India’s central bank governor urged the government to revise the pay of executives in state-controlled banks, a call in stark contrast with the finance and corporate affairs ministry’s proposal to cap salaries.
Duvvuri Subbarao, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, warned that India’s public-sector banks, which make up about 70 per cent of the entire industry, risked losing competitiveness and talent if they refused to increase wages.
“The executive compensation in the public sector is lower than the private sector. Notwithstanding the historical reasons for this there is perhaps a good reason to revisit this,” Mr Subbarao said at a bankers’ conference in Mumbai. “If public-sector banks are required to compete with private banks on a level playing field there is good case for compensating them on a competitive base. There is also the risk that if public-sector banks’ compensation is not improved, the public sector may lose talent to the private sector,” Mr Subbarao added.
The debate over executive pay has been at the heart of the so-called Basel III global regulatory overhaul that followed the credit crisis and that has put under scrutiny remuneration mechanisms that encouraged risk-taking.
Bankers’ pay and bonuses in the aftermath of the crisis triggered a political firestorm in the US and Europe as the institutions that emerged from the crash began reporting big profits in an apparent return to “business as usual”.
However, the debate in India is significantly different as bankers’ salaries are low compared with those in developed markets.
Executives of state-controlled banks get salary packages that are lower than those of their private-sector counterparts. Chanda Kochhar, head of ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private-sector bank, received a remuneration of about Rs17.5m ($375,000) in the year ending in March 2010, more than six times the Rs2.65m netted by OP Bhatt, chairman of State Bank of India, the nation’s biggest state-run bank.
Compensation packages for public-sector bankers are set by the government, while pay for executives working in private-sector banks is set semi-autonomously – clearance is obtained from the RBI.
“A pay rise would be very much welcomed in the public sector, but it will take time for this to happen,” said TM Bhasin, chairman and managing director of state-owned Indian Bank.
The chairman of SBI warned that the nation’s double-digit and inclusive growth ambitions risked being quashed by a lack of skills in the banking sector.
“That is the major challenge that we have; it’s a huge challenge,” said Mr Bhatt.
“I think it is a necessary challenge because if we do not meet this challenge [this entire] growth story that we are talking about may stop.”
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Indonesia Seeking to Avoid Rate Rise, Governor Nasution Says
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s central bank chief said he wants to avoid increasing interest rates, counting on lending and reserve rules for banks to contain inflation and stoke growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
“As long as we still can manage our monetary variables by other instruments, we will try to avoid changing the interest rate,” Governor Darmin Nasution said in an interview in Jakarta. By raising the amount banks must hold in reserve and setting loan-to-deposit ratio guidelines, officials can bolster economic expansion and keep consumer price gains within target, he said.
Nasution’s comments late yesterday indicate Indonesia isn’t ready to join Asian counterparts in raising borrowing costs from world-recession lows as the region leads the recovery. At stake is reining in a 16-month high inflation rate that’s eroding purchasing power in the world’s fourth most populous nation.
“We see greater risk of delayed hikes” in rates, Citigroup Inc. analysts Johanna Chua and Brian Tan said in a report after Bank Indonesia left its benchmark at a record-low 6.5 percent on Sept. 3. “Recent policy action is a bit of a mixed bag, more hawkish on the reserve requirement, but downplaying the need to adjust rates.”
Bank Indonesia has kept the main rate unchanged for more than a year as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has focused on bolstering growth, targeting an average 6.6 percent annual expansion rate through the end of his term in 2014.
Faster Growth
Nasution, speaking in his office in his first interview since assuming the post this month, said gross domestic product may climb by 6.2 percent this year, in part as banks bring their loan portfolios into line within the new ratio guidelines. Growth has met or exceeded that pace only once since 1996, according to the International Monetary Fund.
He also predicted that consumer prices, which surged 6.44 percent in August from a year before, will rise within BI’s 4 percent to 6 percent target range in 2011 as liquidity is mopped up by a boost in banks’ reserve requirements.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index of stocks has gained 34 percent in dollar terms so far this year, outstripping the 2.5 percent advance for the MSCI Emerging Market Asia Index, as economic growth picked up.
The rupiah has risen 4.5 percent against the U.S. currency in that time, the third-best performer in Asia outside Japan, behind Malaysia and Thailand, which have both raised rates.
Policy Outlook
“In the past we rarely used the reserve requirement in our monetary policy,” said Nasution, 61, who headed the country’s tax office before joining the central bank as a deputy governor last year. Going forward, “our response will not only be the interest rate. We will often use the reserve requirement.”
The central bank said last week lenders will be required to set aside 8 percent of their deposits as primary reserves starting Nov. 1, from 5 percent previously.
Bank Indonesia also said it will introduce in March an additional reserve requirement that’s linked to the share of funds that a lender gives out in loans. Officials will impose a penalty on banks whose loan-to-deposit ratio is below 78 percent or more than 100 percent.
When Bank Indonesia determines liquidity is at a desired level, it will return 2.5 percentage points of the additional 3 percentage points of primary reserve requirement to the lenders, it said last week.
Beating Expectations
Indonesia’s $540 billion economy expanded at a faster-than- projected 6.2 percent pace in the second quarter as investment rose. Stronger growth has helped boost profit at companies including builder PT Wijaya Karya and PT Bank CIMB Niaga.
Bank Indonesia estimates bank lending this year may rise about 13 percent to 20 percent, based on the current volume of loans being made, Nasution said. Larger credit expansion is needed to support economic expansion of 6.2 percent, he said.
“We will monitor the lending rate of banks,” he said. “We need lower lending rates to encourage credit growth,” Nasution added, referring to the cost of loans.
The country’s inflation accelerated in August as the world’s most populous Muslim nation observed the fasting month of Ramadan and families began preparations for the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration. Higher electricity costs also boosted prices.
Consumer prices may climb by more than the central bank’s target of 4 percent to 6 percent this year, Nasution said last week.
Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia left rates unchanged last week after three increases this year. The Bank of Thailand raised its benchmark on Aug. 25 and signaled further moves to come after the economy overcame political unrest to grow faster than estimated last quarter.
Nasution, who has a doctorate in economics from University of Paris, Sorbonne, France, became governor on Sept. 1, the 14th in the central bank’s 57-year history. He became acting governor after Vice President Boediono resigned as central bank chief in May 2009 to become President Yudhoyono’s running mate in last year’s presidential election.
“As long as we still can manage our monetary variables by other instruments, we will try to avoid changing the interest rate,” Governor Darmin Nasution said in an interview in Jakarta. By raising the amount banks must hold in reserve and setting loan-to-deposit ratio guidelines, officials can bolster economic expansion and keep consumer price gains within target, he said.
Nasution’s comments late yesterday indicate Indonesia isn’t ready to join Asian counterparts in raising borrowing costs from world-recession lows as the region leads the recovery. At stake is reining in a 16-month high inflation rate that’s eroding purchasing power in the world’s fourth most populous nation.
“We see greater risk of delayed hikes” in rates, Citigroup Inc. analysts Johanna Chua and Brian Tan said in a report after Bank Indonesia left its benchmark at a record-low 6.5 percent on Sept. 3. “Recent policy action is a bit of a mixed bag, more hawkish on the reserve requirement, but downplaying the need to adjust rates.”
Bank Indonesia has kept the main rate unchanged for more than a year as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has focused on bolstering growth, targeting an average 6.6 percent annual expansion rate through the end of his term in 2014.
Faster Growth
Nasution, speaking in his office in his first interview since assuming the post this month, said gross domestic product may climb by 6.2 percent this year, in part as banks bring their loan portfolios into line within the new ratio guidelines. Growth has met or exceeded that pace only once since 1996, according to the International Monetary Fund.
He also predicted that consumer prices, which surged 6.44 percent in August from a year before, will rise within BI’s 4 percent to 6 percent target range in 2011 as liquidity is mopped up by a boost in banks’ reserve requirements.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index of stocks has gained 34 percent in dollar terms so far this year, outstripping the 2.5 percent advance for the MSCI Emerging Market Asia Index, as economic growth picked up.
The rupiah has risen 4.5 percent against the U.S. currency in that time, the third-best performer in Asia outside Japan, behind Malaysia and Thailand, which have both raised rates.
Policy Outlook
“In the past we rarely used the reserve requirement in our monetary policy,” said Nasution, 61, who headed the country’s tax office before joining the central bank as a deputy governor last year. Going forward, “our response will not only be the interest rate. We will often use the reserve requirement.”
The central bank said last week lenders will be required to set aside 8 percent of their deposits as primary reserves starting Nov. 1, from 5 percent previously.
Bank Indonesia also said it will introduce in March an additional reserve requirement that’s linked to the share of funds that a lender gives out in loans. Officials will impose a penalty on banks whose loan-to-deposit ratio is below 78 percent or more than 100 percent.
When Bank Indonesia determines liquidity is at a desired level, it will return 2.5 percentage points of the additional 3 percentage points of primary reserve requirement to the lenders, it said last week.
Beating Expectations
Indonesia’s $540 billion economy expanded at a faster-than- projected 6.2 percent pace in the second quarter as investment rose. Stronger growth has helped boost profit at companies including builder PT Wijaya Karya and PT Bank CIMB Niaga.
Bank Indonesia estimates bank lending this year may rise about 13 percent to 20 percent, based on the current volume of loans being made, Nasution said. Larger credit expansion is needed to support economic expansion of 6.2 percent, he said.
“We will monitor the lending rate of banks,” he said. “We need lower lending rates to encourage credit growth,” Nasution added, referring to the cost of loans.
The country’s inflation accelerated in August as the world’s most populous Muslim nation observed the fasting month of Ramadan and families began preparations for the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration. Higher electricity costs also boosted prices.
Consumer prices may climb by more than the central bank’s target of 4 percent to 6 percent this year, Nasution said last week.
Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia left rates unchanged last week after three increases this year. The Bank of Thailand raised its benchmark on Aug. 25 and signaled further moves to come after the economy overcame political unrest to grow faster than estimated last quarter.
Nasution, who has a doctorate in economics from University of Paris, Sorbonne, France, became governor on Sept. 1, the 14th in the central bank’s 57-year history. He became acting governor after Vice President Boediono resigned as central bank chief in May 2009 to become President Yudhoyono’s running mate in last year’s presidential election.
Hurd Joins Oracle as Co-President
SAN FRANCISCO — In naming Mark V. Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, as Oracle’s new co-president, Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive and largest shareholder, has put his money where his controversial mouth is.
Late on Monday, Oracle announced that Mr. Hurd had joined the company as a president and a director. Mr. Hurd resigned from H.P. one month ago, after an investigation by the board into a personal relationship with a contractor turned up questionable expense reports.
Mr. Ellison, a personal friend of Mr. Hurd’s, criticized H.P.’s board last month in an e-mail message to The New York Times, saying it was “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
Now, Oracle intends to capitalize on H.P.’s mistake, Mr. Ellison said.
“Mark did a brilliant job at H.P., and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” Mr. Ellison said in the statement. “There is no executive in the I.T. world with more relevant experience than Mark.”
Oracle already had a crowded management suite, with Charles E. Phillips Jr. and Safra A. Catz serving as co-presidents under Mr. Ellison.
Mr. Phillips, however, has resigned and given up his seat on the board, making room for Mr. Hurd.
In his statement, Mr. Ellison said that Mr. Phillips had asked to leave the company in December. “We will miss his talent and leadership, but I respect his decision,” Mr. Ellison said.
This year, Mr. Phillips acknowledged having an affair after a woman he had been seeing put up a Web site and billboards detailing his extramarital relationship.
Oracle’s decision to hire Mr. Hurd presents Silicon Valley with a true soap opera, filled with fierce business dealings and saucy relationships.
H.P. has long been one of Oracle’s largest partners in the business computing market. H.P. sells the computer servers and storage systems that customers use to run Oracle’s database software. But Oracle has just acquired Sun Microsystems, one of H.P.’s longtime rivals in the hardware market.
Mr. Hurd will bring his expertise running the largest computer hardware business on the planet to Oracle, where he may be able to revive the fortunes of Sun’s products at H.P.’s expense.
Oracle has, in particular, used Sun’s technology to build a new line of data warehousing systems that can sort through huge volumes of information like sales trends, pricing and inventory levels.
Before joining H.P. as its chief executive in 2005, Mr. Hurd was chief executive of NCR, which had the leading data warehousing technology.
Mr. Hurd also oversaw a number of large acquisitions at H.P., so he should feel right at home at Oracle, one of the most active buyers of companies in the technology industry.
“As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $100 billion business,” Ms. Catz said in a statement.
Oracle’s main database rival is I.B.M., which, like H.P., sells more than $100 billion in equipment and services a year.
Mr. Hurd arrived in Silicon Valley five years ago, seeking to prove himself as a chief executive on the biggest stage.
He succeeded in that respect by pushing H.P. past I.B.M. as the largest technology company and turning in some of the most consistent financial results in the industry.
But Mr. Hurd’s time at the top came crashing down after H.P.’s board began investigating sexual harassment claims presented by Jodie Fisher, a former contractor.
The company discovered that Mr. Hurd authorized paying Ms. Fisher, a 50-year-old former actress in sexually charged films who had also posed for Playboy in college, to attend gatherings with H.P.’s top customers.
H.P. found no evidence of sexual harassment, but said Mr. Hurd had tried to conceal a personal relationship with Ms. Fisher by removing her name from his expenses for meals.
Mr. Hurd settled with Ms. Fisher for an undisclosed sum and fought H.P.’s decision to make the sexual harassment claims public.
The senior ranks of Oracle, run by Mr. Ellison since he founded it 30 years ago, are anything but stable. Well-regarded executives like Ray Lane, now a managing partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Marc Benioff, now the chief executive of Salesforce.com, have left high-ranking positions at Oracle.
Their departures were often portrayed as a response to Mr. Ellison’s well-entrenched position as chief executive and his personality.
Ms. Catz will continue to oversee Oracle’s finance, legal and merger and acquisition operations, while Mr. Ellison will oversee engineering. Mr. Hurd will manage sales, marketing and software support.
In a statement, Mr. Hurd said he looked forward to tackling Oracle’s rivals: “I’m excited to be a part of the most innovative technology team in the I.T. industry.”
Late on Monday, Oracle announced that Mr. Hurd had joined the company as a president and a director. Mr. Hurd resigned from H.P. one month ago, after an investigation by the board into a personal relationship with a contractor turned up questionable expense reports.
Mr. Ellison, a personal friend of Mr. Hurd’s, criticized H.P.’s board last month in an e-mail message to The New York Times, saying it was “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
Now, Oracle intends to capitalize on H.P.’s mistake, Mr. Ellison said.
“Mark did a brilliant job at H.P., and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” Mr. Ellison said in the statement. “There is no executive in the I.T. world with more relevant experience than Mark.”
Oracle already had a crowded management suite, with Charles E. Phillips Jr. and Safra A. Catz serving as co-presidents under Mr. Ellison.
Mr. Phillips, however, has resigned and given up his seat on the board, making room for Mr. Hurd.
In his statement, Mr. Ellison said that Mr. Phillips had asked to leave the company in December. “We will miss his talent and leadership, but I respect his decision,” Mr. Ellison said.
This year, Mr. Phillips acknowledged having an affair after a woman he had been seeing put up a Web site and billboards detailing his extramarital relationship.
Oracle’s decision to hire Mr. Hurd presents Silicon Valley with a true soap opera, filled with fierce business dealings and saucy relationships.
H.P. has long been one of Oracle’s largest partners in the business computing market. H.P. sells the computer servers and storage systems that customers use to run Oracle’s database software. But Oracle has just acquired Sun Microsystems, one of H.P.’s longtime rivals in the hardware market.
Mr. Hurd will bring his expertise running the largest computer hardware business on the planet to Oracle, where he may be able to revive the fortunes of Sun’s products at H.P.’s expense.
Oracle has, in particular, used Sun’s technology to build a new line of data warehousing systems that can sort through huge volumes of information like sales trends, pricing and inventory levels.
Before joining H.P. as its chief executive in 2005, Mr. Hurd was chief executive of NCR, which had the leading data warehousing technology.
Mr. Hurd also oversaw a number of large acquisitions at H.P., so he should feel right at home at Oracle, one of the most active buyers of companies in the technology industry.
“As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $100 billion business,” Ms. Catz said in a statement.
Oracle’s main database rival is I.B.M., which, like H.P., sells more than $100 billion in equipment and services a year.
Mr. Hurd arrived in Silicon Valley five years ago, seeking to prove himself as a chief executive on the biggest stage.
He succeeded in that respect by pushing H.P. past I.B.M. as the largest technology company and turning in some of the most consistent financial results in the industry.
But Mr. Hurd’s time at the top came crashing down after H.P.’s board began investigating sexual harassment claims presented by Jodie Fisher, a former contractor.
The company discovered that Mr. Hurd authorized paying Ms. Fisher, a 50-year-old former actress in sexually charged films who had also posed for Playboy in college, to attend gatherings with H.P.’s top customers.
H.P. found no evidence of sexual harassment, but said Mr. Hurd had tried to conceal a personal relationship with Ms. Fisher by removing her name from his expenses for meals.
Mr. Hurd settled with Ms. Fisher for an undisclosed sum and fought H.P.’s decision to make the sexual harassment claims public.
The senior ranks of Oracle, run by Mr. Ellison since he founded it 30 years ago, are anything but stable. Well-regarded executives like Ray Lane, now a managing partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Marc Benioff, now the chief executive of Salesforce.com, have left high-ranking positions at Oracle.
Their departures were often portrayed as a response to Mr. Ellison’s well-entrenched position as chief executive and his personality.
Ms. Catz will continue to oversee Oracle’s finance, legal and merger and acquisition operations, while Mr. Ellison will oversee engineering. Mr. Hurd will manage sales, marketing and software support.
In a statement, Mr. Hurd said he looked forward to tackling Oracle’s rivals: “I’m excited to be a part of the most innovative technology team in the I.T. industry.”
Most Asian Stocks Fall as Yen, Oil Overshadow Obama Stimulus
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks fell as a stronger yen and declines in oil prices overshadowed a stimulus plan proposed by President Barack Obama to help boost the U.S. economy.
Nissan Motor Co. sank 1.5 percent in Tokyo on concern the yen’s strength will reduce the value of overseas revenue. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest commodities trader, lost 0.8 percent after crude-oil futures dropped in New York. Posco, the world’s third-biggest steelmaker, climbed 3.6 percent in Seoul on speculation Obama’s plan will boost demand for the material.
More than two stocks dropped for each one that advanced in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which lost 0.2 percent to 121.65 as of 9:50 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge rallied 4.6 percent in the past four days amid optimism the U.S. economy will avoid falling back into a recession.
“Expectations the economy will not fall into a double-dip recession increased after Obama announced a stimulus plan for the U.S.,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co. “As the yen is an important element that moves the market, its gain may weigh on Japanese stocks.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 0.6 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.1 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.1 percent. U.S. markets are due to resume trading later today after a holiday yesterday. At a rally for Labor Day, President Obama proposed spending at least $50 billion to fix roads, railways and runways, and to modernize the air-traffic control system to help spur an economy that’s lost jobs for three straight months.
Nissan Motor Co. sank 1.5 percent in Tokyo on concern the yen’s strength will reduce the value of overseas revenue. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest commodities trader, lost 0.8 percent after crude-oil futures dropped in New York. Posco, the world’s third-biggest steelmaker, climbed 3.6 percent in Seoul on speculation Obama’s plan will boost demand for the material.
More than two stocks dropped for each one that advanced in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which lost 0.2 percent to 121.65 as of 9:50 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge rallied 4.6 percent in the past four days amid optimism the U.S. economy will avoid falling back into a recession.
“Expectations the economy will not fall into a double-dip recession increased after Obama announced a stimulus plan for the U.S.,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co. “As the yen is an important element that moves the market, its gain may weigh on Japanese stocks.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 0.6 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.1 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.1 percent. U.S. markets are due to resume trading later today after a holiday yesterday. At a rally for Labor Day, President Obama proposed spending at least $50 billion to fix roads, railways and runways, and to modernize the air-traffic control system to help spur an economy that’s lost jobs for three straight months.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Asian Stocks Rise as U.S. Jobs Report Eases Growth Concerns
Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to the highest level in four weeks, as better-than-estimated jobs data in the U.S. eased concern that global economic growth is faltering.
Samsung Electronics Co., which gets a fifth of its sales in America, gained 1.4 percent in Seoul. Canon Inc., a camera maker that gets 28 percent of its revenue in the Americas, increased 1.3 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, advanced 1.3 percent on speculation economic growth will bolster metals demand.
“There is a temporary sense of security after the better- than-expected jobs data,” said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., which oversees about $65 billion. “The market had been too pessimistic about the U.S. economy.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent to 120.76 as of 10:43 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its four-day advance to 3.6 percent. The gauge is set to close at the highest level since Aug. 10. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.5 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3 percent.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased 0.7 percent, led by building-related companies on speculation work tied to the clean-up of an earthquake in Christchurch will boost profits.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.2 percent. The gauge rose 1.3 percent on Sept. 3 after a government report showed private payrolls climbed by 67,000 in August, more than the median forecast for an increase of 40,000 in a Bloomberg economist survey.
Samsung, Canon
Samsung Electronics, Asia’s biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, added 1.4 percent to 772,000 won. The company said it may invest 30 trillion won ($25.6 billion) next year to expand its business.
Canon, which derives 28 percent of its sales in the Americas, advanced 1.3 percent to 3,595 yen in Tokyo. James Hardie Industries SE, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., rose 1.5 percent to A$5.47.
“The market will react to the jobs report positively because earlier forecasts were negative,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo. “I see risk-taking movements.”
BHP Billiton gained 1.3 percent to A$38.34, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. climbed 1.9 percent to A$4.89. Copper futures in New York rose 0.3 percent in electronic trading, the fourth straight day of gains.
Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s biggest investment bank, tumbled 4 percent to A$35.53 after saying first-half profit will fall 25 percent as faltering markets sap the flow of deals. The stock had the second-largest drop in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Samsung Electronics Co., which gets a fifth of its sales in America, gained 1.4 percent in Seoul. Canon Inc., a camera maker that gets 28 percent of its revenue in the Americas, increased 1.3 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, advanced 1.3 percent on speculation economic growth will bolster metals demand.
“There is a temporary sense of security after the better- than-expected jobs data,” said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., which oversees about $65 billion. “The market had been too pessimistic about the U.S. economy.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent to 120.76 as of 10:43 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its four-day advance to 3.6 percent. The gauge is set to close at the highest level since Aug. 10. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.5 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3 percent.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased 0.7 percent, led by building-related companies on speculation work tied to the clean-up of an earthquake in Christchurch will boost profits.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.2 percent. The gauge rose 1.3 percent on Sept. 3 after a government report showed private payrolls climbed by 67,000 in August, more than the median forecast for an increase of 40,000 in a Bloomberg economist survey.
Samsung, Canon
Samsung Electronics, Asia’s biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, added 1.4 percent to 772,000 won. The company said it may invest 30 trillion won ($25.6 billion) next year to expand its business.
Canon, which derives 28 percent of its sales in the Americas, advanced 1.3 percent to 3,595 yen in Tokyo. James Hardie Industries SE, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., rose 1.5 percent to A$5.47.
“The market will react to the jobs report positively because earlier forecasts were negative,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo. “I see risk-taking movements.”
BHP Billiton gained 1.3 percent to A$38.34, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. climbed 1.9 percent to A$4.89. Copper futures in New York rose 0.3 percent in electronic trading, the fourth straight day of gains.
Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s biggest investment bank, tumbled 4 percent to A$35.53 after saying first-half profit will fall 25 percent as faltering markets sap the flow of deals. The stock had the second-largest drop in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Jubilant Energy to raise exploration cash
Jubilant Energy, the oil and gas exploration arm of India’s Jubilant Group, hopes to raise up to $160m from London’s Alternative Investment Market in the coming months to help finance energy prospecting in north-eastern India.
The company – part of a New Delhi-based conglomerate with interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to pizza – holds exploration rights to three large blocks in the gas-rich Assam-Arakan Basin, where significant gas finds have already been made in neighbouring Burma and Bangladesh.
“This is a great opportunity to invest – it’s an India growth story,” said Hari Bhartia, Jubilant’s co-chairman.
“India’s energy requirement will continue to grow. Whoever has bet in this area has been successful.”
The proposed offer comes on the heels of British oil explorer Cairn Energy’s decision to cash in on its Indian venture – which made the largest on-shore oil find in two decades in Rajasthan – in a $9.6bn sale to mining group Vedanta.
Ajay Khandelwal, Jubilant chief executive, said the company planned to spend $100m to $125m annually for the next two to three years exploring its three north-eastern blocks, and also aimed to acquire at least three new blocks in upcoming auctions.
Proceeds from the London share offering – which will be all new equity – will help finance the work.
This year, Jubilant, which has already invested about $300m, is projecting revenues of just $15m from its 25 per cent stake in the small Kharsang Field, near the India-Burma border, which is producing about 2,000 barrels of oil a day.
But the company expects revenues to pick up sharply in 2012, when its block in the hydrocarbon rich Krishna-Godavari Basin, in which it holds a 10 per cent stake, goes into production, led by the operator, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. “Depending on the gas price, my expectation is that Jubilant will be a self-sufficient exploration company by 2014,” Mr Khandelwal said.
Geologically, India’s remote and strife-prone north-east – wedged between Burma and Bangladesh – has some of the country’s highest hydrocarbon potential.
However, it is also fraught with political and logistical complexities, including some of India’s frailest infrastructure. Jubilant is already moving to dig appraisal wells in promising Tripura, but the area is far from potential gas customers.
“Everybody knows Tripura is floating on gas,” said industry analyst Deepak Mehta, director of Petrowatch. “But getting it out is tricky.”
Another two of Jubilant’s north-eastern blocks are in troubled Manipur state, which borders Burma and has wrestled for years with insurgency and conflict between ethnic groups.
Jubilant Energy is being advised by Evolution Securities and Renaissance Capital.
The company – part of a New Delhi-based conglomerate with interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to pizza – holds exploration rights to three large blocks in the gas-rich Assam-Arakan Basin, where significant gas finds have already been made in neighbouring Burma and Bangladesh.
“This is a great opportunity to invest – it’s an India growth story,” said Hari Bhartia, Jubilant’s co-chairman.
“India’s energy requirement will continue to grow. Whoever has bet in this area has been successful.”
The proposed offer comes on the heels of British oil explorer Cairn Energy’s decision to cash in on its Indian venture – which made the largest on-shore oil find in two decades in Rajasthan – in a $9.6bn sale to mining group Vedanta.
Ajay Khandelwal, Jubilant chief executive, said the company planned to spend $100m to $125m annually for the next two to three years exploring its three north-eastern blocks, and also aimed to acquire at least three new blocks in upcoming auctions.
Proceeds from the London share offering – which will be all new equity – will help finance the work.
This year, Jubilant, which has already invested about $300m, is projecting revenues of just $15m from its 25 per cent stake in the small Kharsang Field, near the India-Burma border, which is producing about 2,000 barrels of oil a day.
But the company expects revenues to pick up sharply in 2012, when its block in the hydrocarbon rich Krishna-Godavari Basin, in which it holds a 10 per cent stake, goes into production, led by the operator, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. “Depending on the gas price, my expectation is that Jubilant will be a self-sufficient exploration company by 2014,” Mr Khandelwal said.
Geologically, India’s remote and strife-prone north-east – wedged between Burma and Bangladesh – has some of the country’s highest hydrocarbon potential.
However, it is also fraught with political and logistical complexities, including some of India’s frailest infrastructure. Jubilant is already moving to dig appraisal wells in promising Tripura, but the area is far from potential gas customers.
“Everybody knows Tripura is floating on gas,” said industry analyst Deepak Mehta, director of Petrowatch. “But getting it out is tricky.”
Another two of Jubilant’s north-eastern blocks are in troubled Manipur state, which borders Burma and has wrestled for years with insurgency and conflict between ethnic groups.
Jubilant Energy is being advised by Evolution Securities and Renaissance Capital.
Former H.P. Chief May Move to Oracle
Mark V. Hurd, who was forced to resign as Hewlett-Packard’s top executive last month after an investigation into a sexual harassment charge found that he had manipulated his expenses, is in talks with Oracle about a top executive position there, according a person briefed on the matter.
Mr. Hurd, who is close to Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chief executive, was not expected to replace him, though it was uncertain what any role at Oracle might be. Mr. Hurd and Oracle are close to reaching an agreement, but no deal has been completed, said the person briefed on the talks, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were supposed to remain confidential.
Oracle did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Hurd declined to comment.
For Mr. Hurd, 53, landing a top role at Oracle would be a quick rebound after his tumultuous exit from H.P. in early August. Mr. Hurd was forced out by the board after he settled charges of sexual harassment brought by Jodie Fisher, a 50-year-old actress who worked as a marketing consultant for the company.
Both Mr. Hurd and Ms. Fisher denied having a sexual relationship, and an H.P. investigation failed to find any evidence of sexual misconduct by Mr. Hurd.
But the company has said that Mr. Hurd’s resignation was a result of a break in trust caused by his falsifying expense reports possibly to conceal the relationship.
Shortly after Mr. Hurd was forced out, Mr. Ellison made an unusual and passionate defense of him. In an e-mail to The New York Times, Mr. Ellison called the H.P. board’s action “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
The talks between Mr. Hurd and Oracle were first reported on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Oracle, which Mr. Ellison founded 30 years ago, is the world’s largest database software maker; Mr. Ellison has been its only chief executive. For years, the company has been a close partner with H.P., which sells computing systems and services to corporations. But since Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, in a deal that closed early this year, Oracle and H.P. have become competitors in the market for computer hardware.
The purchase of Sun caught a number of Oracle’s investors off guard, since the company had avoided the hardware market in the past.
At H.P., Mr. Hurd helped steer mammoth computer server, storage and services businesses. Such expertise could come in handy as Oracle continues to try to digest Sun. In particular, Mr. Hurd built a reputation as a cost-cutting whiz and could apply those skills to bringing the Sun business in line.
Sun also has a number of large campuses and an extensive research and development operation. At H.P., Mr. Hurd pared back such expenses.
While running the company, Mr. Hurd passed on trying to acquire Sun, leaving Oracle and I.B.M. to bid for it.
Mr. Ellison remains heavily involved in Oracle, but the day-to-day operations are largely overseen by two presidents, Safra A. Catz and Charles E. Phillips Jr. It was unclear how Mr. Hurd would fit into the existing, crowded triumvirate.
Mr. Hurd took over the top job at H.P. in 2005, succeeding Carly Fiorina, who had been unable to increase profitability after the company’s $19 billion acquisition of Compaq in 2002.
His tenure was widely seen as a success. Mr. Hurd brought tight fiscal discipline to the computer giant and turned it into one of the most reliable performers in the technology sector. During his tenure, H.P. surpassed I.B.M. as the No. 1 technology company, as revenue increased to $115 billion a year, from $80 billion.
Mr. Hurd, who is close to Lawrence J. Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chief executive, was not expected to replace him, though it was uncertain what any role at Oracle might be. Mr. Hurd and Oracle are close to reaching an agreement, but no deal has been completed, said the person briefed on the talks, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were supposed to remain confidential.
Oracle did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Mr. Hurd declined to comment.
For Mr. Hurd, 53, landing a top role at Oracle would be a quick rebound after his tumultuous exit from H.P. in early August. Mr. Hurd was forced out by the board after he settled charges of sexual harassment brought by Jodie Fisher, a 50-year-old actress who worked as a marketing consultant for the company.
Both Mr. Hurd and Ms. Fisher denied having a sexual relationship, and an H.P. investigation failed to find any evidence of sexual misconduct by Mr. Hurd.
But the company has said that Mr. Hurd’s resignation was a result of a break in trust caused by his falsifying expense reports possibly to conceal the relationship.
Shortly after Mr. Hurd was forced out, Mr. Ellison made an unusual and passionate defense of him. In an e-mail to The New York Times, Mr. Ellison called the H.P. board’s action “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
The talks between Mr. Hurd and Oracle were first reported on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Oracle, which Mr. Ellison founded 30 years ago, is the world’s largest database software maker; Mr. Ellison has been its only chief executive. For years, the company has been a close partner with H.P., which sells computing systems and services to corporations. But since Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, in a deal that closed early this year, Oracle and H.P. have become competitors in the market for computer hardware.
The purchase of Sun caught a number of Oracle’s investors off guard, since the company had avoided the hardware market in the past.
At H.P., Mr. Hurd helped steer mammoth computer server, storage and services businesses. Such expertise could come in handy as Oracle continues to try to digest Sun. In particular, Mr. Hurd built a reputation as a cost-cutting whiz and could apply those skills to bringing the Sun business in line.
Sun also has a number of large campuses and an extensive research and development operation. At H.P., Mr. Hurd pared back such expenses.
While running the company, Mr. Hurd passed on trying to acquire Sun, leaving Oracle and I.B.M. to bid for it.
Mr. Ellison remains heavily involved in Oracle, but the day-to-day operations are largely overseen by two presidents, Safra A. Catz and Charles E. Phillips Jr. It was unclear how Mr. Hurd would fit into the existing, crowded triumvirate.
Mr. Hurd took over the top job at H.P. in 2005, succeeding Carly Fiorina, who had been unable to increase profitability after the company’s $19 billion acquisition of Compaq in 2002.
His tenure was widely seen as a success. Mr. Hurd brought tight fiscal discipline to the computer giant and turned it into one of the most reliable performers in the technology sector. During his tenure, H.P. surpassed I.B.M. as the No. 1 technology company, as revenue increased to $115 billion a year, from $80 billion.
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