Market Rumours

Agricultural Bank Of China Plans $20B IPO
2010-04-07 03:40 Dow Jones NewswiresHONG KONG -- Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. has asked 21 investment banks to submit proposals for its planned initial public offerings in Hong Kong and Shanghai, raising the likelihood the last of the country's Big Four lenders yet to be listed will undertake its $20 billion-plus float this year, according to people familiar with the deal.The banks are pitching Wednesday to play an advisory role for the H-share portion of the deal, and Thursday for the A-share portion, the people said. An IPO of more than $20 billion would make Agricultural Bank's deal one of the world's largest IPOs to date.Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (1398.HK), the nation's largest bank by assets, raised $21.9 billion in 2006 in the world's biggest IPO, while Visa Inc.'s (V) $19.7 billion IPO in 2008 was the second largest, according to data from Dealogic.The people said Wednesday they haven't been told when the bank will list, but if markets stay stable, listings in both markets are likely this year.Agricultural Bank, which didn't return calls for comment, sent out requests for proposals, or RFPs, to banks on Friday, the people said.

Greek Deficit Reportedly Seen Up At 13.5% Of GDP
2010-04-07 03:07 Dow Jones NewswiresATHENS -- Greece's budget deficit for 2009 is expected to reach a revised 13.5% of gross domestic product, almost a percentage point higher than current estimates, financial daily Imerisia reports.According to the online edition of the newspaper Wednesday, the final deficit figure will be formally announced by Eurostat, the European Union's statistical agency, on April 22.The revised figure compares with a current Greek government estimate of 12.7% of GDP.Without citing sources, the newspaper said that the upward revision was due to a sharper-than-expected economic contraction last year, as well as smaller-than-expected surpluses in select pension funds and local government budgets.Speaking in a television interview late Tuesday, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou acknowledged that there would probably be a slight upward revision in the 2009 deficit, but said this would not affect the government's deficit reduction targets for 2010.The Greek government has pledged to cut the deficit to 8.7% of GDP this year.Newspaper Web site:www.imerisia.gr

UK March Shop Price Inflation Slows
2010-04-07 01:14 LONDON -- U.K. shop prices rose 1.2% in March from a year earlier, the lowest increase since November last year, the British Retail Consortium said Wednesday.Food prices rose at their slowest pace for three years and non-food price inflation also slowed, the BRC said.Food prices rose 1.2% on the year, just lower than the 1.3% rise in February, as the cost of non-fresh foods was 0.2% lower than in March 2009.Non-food prices rose 1.3% in March, compared with a 1.9% increase in February, the BRC said.In February, total shop prices rose 1.7% on the year.Shop prices were unchanged on the month, after rising 0.6% in February from January. The breakdown shows no change in either food or non-food prices in March from February."The competitive battle is even fiercer than usual as retailers fight it out to overcome the reluctance of customers to spend caused by pre-election uncertainty," said BRC Director-General Stephen Robertson. "Falling shop price inflation is particularly welcome relief for consumers as they face sharp rises in other living costs, such as fuel," he said.After weakening sharply over much of 2009, the U.K. currency is now more stable, which has led to a fall in the cost of importing goods, the data show.The latest official consumer prices index from the Office for National Statistics showed inflation fell to 3% on the year in February, from 3.5% in January.

Crude Fails To Breach $87, EIA Data Awaited
2010-04-07 03:02 TOKYO -- Crude oil futures rebounded midday Wednesday in Asia as a wide range of commodities got a boost from a strong growth projection for the Chinese economy. But the rally quickly ran out of steam as crude failed to breach resistance at $87 a barrel.On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $86.85 a barrel at 0603 GMT, up $0.01 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.08 to $86.23 a barrel.In early Asian hours, crude edged lower on light profit-taking after a modest rise overnight in New York.Later in Asia, crude moved into a positive territory, spiking to $87 a barrel, after the World Bank said China's economy may expand 9.5% this year from 8.7% in 2009.Crude market participants aren't particularly upbeat. Koichi Murakami, analyst with broker Daiichi Shohin in Tokyo warned of a possible stumble in crude prices as "it has been overbought."Rikio Ishikura, a trader at Newedge Japan, said, "Crude prices have risen in response to positive U.S. economic indicators recently, but it is questionable whether oil demand is rising too."A 3 million-barrel decrease in gasoline stocks reported by American Petroleum Institute in U.S. afterhours trading Tuesday might suggest a gasoline demand rise ahead of summer driving season, but many traders stayed on the sidelines, awaiting weekly oil data from the Energy Information Administration due later Wednesday.Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting the EIA to report a 1.3 million barrel increase in crude oil inventories for the week ended April 2, and 1 million barrel fall in gasoline stockpiles.Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 88 points to $2.3571 a gallon, while May heating oil traded at $2.2642, 41 points lower.ICE gasoil for April changed hands at $723.25 a metric ton, down $2.50 from Tuesday's settlement.

NAB Assessing Options On RBS Branches
2010-04-07 02:33 MELBOURNE -- National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) Chief Executive Cameron Clyne said Wednesday that the bank is assessing its options in relation to the sale of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) branches in the U.K. but wouldn't confirm whether it has lodged an offer for the assets."I don't think we know much about (the RBS branches) at this stage," he told reporters after a business lunch in Melbourne. "We know there are 318 branches but haven't seen much beyond public disclosure so we will continue to assess our options."The first round of bids for the branches closed in the U.K. Tuesday. People familiar with the situation have said that National Australia Bank, along with other parties including Virgin Money and Banco Santander SA (STD), were likely to bid for the branches. The price tag for the assets has been valued at between GPB1 billion and GPB2 billion.Clyne earlier told the business lunch that Melbourne-based NAB--currently Australia's fourth largest bank by market capitalization--is looking at opportunities to participate in the consolidation of the U.K. banking sector. Analysts expect the group, which owns the Clydesdale and Northern banks in the U.K., could also look at buying assets from Northern Rock but the group has not ruled out selling its operations in the U.K. to focus on its home market.Since taking up the top role at NAB around 15 months ago, Clyne has taken advantage of depressed financial markets to make several high profile acquisitions, including a deal to buy some operations from Aviva in Australia and private wealth group JBWere.But his biggest deal is NAB's planned A$13.29 billion acquisition of AXA Asia Pacific Holding Ltd.'s (AXA.AU) operations, which if approved by regulators will propel NAB into a market-leading position in the life-insurance and wealth-management industries, with the largest network of financial advisers in Australia.Clyne said that he is "confident" the group will get approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the deal. The ACCC will rule on NAB's offer and another approach for AXA Asia Pacific by AMP Ltd. (AMP.AU) by April 22.Under the planned deal, NAB has agreed to sell AXA Asia Pacific's Asian assets to France's AXA SA (AXA). The independent directors of AXA APH have agreed to recommend NAB's proposal, which offers minority shareholders either A$6.43 a share in cash or a combination of 0.1745 NAB share and A$1.59 cash.

BOJ Leaves Rates, Economic View Unchanged
2010-04-07 03:37 TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan's policy board decided Wednesday to keep its policy interest rates unchanged and took no further action to fight deflation, as financial markets have stayed relatively calm and there appear some positive signals for the economy.The bank's policy board voted unanimously at the end of a two-day meeting to leave the unsecured overnight call loan rate unchanged at 0.1%--the level it has been since December 2008."In the conduct of monetary policy, the bank will aim to maintain an extremely accommodative financial environment," the BOJ said in a statement.Just three weeks ago, the central bank doubled the amount of 0.1% three-month loans it offers to financial firms to Y20 trillion in an effort to lower term-funds interest rates.The BOJ on Wednesday kept its assessment of the broad economy unchanged, saying the domestic economy has been "picking up." But it stressed its commitment to preventing prolonged price declines from deteriorating economic conditions.However the central bank said "as improvements in the corporate sector originating from exports are expected to spill over to the household sector, the growth rate of the economy is likely to gradually rise."The BOJ's upbeat mood will likely heighten speculation that the BOJ may revise its growth view upward later this month. The policy board will gather again on April 30 to discuss semiannual forecasts on the economy and prices.