China’s Beijing tightens property controls to cool prices by Reuters on Reuters
China’s capital Beijing has stepped up measures to calm rising discontent over record-high home prices, vowing to boost supply for middle-income families and punish property speculators. The uneven success of China’s efforts to rein in its buoyant property market has led some analysts to speculate the central government may unveil new measures nationwide to dampen house prices during a crucial plenum in November, including raising property tax levels. Acknowledging that speculative buying was helping to drive up home prices, the Beijing government signaled in its latest measures it is ready to get tough with both buyers and sellers…. [ Read More ]SINGAPORE IN TALKS WITH REGULATORS ON CURRENCY RIGGING By Andrea Tan, Sanat Vallikappen & Liam Vaughan on Bloomberg Law
Singapore, Asia’s biggest foreign-exchange center, is in discussions with regulators around the world investigating the potential rigging of the $5.3 trillion-a-day currency market. The Monetary Authority of Singapore “has been in touch with foreign regulators on the issue of alleged manipulation in the WM/Reuters foreign-exchange benchmark rates,” the central bank said in an e-mailed statement today in response to queries. “We stand ready to assist in their investigations.” The comments mark the first public acknowledgment by a regulator that probes into currency markets are centered on WM/Reuters rates. The benchmarks, published hourly by State Street Corp. (STT) and Thomson Reuters Corp., determine how much firms pay for foreign exchange and are used to value pension funds and calculate indexes. Even small distortions in the rates will impact the value of trillions of dollars of investments… [ Read More ]Singapore Inks Direct Currency Trade, RQFII Quota With China by Fion Li & Kyoungwha Kim on Bloomberg
Singapore and China will introduce direct trading between their currencies, helping the city-state compete with Hong Kong and London as an offshore yuan hub. The two nations also agreed on a 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) quota for financial institutions in Singapore to invest in China’s domestic securities under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement today. The Southeast Asian nation will be given consideration as one of the investment destinations where Chinese institutional investors will be able to use yuan to buy securities, under the new Renminbi Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, according to the statement… [ Read More ]ENRC, China Move Toward Platinum Production in Zimbabwe by Godfrey Marawanyika on Bloomberg
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp., a state-owned company, plans to start metal production with Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) and a Chinese company on concessions taken from Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP)A venture with ENRC, controlled by businessmen from Kazakhstan and the government of the former Soviet Union country, is due to start producing platinum in the first quarter of next year. An exploration report from an alliance with the Chinese company, previously identified as Norinco International Cooperation Ltd. (000065), is due by year-end… [ Read More ]
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