The action is definitely sludgy today. All Ords flat with Energy one of the few movers, +1.1%. The Gold sector is still heading south, -2.1% with Miners and IT -0.4%.
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, took a 66 percent pay cut to “set a personal example of moderation” after India’s government called for austerity in salaries of executives.
Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., will take home 150 million rupees ($3.3 million) in salary and a share of profit for the year ended March 31, compared with 440.2 million rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement in Mumbai yesterday. Reliance’s net income fell 22 percent to 152.9 billion rupees in the year ended March 31.
The 52-year-old Ambani’s move preempts any government attempt to enforce rules regarding pay. Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid this month asked companies to refrain from paying “vulgar” salaries to their chief executives, according to Press Trust of India. Leaders from the Group of 20 nations last month said they plan to take steps to curb pay of bankers whose risk-taking triggered a global recession.
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp. is staking its future in India on burgers made from mashed potatoes, peas and spices. Sumil Mittal says it’s a good bet.
Mittal, 19, sits beneath the golden arches at a McDonald’s in Ambala, a small town 125 miles north of New Delhi. He is eating the vegetarian McAloo Tikki sandwich, with french fries and a Coke, before seeing the new Bollywood movie, “Wake Up Sid.”
McDonald’s, the world’s biggest restaurant company, is expanding in India as a middle class predicted to grow 10- fold by 2025 develops a taste for Western-style fast food. Sales are up 30 percent during the first nine months of the year, led by growth in smaller cities, said Vikram Bakshi, managing director of McDonald’s India.
The Dow divisor is 0.132319125. A 4 point move in any one stock is worth 30 points. Not a big deal. The issue is whether there's a sympathy move in other components.
Basically a repeat of yesterday. All Ords finished -0.3% with Gold losing the most, -2% followed by Financials -0.8% and IT -0.4%. Only Utilities and REITS showed gains, +0.4% and +0.3% respectively.
Minor movement in Asia: China -0.6%, Honkers +0.1%, India +0.4% and Nikkers -0.1%.
Asian Stocks Decline on Earnings Concern; LG Display Slumps
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for the first time in four days, as LG Display Co. forecast product prices to fall, while earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. disappointed some investors.
LG Display, the world’s second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, declined 4.4 percent in Seoul after reporting profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest bank by market value, sank 3.5 percent, leading declines by financial shares. Australian retailer Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. slumped 6.7 percent after sales growth lagged behind smaller rival JB Hi-Fi Ltd.
The Topix Index sank 0.7 percent in Tokyo, where Japan Airlines Corp. slumped 11 percent after Kyodo News said the carrier may drop a plan to sell a stake in JALways Co. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.1 percent, led by PetroChina Co.’s 1 percent advance after oil climbed to a one-year high. In Tokyo, Japan Airlines, seeking its fourth state bailout since 2001, slumped 11 percent to 101 yen. JAL may hold on to JALways if it is able to win support from financial institutions, Kyodo said. Taro Namba, a JAL spokesman, declined to comment. http://www.bloomberg...id=apyV.34fcLP0
Australian retailer Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. slumped 6.7 percent after sales growth lagged behind smaller rival JB Hi-Fi Ltd. [/b]
Can't speak for the others but Harvey Norman has more than doubled off the lows earlier in the year. Today's action (albeit swift) looks like just a pullback to support on the daily chart...
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai and Abu Dhabi need to create about 150,000 white-collar jobs to provide enough buyers for the houses and apartments being completed in the next two years, Nomura Holdings Inc. said.
An estimated 65,000 residential units will be built in Dubai and 15,000 more in Abu Dhabi by 2011, even as the number of foreign workers declines, Chet Riley, a Dubai-based analyst at Nomura, said in a note to clients today.
Dubai’s residential market currently has a 25 percent vacancy rate, compared with less than 5 percent in Abu Dhabi, Riley wrote. Rents are expected to drop a further 10 percent, the report added.
Dubai home prices have tumbled by about 50 percent from their peak and may drop a further 20 percent this year, Deutsche Bank AG said in June. The market’s collapse followed a construction boom that created thousands of homes just as demand began to evaporate.