By and large Risk Watchdog likes the outlook for the global IPO (initial public offering) market. With the pipeline bulging, I expect activity to remain robust in Q4 2010 and moving into 2011. Within this realm, I especially like the outlook for new listings in the Asian theatre. Indeed, Risk Watchdog’s core view is that… [Read more]
This week the People’s Bank of China tried to send a clear signal that it is starting to tighten monetary conditions as the economic recovery takes hold. Stuart Allsopp, BMI China analyst, explains the significance of the bank’s move to raise its 3-month bill financing rate and reserve requirement ratios for the monetary policy outlook… [Read more]
The fundamental factors supporting the Hong Kong property market, from a shortage of houses to record low mortgage costs, are well known. However, similar arguments were used to justify the residential property market in the US in 2006, and in Hong Kong itself in 1997. In the latter, when the bubble popped, real estate prices… [Read more]
An age-old and overused proverb goes something as follows: ‘when the US sneezes, Mexico catches a cold’ – a reference usually labelled at the Latin American country’s inexorable commercial linkages to its northern neighbour. Well, this time it could be (quite literally) the other way around, with the US declaring a state of public health… [Read more]
The long-heralded ‘Asian growth story’ is rapidly becoming an ‘Asian collapse story’ in 2009. Perhaps ‘collapse’ is too strong a word, but Business Monitor International (BMI) has recently revised or is currently in the process of revising down its GDP growth forecasts for several Asian economies, including South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong…. [Read more]
