ShareJunction - Member Posts

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stI ETF ?

sUre wIn ?

nEvEr lOse ?

des_khor ( Date: 06-Sep-2010 12:33) Posted:

Agreed !! The market will only go higher in the long run... bear in mind this is do not apply to individual counter . SGX will remove bad STI stock to replace by the good one....

cathylmg ( Date: 06-Sep-2010 12:28) Posted:

What I mean its Sti Etf won't go down and never come up like the other stocks lah....It tracks the Sti closely and it always bounce back. So you can average down if you want. Won't pok kai want

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NEW ZEALAND Bracing for more misery

Christchurch could suffer more damage as storm heads for the city

CHRISTCHURCH

The storm, with expected wind gusts of up to 130kmh, hit the city of Dunedin — around 400km south of Christchurch — last night.

“(There are) trees down, lines down, roofs lifting, trees falling on houses all that sort of thing, the wind is moving up the island so we’re expecting Timaru, and later Christchurch, to get hammered as well,” fire service shift manager Jan Wills said.

Weather forecasters said the storm, which is expected to bring heavy rains today, could further damage trees and buildings that were weakened in the earthquake.

Another threat arose last night when it emerged the flood defences of the Waimakariri River just north of Christchurch had been weakened.

It was feared that it would burst its banks if rains cause the river to swell.

Hundreds of families in the area were told to be ready to evacuate.

More than 60 aftershocks, with magnitudes of up to 5.4, hit the region within 24 hours of the quake. Civil defence officials warned that aftershocks were likely to continue for several weeks.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key flew to Christchurch to survey the devastation yesterday and pledged government support for the quake victims.

“We are not going to let Christchurch suffer this great tragedy on its own,” he said.

Mr Key said part of the reason the city escaped major injuries was because the quake happened before dawn.

“If this had happened five hours earlier or five hours later (when many more people were in the city), there would have been absolute carnage in terms of human life,” he told

The quake cut power across the region, blocked roads with debris and disrupted gas and water supplies, but Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said services were being restored.

Power was back to 90 per cent of the city by yesterday and water supply had resumed for all but 15 to 20 per cent of residents.

Portable toilets and tanks of fresh water were placed around the city.

Up to 90 extra police officers were flown into Christchurch to help and soldiers were likely to join the recovery effort today, said Mr Parker.

Emergency evaluation teams picked their way through streets piled with rubble and littered with shattered glass to inspect buildings and determine whether evacuations were necessary.

At least 500 buildings, including 90 in the central business district, were destroyed by the quake.

Coastal and riverside suburbs were among the worst-hit areas, and health fears may yet force evacuations, the civil defence agency said.— A storm bringing strong winds and heavy rains is posing a new threat to New Zealand’s second-biggest city Christchurch, as recovery work following Saturday’s 7.1 quake gathered pace yesterday.TV One News.

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China-based companies: Friend or foe?
Conrad Raj

conrad@mediacorp.com.sg
The recent action by the Monetary Authority of Singapore against New Century Shipbuilding Limited for allegedly making false and misleading statements is sadly another blight on the image of Chinese companies. New Century’s violations once again bring into question the quality of the Chinese listings here.

The writer is editor-at-large at Today.
The MAS action, which forced New Century to, in May, suddenly pull out its $666.4 million initial public offering, comes in the wake of a spate of improprieties committed by some of these China-based companies — often called S-Chips. These transgressions have cost local and other investors millions of dollars as the shares of these rogue companies plunged.
This is not to say that there are no good Chinese companies listed here. In fact, only about a dozen of the more than 150 Chinese companies listed here have been found to have violated our listing rules.
In New Century’s case, the Chinese shipbuilder was said to have failed to disclose that its subsidiary, New Times Shipyard, was being sued by its client, Sino Noble, for US$60 million ($80 million) regarding the building of two bulk carriers worth US$180 million.
The company was also accused of improperly including these contracts in the prospectus even though New Times had cancelled the deals.
The company had earlier in the year offered 560 million shares at up to $1.19 each, in what was described as one of the biggest IPOs here. The pullout came just days before trading was supposed to have begun.
But while the MAS has found New Century guilty of these inaccuracies and issued a “supervisory warning” to the company and its directors (which some have said to be just a “slap on the wrist”), shouldn’t the quasi central bank have made public its findings and actions given that a prospectus had been posted on its website?
Thanks to the media, New Century’s transgressions are now known to all, but some feel as I do that the MAS itself should made the disclosure. In fact the media had written about the inaccuracies in the prospectus as soon as New Century pulled out of its IPO but the authorities had kept mum on the matter.
The MAS was reported to have said: “A supervisory warning is normally not published and is intended to put an offender on notice so that the contravention will not be repeated”.
If “caveat emptor” is to prevail, shouldn’t investors too be given notice that certain action has been taken against a company for violating the rules so that they are better informed in making their investments?
According to press reports, the MAS had found New Century to have contravened Section 253 of the Securities and Futures Act, which involves criminal liability for making false or misleading statements in a prospectus or profile statement, or omission to state any information required.
What further action will the authorities now take?
Those found guilty of making such false or misleading statements are liable to a fine not exceeding $150,000 and/or jail of up to two years. After all, a number of other listed companies and their directors have previously been taken to courts for similar acts.
The MAS has said it calibrates its regulatory actions according to the severity and impact of the breach. But here the company is said to be in criminal breach of the rules, so why just a supervisory warning? Or is it because, in truth, there is very little that the authorities here can do against a foreign company which does not have any assets here?
Moreover, what was the role played by New Century’s financial advisers and others who helped prepared the prospectus?
What due diligence did these companies or persons perform?
In the prospectus, UBS and Morgan Stanley were listed as the joint bookrunners, lead managers and international underwriters for the deal. Was any action taken by the authorities against them and any others involved in the preparation of the prospectus?
If not for Sino Noble’s whistle-blowing move to the Singapore Exchange, none of New Century’s prospectus inaccuracies would have been made public and investors could have suffered significant losses when the matter eventually came to trial.

So what exactly do the lead managers, financial advisers, lawyers and accountants do for the huge fees they charge in taking a company public?

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PM heads for China on a working visit

SINGAPORE

In an interview last week, ahead of his eight-day working visit to China from today, Mr Lee also said Singapore “wishes to participate in China’s development, both to help China as well as ride on (its) growth”.

Thousands of Chinese officials have visited Singapore on study trips to learn about our development experience and policies and many of Singapore’s officials have travelled to China to keep abreast of rapid advancements all over the country, he said.

Besides the Deng Xiaoping commemorative marker, a ground-breaking will also be held for the China Cultural Centre — to be set up at the new Singapore University of Technology and Design. The new university is a threeway collaboration that also includes Zhejiang University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.— A Deng Xiaoping commemorative marker will be unveiled to mark two decades of Singapore’s diplomatic relations with China, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in an interview with Xinhua news agency as he reiterated “excellent relations” between both countries.

Newsweek

Singapore hopes to play a bridging role between China and Asean as it shares a “deep cultural affinity” with China, said Mr Lee.

For instance, the Singapore-China bilateral free trade agreement was a “pathfinder” for the subsequent China-Asean FTA, he said.

Asked about Sino-United States relations,

Mr Lee said it is the key to stability in East Asia.

“The relationship will always be complex and multi-faceted,” he said “Regular dialogue can help to manage difficult issues and discover areas where both sides can cooperate for mutual benefit.”

Mr Lee was also asked about Singapore’s motivation as the first Asean nation to negotiate an FTA with Taiwan. His reply: As a strong supporter of free trade, Singapore actively pursues opportunities to strengthen economic and trade relations with all its trading partners.

Mr Lee’s latest visit to China will include stops at Chongqing and Shanghai municipalities, as well as the cities of Changsha, Wuhan and Suzhou.

This will allow him to observe first hand the development in central Chinese cities, “to better understand the role these cities play in China’s strategy to direct development from the coastal to inland regions”.

Mr Lee is also seeking an update on the Suzhou Industrial Park’s progress, and will visit the Shanghai World Expo.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will be Acting Prime Minister in Mr Lee’s absence.magazine had recently called Mr Lee “the middle man” who has managed to “carve out a role as friend to all the big powers in the region” and Xinhua asked him how Singapore would promote better China-Asean relations.

There are three main objectives for my visit.

First, to observe first-hand the developments in cities in Central China, to better understand the role these cities play in China’s strategy to direct development from the coastal to inland regions.

Second, to get an update on the progress of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), which I last visited in 2004.

Finally, to visit the Shanghai Expo which has received very good reviews from both international and Chinese visitors.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

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gOvernments ?

- hIgh cOsts ?

- Overheads ?

- UNprOdUctIvIty ?

- INFLATION ?

- FATS ?

- WASTES ?

- RAFFLES ?

- BARRIERS ?

- CORRUPTIONS ?

- MANIPULATIONS ?

wIthOUt gOvernments ?

TRULY FREE MARKETS ?

wOrld ecOnOmIes wIll SOAR ?

pharoah88 ( Date: 06-Sep-2010 13:01) Posted:

In the Republican address, Kentucky Representative Geoff Davis called on Mr Obama to reduce government regulations as a way to encourage economic growth and spur employment.

He cited 191 rules and regulations, each with an annual cost of more than US$100 million ($134 million), which the Obama administration is preparing to enact.

“The sooner we rein in the red-tape factory in Washington DC, the sooner small businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more Americans find an honest day’s work,” Mr Davis said.

pharoah88 ( Date: 06-Sep-2010 12:58) Posted:

Wanted: A thriving US middle class

WASHINGTON

In his weekly address on the radio and Internet, Mr Obama said the Labour Day holiday today is a time to “reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle class” and continue to work to encourage economic growth.

“That means doing everything we can to accelerate job creation,” Mr Obama said. “So this Labour Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honoured values and to this fundamental truth: To heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling Main Streets and a growing, thriving middle class.”

Next week, Mr Obama is scheduled to outline new ideas this week to boost growth and hiring as the US economy emerges from the worst recession in more than seven decades. He has also urged Congress to pass a package of measures to help small businesses, including tax breaks and aid to ease credit.

The Labour Department reported last week that private payrolls climbed by a more-than-forecast 67,000 last month.

Overall employment fell 54,000 for a second month and unemployment rose to 9.6 per cent from 9.5 per cent in July as more people entered the labour force.

White House economic advisers are considering additional measures, including more tax breaks for small businesses and new spending on infrastructure, according to congressional aides familiar with the discussions.

Mr Obama may also renew his call for Congress to permanently extend a research and development tax credit.

In his address, the President highlighted steps already taken by his administration to encourage economic growth through infrastructure spending, aid to state and local governments, and tax cuts for small businesses. “The steps we have taken to date have stopped the bleeding,” he said.

In the Republican address, Kentucky Representative Geoff Davis called on Mr Obama to reduce government regulations as a way to encourage economic growth and spur employment.

He cited 191 rules and regulations, each with an annual cost of more than US$100 million ($134 million), which the Obama administration is preparing to enact.

“The sooner we rein in the red-tape factory in Washington DC, the sooner small businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more Americans find an honest day’s work,” Mr Davis said.

He has introduced legislation that would require Congress to vote on every major new rule before it can be enacted by the federal government.

“This legislation would serve as a much needed restraining order against unelected busy bodies and bureaucrats whose actions could make it harder to create jobs,” he said. — President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the United States economy needs a “thriving middle class” as it recovers from the “worst recession in our lifetimes”.Bloomberg