Mainland car sales rise

Mainland car sales rise
09-04-2009

Overall vehicle sales on the mainland hit a monthly record of 1.1 million last month - up 5 percent from a year ago.

Sales of passenger cars rose the most - by a margin of 10 percent, to 772,000.

The robust sales figure was boosted by tax cuts and government subsidies.

Some analysts say China may overtake the US as the world's biggest car market later this year, as sales in the US have been plummeting.

Citic Pacific chairman resigns

Citic Pacific chairman resigns
09-04-2009

The chairman of Citic Pacific, Larry Yung, and its managing director Henry Fan have both resigned, with immediate effect.

This follows controversy over a six-week delay in reporting massive losses arising from unauthorised currency bets.

The police have also been investigating the company, and raided its Wanchai headquarters last Friday.

A deputy chairman of the firm's parent, Cheng Zhenming, will take over from Mr Yung.

A company statement said that Mr Yung had indicated in his resignation letter that the Commercial Crime Bureau's raid had caused "a great impact in society."

The statement added: "Faced with this reality, Mr Yung believed that his resignation would be in the best interests of the company."

Tsang says RMB move will 'strengthen HK'

Tsang says RMB move will 'strengthen HK'
09-04-2009

The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, says the renminbi clearing scheme will boost the banking sector and create jobs.

He made the comment while welcoming the State Council's decision to allow the use of renminbi to settle cross-border trade deals in Shanghai and four Guangdong cities.

Mr Tsang said several industries stood to benefit, and maintained that the move would not undermine the Hong Kong dollar.

The chief executive said details of the scheme would be released 'soon' after they had been finalised by the mainland authorities.

Mr Tsang said the clearing systems and hardware had already undergone stress tests.

He said the pilot programme would help local businesses to reduce currency risks.

Moody's downgrades Berkshire Hathaway

Moody's downgrades Berkshire Hathaway
09-04-2009

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the coveted "AAA" rating on US billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, citing the economic crisis on the firm's insurance activities.

Moody's lowered Berkshire Hathaway's rating to "Aa2" from "AAA."

It also lowered the rating on its insurance subsidiary National Indemnity Company and other major insurance subsidiaries to "Aa1" from "AAA."

US stocks suffer 2nd day of falls

US stocks suffer 2nd day of falls
08-04-2009

US investors have dumped stocks for a second day, as the markets prepared for potentially grim earnings reports.

The major exchanges all fell more than 2-percent, including the Dow, which lost 186 points.

Analysts blamed the pullback on profit-taking after a huge advance in March that gave the Dow its best four-week performance in more than 75-years

New trams investor plans another line

New trams investor plans another line
08-04-2009

The new part-owner of the tram system, the French firm Veolia, plans to seek government permission to build a line on the Central-Wanchai reclamation.

This emerged after it was confirmed that the owner of the tram system, Wharf Holdings, had sold a 50 percent stake in Hong Kong Tramways to Veolia.

Tram services will be jointly operated by the two companies. The French firm said it had no immediate plans to raise fares.

Both Wharf and Veolia declined to reveal the total cost of the deal, saying the amount is commercially sensitive information.

"It's not the price we're talking about," the director of Wharf Transport Investments Frankie Yick told a news conference.

"We're talking about the knowledge and the expertise that Veolia can bring to Hong Kong tram services."

But Veolia's chief executive Cyrille du Peloux said the figure is a "double-digit million euro" and it "is far less than 100 million."

HSBC hails 97% rights issue take-up

HSBC hails 97% rights issue take-up
06-04-2009

Europe's biggest bank HSBC has announced a 96.6 percent take-up for its 17.7 billion US dollar rights issue announced last month after a plunge in profits.

The rights issue was hailed as a success by HSBC group chairman Stephen Green, who added he was "confident" the company remained "well-placed" despite the world financial crisis.

The statement added that HSBC expects the sale of the remaining 3.4 percent of new ordinary shares to complete tomorrow and that in Hong Kong, the take-up figure was 98.2 percent.

HSBC outlined its plan for a record British rights issue in March when it reported a 70 percent plunge in annual net profits.

It has refused British government financial assistance in contrast to rivals like Royal Bank of Scotland.

UBS slaps travel ban on some managers

UBS slaps travel ban on some managers
06-04-2009

Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, has banned its company managers who deal with foreign clients from travelling abroad.

The Swiss bank is being investigated by the authorities in the United States over alleged fraud and tax evasion involving American citizens.

UBS has denied that the travel ban was put in place specifically to protect its senior staff from the American authorities.

EU wants accounting rules relaxed

EU wants accounting rules relaxed
05-04-2009

European Union finance chiefs have called for accounting norms in Europe to be relaxed in line with recent US moves to give banks more breathing room, so their European rivals are not left disadvantaged.

Under pressure from the US Congress, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board voted on Thursday to modify the "mark-to-market" accounting standard, which has been blamed by some for worsening the global financial crisis.

The changes will allow banks to hold some toxic assets to give them more time to recover in conditions where financial markets are frozen, rather than regularly marking their prices down to currently depressed market prices.

"These changes could result in a significant divergence of international accounting practice for financial instruments," EU finance ministers lamented in a joint statement after a meeting in Prague.

They called on the standard-bearer for Europe, the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, to work with its US counterpart "with the aim of achieving equivalent treatment" for European banks.

Delays in WTO bid 'irritate' Russia

Delays in WTO bid 'irritate' Russia
05-04-2009

The Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that delays in Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation "irritate" Moscow but added that his country was still ready to join the global trade body.

"Russia is ready for accession on normal, non-discriminatory terms. We will do everything that is necessary.

This process has dragged out and this irritates us," Mr Medvedev said in televised remarks. "We are not making a tragedy out of the fact that the process has been drawn out.

The main thing is that it does not become a never-ending story," Mr Medvedev said at a joint press conference with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

Russia's WTO hopes suffered a setback last year after its war with Georgia badly strained relations with the West, and the United States cast doubt on Russia's bid to join the international body.

Financial crisis sparks mass protest

Financial crisis sparks mass protest
05-04-2009

Several hundred thousand workers, pensioners, immigrants and students filled a Rome park in protest at the Italian government's handling of the financial crisis.

Led by Italy's largest union, the left-wing Italian General Confederation of Labour, many wore red hats or waved the CGIL's red flag as helicopters circled above Rome's Circo Massimo, an ancient hippodrome.

"There's too big a gap between what needs to be done and what is being done," CGIL leader Guglielmo Epifani told the throng, with banners reading "Together to Build a Different Future" and "Down with the New Mussolini."

Italy went into recession in the third quarter of last year.

NY Times threatens to close Boston Globe

NY Times threatens to close Boston Globe
05-04-2009

The New York Times has threatened to shut down the Boston Globe unless unions at the money-losing daily agree to pay cuts and other cost-saving measures, the newspapers reported.

The Times, citing a "person briefed on the talks," said the Times was seeking US$20 million in savings at the Globe, which was purchased by the Times for $1.1 billion in 1993.

The Globe reported that Times executives had met with union leaders at the Boston newspaper on Thursday and demanded concessions such as pay cuts, an end to pension contributions and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees.