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Tokyo plunges more than 7% as Asian markets fall

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:30:03 +0800

Asian markets fell Thursday with Tokyo plunging more than seven percent as investors took profits after weak Chinese data and signs the US Federal Reserve could start tapering off its massive stimulus measures.

General says Israel poised for war on Syria if Assad falls

Thu, 23 May 2013 06:04:27 +0800

By Dan Williams HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Israel is poised for a large-scale assault on Syria to prevent advanced weapons reaching jihadi rebels or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled, Israel's air force chief said on Wednesday. But Major-General Amir Eshel, addressing a security conference, said his warplanes could be repelled by Syria's formidable, Russian-supplied anti-aircraft systems - an implicit censure of Moscow echoed by Israel's defence minister. ...

'Irrational' hackers are growing U.S. security fear

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:27:22 +0800

By Jim Finkle (Reuters) - Cybersecurity researcher HD Moore discovered he could use the Internet to access the controls of some 30 pipeline sensors around the country that were not password protected. A hacking expert who helps companies uncover network vulnerabilities, Moore said he found the sensors last month while analyzing information in huge, publicly available databases of Internet-connected devices. "We know that systems are exposed and vulnerable. ...

Weak yen helps drive Japan earnings, but no cure-all

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:41:55 +0800

Japan's earnings season has drawn to a close with the sharply weaker yen helping inflate profits at some of the nation's top exporters, but, some commentators warn, the drop is not all good news.

IKEA ready to wait years for right Indian store location

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:29:35 +0800

The India chief of Swedish giant Ikea said in a newspaper interview published Thursday that the chain is willing to wait years to find the right location to open its first Indian store.

Hedge funds shop at Supervalu, sour on Apple

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:54:14 +0800

By Sam Forgione and Aaron Pressman NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barry Rosenstein's JANA Partners liked grocery chain Supervalu Inc in a big way in the first quarter, while Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management lost its stomach for the company's shares. Regulatory filings revealed that JANA, a hedge fund with $5.5 billion in assets, picked up some 14 million shares of Supervalu in the quarter ended March 31. For Laffont's $9.5 billion firm, however, it was a different story, as the hedge fund dumped all of its roughly 10 million shares. ...

JANA Partners reveals stakes in Zynga, Groupon

Thu, 16 May 2013 03:39:12 +0800

By Alistair Barr and Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - JANA Partners, a leading activist hedge fund firm run by Barry Rosenstein, has taken a liking to two of the most beaten-up technology stocks. JANA, which oversees more than $4 billion in U.S. stock holdings, disclosed stakes of 24.6 million Zynga Inc class A shares and 21.9 million Groupon Inc class A shares in regulatory filings on Wednesday. The positions represent just over 3 percent of the companies' outstanding shares. ...

Hedge fund billionaire Loeb says Sony reminds him of Yahoo

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:19:53 +0800

By Chikafumi Hodo and Tim Kelly TOKYO (Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb says Sony Corp reminds him of Yahoo Inc before he waged a bitter proxy fight that triggered a boardroom shake-out at the Internet company last year. Loeb's Third Point hedge fund has built up a $1.1 billion stake in Sony, making it the Japanese group's biggest shareholder, and Loeb said on Tuesday he was pushing Sony to sell up to a fifth of its profitable music and movie business in a move he says would help turn around its struggling electronics business. ...

Asia shares gain, Tokyo jumps as yen tumbles

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:18:59 +0800

Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday, with the tumbling yen pushing Japanese stocks to a fresh multi-year high as improving confidence in the US economy boosted prospects for regional exporters.

S. Korea proposes talks with North on industrial park

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:45:17 +0800

South Korea formally offered dialogue to North Korea on Tuesday, after President Park Geun-Hye said she wanted talks on removing goods from a joint industrial complex closed by military tensions.

Asia shares mixed after US data, dollar stumbles

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:30:33 +0800

Asian shares were mixed Tuesday, with the dollar's rally against the yen stumbling despite better than expected US retail figures that highlighted a steady recovery in the world's largest economy.

Gold’s Recent Flash Crash: When Will It Recover?

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 +0800

They should invent a new financial term for gold’s recent bust. “ Flash crash ” doesn’t cut it. Something like “ Two bricks slamming your nuts in ” would be more appropriate. See, gold’s been rising for 12 ...

Karachi stocks hit all-time high on Sharif win

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:26:51 +0800

Karachi stocks hit an all-time high Monday following Nawaz Sharif's strong victory in landmark elections, which raised hopes the steel tycoon's pro-business agenda could spark an economic revival.

Tests on Syrians show traces of chemical weapons - Turkish FM

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:24:51 +0800

AMMAN (Reuters) - Tests on Syrian war casualties arriving in Turkey indicate chemical weapons have been used by Syrian forces, and further tests are being carried out to verify the evidence, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday. "We have been making tests and we have some indications regarding chemical weapons being used, but in order to make sure and verify we are continuing these tests and will be sharing these tests with UN agencies," he said in Amman. ...

Asian markets up, Tokyo soars on weak yen

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:44:34 +0800

Asian markets were mostly up on Friday with Japanese stocks jumping to their highest level in more than five years after the dollar surged above the 100 yen mark and US jobs data boosted sentiment.

Panasonic sees profit rising 55 percent in shift from consumer gadgets

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:06:24 +0800

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp forecast its operating profit will rise 55 percent in the year to March 31 as it steps back from struggling operations in TVs and other consumer gadgets in favor of selling machinery, components and electronic equipment to other businesses. The company expects operating profit to rise to 250 billion yen ($2.52 billion) in the current business year from last year's 160.9 billion yen. That compares with an average 241 billion yen forecast from 18 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S before the company released its latest earnings figures on Friday. ...

Dollar above 100 yen for first time in four years

Fri, 10 May 2013 06:11:49 +0800

The US dollar topped 100 yen for the first time in more than four years on Thursday as Tokyo's aggressive stimulus efforts to reflate the Japanese economy continue to depress its currency.

Barnes & Noble shares soar on Microsoft report

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:54:36 +0800

By Phil Wahba and Ben Berkowitz (Reuters) - Shares in Barnes & Noble Inc soared 22 percent on Thursday after a report that Microsoft Corp is considering an offer to acquire the tablet and e-book business of B&N's Nook Media unit. The technology website TechCrunch reported that Microsoft, which already owns a 17 percent stake in Nook Media, was proposing a $1 billion offer to buy all of Nook's digital assets. The report also suggested that Nook would stop selling Android-based tablets entirely by the end of fiscal 2014 in favor of distributing content via other publishers' platforms. ...

Asian markets down, Seoul bucks trend on rate cut

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:35:10 +0800

Asian stocks were mostly lower on Thursday as dealers took profits after recent impressive gains, but higher than expected inflation figures out of China had little effect on the markets.

Why So Many Singaporeans Are Ditching Their Fund Managers

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 +0800

There was a time when the term “fund manager” made bankers tremble, and request a quick change of pants. From the 70′s to the 90′s these were the GODS of the financial world. They could make fortunes by ...

Russian media magnate Lebedev goes on trial

Tue, 07 May 2013 23:30:30 +0800

By Timothy Heritage and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian media magnate Alexander Lebedev said as he went on trial on Tuesday that he expected to be jailed over a televised punch-up which he says is a pretext to punish him for criticising the Kremlin. Lebedev, wearing a dark suit and white sneakers with black laces, spent only a few minutes in court before the trial was adjourned until May 20 after Sergei Polonsky, the man he is accused of punching, failed to show up. ...

Acidification: the latest unknown for stressed Arctic ecosystem

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:40:51 +0800

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The Arctic ecosystem, already under pressure from record ice melts, faces another potential threat in the form of rapid acidification of the ocean, according to an international study published on Monday. Acidification, blamed on the transformation of rising levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the air into carbonic acid in the sea, makes it harder for shellfish and crabs to grow their shells, and might also impair fish reproduction, it said. ...

Asian shares rise after ECB rate cut

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:38:56 +0800

Asian markets mostly rose on Friday, aided by a European Central Bank interest rate cut aimed at stimulating growth in the sluggish eurozone and a positive US jobless claims report.

Wind farms to lure back German lobsters decimated by WW2

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:33:03 +0800

By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - New wind farms off Germany's North Sea coast will provide an ideal habitat that could help restore the lobster population near Heligoland after British bombing during and after World War II drove them away. Biologists at the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are breeding 3,000 lobsters to be released next year into the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm near the island 70 km off the German-Dutch coast. The 1. ...

Oil falls on economic data, lofty US supplies

Thu, 02 May 2013 04:13:44 +0800

Oil prices Wednesday sank on fresh signs of economic weakness in the United States and China and after a US inventory report showed crude stocks at their highest point in more than 30 years.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep…Thanks to Warren Buffett

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 +0800

Warren Buffett’s giving sleep advice now. I swear, you get rich, and suddenly you’re a world class expert on everything. I’m waiting for McDonald’s to start serving McBuffett meals any day now. But seriously, ...

Fidelity Contrafund's Danoff frets over Apple rivals

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:49:24 +0800

By Tim McLaughlin BOSTON (Reuters) - Fidelity Contrafund manager Will Danoff, the biggest active shareholder in Apple Inc, cut his stake in the iPhone maker 12 percent in the first quarter and cited "heightened concern" about increasing competition. Danoff, whose $92 billion Contrafund has beaten 94 percent of peers over the past 15 years, is considered one of the most savvy stock pickers among mutual fund managers. ...

Tokyo stocks close 0.44% lower

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:15:56 +0800

Tokyo stocks closed 0.44 percent percent lower on Wednesday as the yen's strength and gloomy economic data from the eurozone offset positive sentiment after the S&P 500 closed at another record high.

Alibaba buys $586 mn stake in China's Sina Weibo

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:11:45 +0800

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba has struck a deal to buy a $586 million stake in popular Chinese social network site Sina Weibo, raising expectations it will announce a stock market listing.

Unilever makes $5.4 bn offer to raise stake in India unit

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:26:17 +0800

Food giant Unilever announced a $5.4-billion offer to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary, eyeing explosive sales of branded consumer items to the Asian country's growing middle class.