industrial conglomerate Alesco has posted a record loss after a year dogged by a weak housing market and write-downs in its underperforming water products business... Read more

A survey of engineers has revealed deep concerns about the increasing trend for resources projects to be designed overseas.... Read more

MAp Airports International is considering selling its 16 per cent stake in Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste... Read more

A huge resources boom that has been hidden behind Australia's mining success stories is under way in Papua New Guinea.... Read more

The corporate regulator has shown its hand in a long-running dispute over the fees charged by One.Tel's special purpose liquidator by saying Paul Weston needs to justify sending Rolls-Royce invoices rather than Holden ones... Read more

Taxi drivers and owners who have tested alternative payment terminals in their cabs claim they have been bullied by the industry's most powerful player, Cabcharge Australia.... Read more

Lihir Gold's chief executive, Graeme Hunt, says he has ''no idea'' if an eleventh-hour offer for the company will emerge and scuttle Newcrest Mining's $9.5 billion bid before the August 23 shareholder vote on the deal... Read more

Coca-Cola Amatil chief Terry Davis has called for a relaxation in skilled immigration laws and says cuts will threaten economic growth... Read more

Adele Ferguson. If the earnings season got off to a rocky start with 50 per cent profit downgrades from the insurance companies QBE and IAG, as well as disappointing quarterly sales figures from Harvey Norman and Woolworths, then the true test lies ahead... Read more

Ian Verrender. It was a day of mixed emotions. For Glenn Stevens, relief. For Julia Gillard, jubilation. And for Tony Abbott, fury... Read more

David Symons. After a drawn-out sale process that flushed out only one serious bidder, it seems Telecom New Zealand's efforts to sell the underperforming AAPT business has not yielded a result... Read more

Malcolm Maiden. The great hidden dividend in the rollout of a new national broadband network is the structural separation of Telstra from ownership of the nation's main communication network. The judicial reasons for fining Telstra $18.5 million yesterday help explain why... Read more

Bryan Frith. After failing to clinch any of three takeover proposals before it, Macarthur Coal has struck out again... Read more

Elizabeth Knight. As both the Coalition and Labor focus their campaign attention on marginal Queensland voters, Wood Mackenzie, the consultants with expertise in the coal industry, have put some reliable numbers around what the government can extract in additional coal receipts under Julia Gillard's proposed new mining tax... Read more

Stephen Bartholoemusz. The latest CPI figures virtually rule out a rate rise next week, but mixed economic indicators make it difficult to anticipate the RBA's movements in the coming months... Read more

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

One hundred days after an oil well operated by BP ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico, the company's incoming Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley cautiously says the worst may be over.... Read more

Aircraft giant Boeing reports a sharp drop in profits between April and June amid falling plane deliveries... Read more

Russia announces plans for its biggest privatisation since the 1990s - which it hopes will raise about $US30bn.... Read more

Lakshmi Mittal sounded a warning note over the pace of the world recovery after ArcelorMittal announced a 146 per cent rise in underlying profits in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year... Read more

BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce sign a £700m deal to supply India's Hindustan Aeronautics with 57 Hawk training jets... Read more

South Korean electronics firm LG Electronics reports a slump in profits as it struggles to keep pace with competitors in the mobile phone market... Read more

The Federal Reserve said U.S. economic growth slowed in some areas over the past two months, dragged down by commercial real estate and the expiration of a tax credit for homebuyers... Read more

The number of Americans who own homes fell in the second quarter of the year to the lowest level since 1999, said a government survey released Tuesday... Read more

Cash-strapped US cities and counties have been cutting jobs to cope with massive budget shortfalls -- and that tally could edge up to nearly 500,000 if Congress doesn't step up to help... Read more

BP Plc’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will keep the planet’s biggest pot of untapped oil and gas under the Arctic ice for now as regulators toughen drilling rules and demand better ways to handle spills... Read more

Ford Motor Co. plans to complete its sale of Volvo Cars to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. next week, finishing the U.S. automaker’s exit from European luxury brands, according to two people familiar with the plans... Read more

It was a swift reaction. After the Colombian government accused Venezuela of harboring terrorists last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke off relations with his neighbor.... Read more

Research in Motion shares jumped 4% in midday trading Wednesday on speculation that the BlackBerry maker will unveil a new smartphone next week.... Read more

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble has signed up as a global Olympics sponsor.... Read more

Paul La Monica. If the economy is a three-legged stool, people could take comfort in the fact that even though two of those legs (the government and consumers) are wobbly, the third (businesses) is still holding steady... Read more