Once considered a symbol of Nehru’s modernising India, the typewriter will soon cease to be found on shop shelves.
Godrej & Boyce, one of India’s dynastic conglomerates and the world’s last manufacturer of office typewriters, stopped production at its factory in Pune in 2009. Since then, the company has been selling leftover stock out of which only about 200 typewriters are left, according to a spokesperson for Godrej.
Typewriters, which have been an integral part of the country’s bureaucratic fabric since before India’s independence, are increasingly being replaced by computers as the country makes its giant leap forward into the 21st century.
The Godrej typewriter factory, set up in Mumbai in 1955, signalled technological advancement in independent India. Befitting Nehru’s technocratic vision of a self-reliant India, Godrej typewriters of the time included only four imported components in the 1,800-part machine. That was considered a feat for which Mr Godrej was personally congratulated by Nehru, the prime minister.
Typewriters became a status symbol in the 1960s. Many Indian families still have the machines preserved in a corner of the living room, as a reminder of past wealth and well-being.
After the 1960s, the machine played a central role in the country’s bureaucracy, banks and businesses. Typewriters are still a common sight in the offices of lawyers and judges and outside the court on the streets. Even in Mumbai notaries and other legal professionals can still be found sitting outside the courtroom, tapping away on their typewriters.
At its peak, Godrej produced 50,000 typewriters a year in 40 different languages, including regional Indian languages. It held 50 per cent of the Indian market at the time and also exported the machine to many countries in north Africa and the Middle East.
Today, the factory has been revamped into a refrigeration unit and many of the staff have been retrained.
As for the last few typewriters left in the stock, only 20 are in English, with the rest in Arabic, but demand for what could be a collector’s item is extremely high.
“Over the past couple of days a lot of people have started calling in. Mostly individuals have been making enquiries about purchasing the typewriters,” said the spokesperson.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Asian Stocks Rise on Fed’s Low-Rate Pledge
Asian stocks rose, sending the regional benchmark index to its highest level since February, after the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to stimulate U.S. economic growth with low interest rates and as companies from Advantest Corp. (6857) and Komatsu Ltd. (6301) posted higher earnings.
Honda Motor Co., the Japanese carmaker that gets about 45 percent of sales from North America, gained 2.4 percent in Tokyo. Advantest, the world’s biggest maker of memory-chip testers, surged 5.6 percent. Komatsu, the world’s second-largest maker of construction equipment, advanced 2.4 percent. Computershare Ltd. (CPU), the world’s No. 1 share registrar, jumped 7.7 percent in Sydney after agreeing to buy the shareholder services business of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for $550 million.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.4 percent to 139.74 at 11:10 a.m. in Tokyo, heading for its highest close since Feb. 18. More than two stocks gained for each that dropped. The measure climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
“We have a combination of low interest rates and strong earnings,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist for AMP Capital, which has almost $100 billion under management. “It’s a pretty good cocktail for a good equity market.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 1.3 percent, the highest since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Investors shrugged off a government report today that showed Japan’s industrial production plunged last month after the temblor led to shuttered factories.
New Zealand Rates
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.5 percent after the nation’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low as the country recovers from its most devastating earthquake in 80 years.
South Korea’s Kospi Index and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index both gained 0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.7 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.4 percent today. In New York yesterday, the index rose 0.6 percent to 1,355.66. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the Fed will maintain its record monetary stimulus after ending large-scale bond purchases in June, while the need to contain inflation means further easing is unlikely.
“The U.S. will continue its easing monetary policy, as was expected,” said Toshio Sumitani, a strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center. “Stocks in the U.S. are rising with support from the easing policy, as they are cheap. Gains in U.S. stocks are positive for other stock markets.”
U.S. Orders
The Fed left its benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, where it’s been since December 2008.
Bernanke reinforced the view of the Federal Open Market Committee, which released its policy statement yesterday, that borrowing costs are likely to stay low for “an extended period.” The panel agreed to finish $600 billion of Treasury purchases in June and said surging commodity prices will probably have a transitory effect on inflation.
The Commerce Department said yesterday that orders for U.S. durable goods rose in March for a third consecutive month, showing businesses intend to keep spending to update equipment.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased just 0.1 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 7.8 percent by the S&P 500 and 2.3 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.8 times for the S&P 500 and 11.4 times for the Stoxx 600.
Honda Motor Co., the Japanese carmaker that gets about 45 percent of sales from North America, gained 2.4 percent in Tokyo. Advantest, the world’s biggest maker of memory-chip testers, surged 5.6 percent. Komatsu, the world’s second-largest maker of construction equipment, advanced 2.4 percent. Computershare Ltd. (CPU), the world’s No. 1 share registrar, jumped 7.7 percent in Sydney after agreeing to buy the shareholder services business of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for $550 million.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.4 percent to 139.74 at 11:10 a.m. in Tokyo, heading for its highest close since Feb. 18. More than two stocks gained for each that dropped. The measure climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
“We have a combination of low interest rates and strong earnings,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist for AMP Capital, which has almost $100 billion under management. “It’s a pretty good cocktail for a good equity market.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 1.3 percent, the highest since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Investors shrugged off a government report today that showed Japan’s industrial production plunged last month after the temblor led to shuttered factories.
New Zealand Rates
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.5 percent after the nation’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low as the country recovers from its most devastating earthquake in 80 years.
South Korea’s Kospi Index and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index both gained 0.5 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.7 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.4 percent today. In New York yesterday, the index rose 0.6 percent to 1,355.66. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the Fed will maintain its record monetary stimulus after ending large-scale bond purchases in June, while the need to contain inflation means further easing is unlikely.
“The U.S. will continue its easing monetary policy, as was expected,” said Toshio Sumitani, a strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center. “Stocks in the U.S. are rising with support from the easing policy, as they are cheap. Gains in U.S. stocks are positive for other stock markets.”
U.S. Orders
The Fed left its benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, where it’s been since December 2008.
Bernanke reinforced the view of the Federal Open Market Committee, which released its policy statement yesterday, that borrowing costs are likely to stay low for “an extended period.” The panel agreed to finish $600 billion of Treasury purchases in June and said surging commodity prices will probably have a transitory effect on inflation.
The Commerce Department said yesterday that orders for U.S. durable goods rose in March for a third consecutive month, showing businesses intend to keep spending to update equipment.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased just 0.1 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 7.8 percent by the S&P 500 and 2.3 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.8 times for the S&P 500 and 11.4 times for the Stoxx 600.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
NATO Aims to Rattle Qaddafi With Bombs Falling Close to Home
NATO is increasing the speed of its airstrikes against Muammar Qaddafi’s fielded forces and the proximity of its attacks to the Libyan dictator in an effort to break a stalemate in the military situation, according to military officials.
NATO has received the further firepower it has sought with the addition of Italian ground-attack warplanes and armed U.S. Predator drones intended to increase pressure on Qaddafi and his loyalists to stop attacking civilians in rebel-held areas.
Pro-regime fighters have withdrawn from rebel-held Misrata while continuing daily shelling of the besieged city. Qaddafi’s forces launched a constant bombardment yesterday afternoon and evening against the vital port area, where hundreds of people were gathered awaiting an evacuation ship, the Associated Press reported.
U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said that the NATO strike on April 25 that flattened buildings in Qaddafi’s main compound was meant to do more than knock out what NATO said was a communications bunker.
Attacks in Tripoli are intended to “increase the psychological pressure, apart from anything else, on Qaddafi, to make him realize that this is something that he is involved in,” Fox said during an appearance on PBS’s “NewsHour” program following discussions about Libya with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “And I think that’s very important in terms of the pressure we can bring on the regime itself.”
‘Legitimate Targets’
Earlier yesterday, standing alongside Fox at the Pentagon, Gates countered Libya’s assertion that the strike on the Bab al- Aziziya compound was intended to kill Qaddafi. His comments made clear that centers from which Qaddafi commands his forces are “legitimate targets,” possibly putting him at risk.
“We are not targeting him specifically, but we do consider command-and-control targets legitimate targets, wherever we find them,” Gates said.
Qaddafi’s regime has weathered an uprising for more than two months, holding onto the capital, Tripoli, as rebels control much of the oil-rich east. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin repeated his criticism of the NATO effort in Libya, saying the air campaign is destroying the nation’s infrastructure and going beyond the United Nations mandate to protect civilians.
“Libya’s oil reserves, by the way, are the biggest in Africa and its gas reserves are ranked fourth-biggest in Africa,” Putin told reporters in Copenhagen. “This begs the question of whether they are the main object of interest for those operating there today.”
The conflict in Libya has pushed crude oil prices to the highest since September 2008, and they have gained more than 30 percent since mid-February. Futures fluctuated yesterday, with oil for June delivery falling 7 cents to settle at $112.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Predator Power
In Washington, Fox said the addition of the Predators, armed with Hellfire missiles, provides NATO with an improved capability to respond to attacks on civilians.
“That’s given us a shorter gap between the identification of targets and striking the targets, rather than the traditional airpower that we’ve been using,” he said on PBS. “So that’s been an advance for us.”
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italian Air Force jets would join in attacking Qaddafi’s forces.
“The decision by our government hasn’t been an easy one,” he said, describing pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to join the mission to “speed up a resolution of the Libyan problem.”
Strike Missions
Previously, Italy had limited itself to providing military support, citing its history as Libya’s former colonial ruler. Italy also has had extensive business ties to Libya, including natural gas delivered by pipeline.
Coalition jets flew 56 “strike” missions to identify and engage possible targets on April 25, NATO said. Targets included tanks, rocket launchers and ammunition depots near Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte.
Libyan state television said NATO jets hit civilian and military sites in three districts in the Libyan capital as well as a fiber-optic cable connecting the Qaddafi stronghold of Sirte with the oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega to the east, the BBC reported.
‘Desperate and Weak’
“We have seen significant progress made in the last 72 hours with Qaddafi’s forces losing their grip on Misrata, and we have received reports of under-age soldiers and foreign mercenaries being captured -- this underlines the regime’s inability to rely on its own security forces,” Fox said in an e-mailed statement after his talks with Gates. “These are the tactics of an increasingly desperate and weak regime.”
The Libyan government called the NATO strike on a Qaddafi compound an unsuccessful assassination attempt.
“This is not about individuals. This is not about regime change. This is about bringing an end to the violence,” General Charles Bouchard, the Canadian Air Force officer commanding the Libya operation, told reporters via video link from his command center in the southern Italian city of Naples.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague rejected assertions by lawmakers that a stalemate had emerged, given the standoff between Qaddafi loyalists and rebels in the area between Brega and Ajdabiya in western Libya.
“It has not settled into what one would call a long-term stalemate,” Hague told the House of Commons in London yesterday. He said the overall situation remained “very fluid.”
Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Libyan government, said that Qaddafi was “healthy and well” after the strike on his compound. Libyan television later showed Qaddafi receiving local leaders while sitting in a tent, with a television displaying the date.
NATO has received the further firepower it has sought with the addition of Italian ground-attack warplanes and armed U.S. Predator drones intended to increase pressure on Qaddafi and his loyalists to stop attacking civilians in rebel-held areas.
Pro-regime fighters have withdrawn from rebel-held Misrata while continuing daily shelling of the besieged city. Qaddafi’s forces launched a constant bombardment yesterday afternoon and evening against the vital port area, where hundreds of people were gathered awaiting an evacuation ship, the Associated Press reported.
U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said that the NATO strike on April 25 that flattened buildings in Qaddafi’s main compound was meant to do more than knock out what NATO said was a communications bunker.
Attacks in Tripoli are intended to “increase the psychological pressure, apart from anything else, on Qaddafi, to make him realize that this is something that he is involved in,” Fox said during an appearance on PBS’s “NewsHour” program following discussions about Libya with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “And I think that’s very important in terms of the pressure we can bring on the regime itself.”
‘Legitimate Targets’
Earlier yesterday, standing alongside Fox at the Pentagon, Gates countered Libya’s assertion that the strike on the Bab al- Aziziya compound was intended to kill Qaddafi. His comments made clear that centers from which Qaddafi commands his forces are “legitimate targets,” possibly putting him at risk.
“We are not targeting him specifically, but we do consider command-and-control targets legitimate targets, wherever we find them,” Gates said.
Qaddafi’s regime has weathered an uprising for more than two months, holding onto the capital, Tripoli, as rebels control much of the oil-rich east. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin repeated his criticism of the NATO effort in Libya, saying the air campaign is destroying the nation’s infrastructure and going beyond the United Nations mandate to protect civilians.
“Libya’s oil reserves, by the way, are the biggest in Africa and its gas reserves are ranked fourth-biggest in Africa,” Putin told reporters in Copenhagen. “This begs the question of whether they are the main object of interest for those operating there today.”
The conflict in Libya has pushed crude oil prices to the highest since September 2008, and they have gained more than 30 percent since mid-February. Futures fluctuated yesterday, with oil for June delivery falling 7 cents to settle at $112.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Predator Power
In Washington, Fox said the addition of the Predators, armed with Hellfire missiles, provides NATO with an improved capability to respond to attacks on civilians.
“That’s given us a shorter gap between the identification of targets and striking the targets, rather than the traditional airpower that we’ve been using,” he said on PBS. “So that’s been an advance for us.”
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italian Air Force jets would join in attacking Qaddafi’s forces.
“The decision by our government hasn’t been an easy one,” he said, describing pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to join the mission to “speed up a resolution of the Libyan problem.”
Strike Missions
Previously, Italy had limited itself to providing military support, citing its history as Libya’s former colonial ruler. Italy also has had extensive business ties to Libya, including natural gas delivered by pipeline.
Coalition jets flew 56 “strike” missions to identify and engage possible targets on April 25, NATO said. Targets included tanks, rocket launchers and ammunition depots near Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte.
Libyan state television said NATO jets hit civilian and military sites in three districts in the Libyan capital as well as a fiber-optic cable connecting the Qaddafi stronghold of Sirte with the oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega to the east, the BBC reported.
‘Desperate and Weak’
“We have seen significant progress made in the last 72 hours with Qaddafi’s forces losing their grip on Misrata, and we have received reports of under-age soldiers and foreign mercenaries being captured -- this underlines the regime’s inability to rely on its own security forces,” Fox said in an e-mailed statement after his talks with Gates. “These are the tactics of an increasingly desperate and weak regime.”
The Libyan government called the NATO strike on a Qaddafi compound an unsuccessful assassination attempt.
“This is not about individuals. This is not about regime change. This is about bringing an end to the violence,” General Charles Bouchard, the Canadian Air Force officer commanding the Libya operation, told reporters via video link from his command center in the southern Italian city of Naples.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague rejected assertions by lawmakers that a stalemate had emerged, given the standoff between Qaddafi loyalists and rebels in the area between Brega and Ajdabiya in western Libya.
“It has not settled into what one would call a long-term stalemate,” Hague told the House of Commons in London yesterday. He said the overall situation remained “very fluid.”
Moussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Libyan government, said that Qaddafi was “healthy and well” after the strike on his compound. Libyan television later showed Qaddafi receiving local leaders while sitting in a tent, with a television displaying the date.
Shippers May Raise Fuel Fees
These should be good times for railroads and trucking companies. After all, an improving economy means that more goods and commodities need to be delivered to the nation’s ports and department stores.
But rising fuel prices have taken a toll on their business.
With diesel prices near their highest levels since 2008, the impact has started to appear in the first-quarter results of companies like Union Pacific railroad and the Arkansas Best Corporation, which has a trucking subsidiary. Some shippers said they expected to raise fuel surcharges.
The timing, some economists say, could not be worse. Consumers are already paying steeper prices at the gas pump and may see prices climb in stores if diesel prices remain high. American manufacturers, meanwhile, are struggling to get back on their feet.
“The manufacturing sector is hit disproportionately hard by higher diesel prices,” said Donald A. Norman, economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a public policy and economics research organization in Arlington, Va. “Simply to move all this stuff around, it is really hard to affect any cost savings. You have little in the way of alternatives.”
Brandon Gale, the president of Retail Shipping Associates, said it was only a matter of time before the high fuel prices affected consumers. “It is a very straight-line relationship,” he said. “When you see fuel at the pump going up, it is going to go up at the package, too.”
Crude oil prices started going up early this year as turmoil spread through the oil-producing regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Increased global demand for fuel has added to the pressure on prices.
On Monday, the average price for a gallon of highway diesel was $4.09, according to the Energy Information Administration, which posts fuel prices every week based on a survey of outlets around the country. The current averages are in the highest range since 2008, when prices peaked at $4.76 on July 14, and more than a dollar higher than in 2010.
The Energy Information Administration price functions as a reference point for trucking companies negotiating fuel surcharges with shippers. Railroads can use a less expensive type of diesel that does not reflect the highway taxes.
While some railroad companies say their businesses can benefit from higher diesel prices because shippers may migrate to trains from trucks, they are still paying millions of dollars more for fuel.
Last week, Union Pacific said in its report on the first quarter that it paid average diesel fuel prices of $2.88 a gallon, up 33 percent from the same period in 2010. The higher costs — the company said it paid about $200 million more for fuel in the quarter than the same period in 2010 — sliced 8 cents off the company’s $1.29 in earnings per share. Even so, the earnings were the company’s highest for any first quarter in its history.
The company has already imposed fuel surcharges to recoup some of its higher costs. And while it did not say directly whether it would raise its surcharges, Tom Lange, a company spokesman, said, “It is how we are addressing it.”
Another railroad company, the CSX Corporation, said in its first-quarter results report this month that higher fuel costs added $119 million to expenses in the year, bringing fuel costs to $402 million.
Norfolk Southern reports its quarterly results on Wednesday.
Railroad companies can benefit in some ways from higher oil prices. When oil prices rise, so do the prices of other commodities, a signal of brisk demand for what is a large component of train freight.
“You can’t look at rising oil prices in a vacuum,” said H. Peter Nesvold, a managing director for research at Jefferies & Company. “It actually helps the volumes at the rails.”
In addition, some cargo usually moves to trains when diesel prices are high because they are more fuel efficient than trucks, industry officials said.
“Fuel costs are an important factor for us; it costs us more money to do what we do,” said John T. Gray, a senior vice president for the Association of American Railroads. “Fortunately, it costs our competitors typically more money than it costs us.”
He added, “If what we saw in 2008 happens now, there will probably be some customers that will seek out rail service that have not in the past.”
But rising fuel prices have taken a toll on their business.
With diesel prices near their highest levels since 2008, the impact has started to appear in the first-quarter results of companies like Union Pacific railroad and the Arkansas Best Corporation, which has a trucking subsidiary. Some shippers said they expected to raise fuel surcharges.
The timing, some economists say, could not be worse. Consumers are already paying steeper prices at the gas pump and may see prices climb in stores if diesel prices remain high. American manufacturers, meanwhile, are struggling to get back on their feet.
“The manufacturing sector is hit disproportionately hard by higher diesel prices,” said Donald A. Norman, economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a public policy and economics research organization in Arlington, Va. “Simply to move all this stuff around, it is really hard to affect any cost savings. You have little in the way of alternatives.”
Brandon Gale, the president of Retail Shipping Associates, said it was only a matter of time before the high fuel prices affected consumers. “It is a very straight-line relationship,” he said. “When you see fuel at the pump going up, it is going to go up at the package, too.”
Crude oil prices started going up early this year as turmoil spread through the oil-producing regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Increased global demand for fuel has added to the pressure on prices.
On Monday, the average price for a gallon of highway diesel was $4.09, according to the Energy Information Administration, which posts fuel prices every week based on a survey of outlets around the country. The current averages are in the highest range since 2008, when prices peaked at $4.76 on July 14, and more than a dollar higher than in 2010.
The Energy Information Administration price functions as a reference point for trucking companies negotiating fuel surcharges with shippers. Railroads can use a less expensive type of diesel that does not reflect the highway taxes.
While some railroad companies say their businesses can benefit from higher diesel prices because shippers may migrate to trains from trucks, they are still paying millions of dollars more for fuel.
Last week, Union Pacific said in its report on the first quarter that it paid average diesel fuel prices of $2.88 a gallon, up 33 percent from the same period in 2010. The higher costs — the company said it paid about $200 million more for fuel in the quarter than the same period in 2010 — sliced 8 cents off the company’s $1.29 in earnings per share. Even so, the earnings were the company’s highest for any first quarter in its history.
The company has already imposed fuel surcharges to recoup some of its higher costs. And while it did not say directly whether it would raise its surcharges, Tom Lange, a company spokesman, said, “It is how we are addressing it.”
Another railroad company, the CSX Corporation, said in its first-quarter results report this month that higher fuel costs added $119 million to expenses in the year, bringing fuel costs to $402 million.
Norfolk Southern reports its quarterly results on Wednesday.
Railroad companies can benefit in some ways from higher oil prices. When oil prices rise, so do the prices of other commodities, a signal of brisk demand for what is a large component of train freight.
“You can’t look at rising oil prices in a vacuum,” said H. Peter Nesvold, a managing director for research at Jefferies & Company. “It actually helps the volumes at the rails.”
In addition, some cargo usually moves to trains when diesel prices are high because they are more fuel efficient than trucks, industry officials said.
“Fuel costs are an important factor for us; it costs us more money to do what we do,” said John T. Gray, a senior vice president for the Association of American Railroads. “Fortunately, it costs our competitors typically more money than it costs us.”
He added, “If what we saw in 2008 happens now, there will probably be some customers that will seek out rail service that have not in the past.”
Asian Stocks Rise on U.S. Consumer Confidence; Canon Jumps
Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index heading for its highest close in almost two months, after a report showed U.S. consumer confidence increased, boosting the outlook for Asian exporters.
Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s largest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, gained 2.9 percent in Seoul. Canon Inc. (7751), the world’s biggest manufacturer of cameras, surged 6 percent in Tokyo. Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG), Australia’s No. 1 energy retailer, increased 4 percent in Sydney after it and partner ConocoPhillips signed an agreement last week to supply liquefied natural gas to China Petrochemical Corp. Australia resumed trading today following a five-day Easter break.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1 percent to 139.30 as of 11 a.m. in Tokyo, set for its highest close since March 4. More than three stocks gained for each that fell on the gauge. The measure climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
“The U.S. economy is recovering and corporate earnings are strong,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “More and more manufacturers are resuming operations at factories. That means the impact of the earthquake disaster won’t last for long, and that’s positive for stocks.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average increased 1.3 percent as the government said 90 percent of the country’s earthquake- stricken factories will resume production by July. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 0.8 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.3 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 0.6 percent as the nation’s economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, driven by exports. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.1 percent, erasing gains of as much as 0.3 percent, as a report showed the country’s consumer prices gained the most in five years in the first quarter.
Exporters Rally
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent today. In New York, the index rose 0.9 percent to 1,347.24 yesterday, the highest level since June 2008, as earnings at companies from 3M Co. to United Parcel Service Inc. and Ford Motor Co. topped analysts’ estimates and after a report showed confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in April.
Exporters advanced after a report from the New York-based Conference Board showed the confidence index rose to 65.4 in April from a revised 63.8 reading in March. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected an advance to 64.5.
Samsung Electronics, which gets about 22 percent of sales from America, climbed 2.9 percent to 923,000 won in Seoul. LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s second-biggest electronics maker, gained 2.4 percent to 107,000 won. Canon, which gets more than 80 percent of its sales outside of Japan, surged 6 percent to 3,705 yen in Tokyo.
Federal Reserve policy makers began two days of meetings yesterday, and will likely say they’ll complete a second round of scheduled bond purchases worth $600 billion through the end of June to help sustain the recovery.
Origin Energy, TSMC
Origin Energy jumped 4 percent to A$16.88. The company and its partner ConocoPhillips last week clinched Australia’s largest liquefied-natural-gas export deal, agreeing to supply 4.3 million metric tons of the fuel a year over two decades to China Petrochemical, also known as Sinopec Group.
The Australia-Pacific LNG venture partners also agreed to sell a 15 percent stake in the proposed $18.5 billion LNG project in Queensland state to Sinopec for $1.5 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, advanced 2.1 percent to NT$71.8 in Taipei after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its share-price forecast to NT$90 from NT$64.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 7.1 percent by the S&P 500 and 2 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.7 times for the S&P 500 and 11.4 times for the Stoxx 600.
Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s largest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, gained 2.9 percent in Seoul. Canon Inc. (7751), the world’s biggest manufacturer of cameras, surged 6 percent in Tokyo. Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG), Australia’s No. 1 energy retailer, increased 4 percent in Sydney after it and partner ConocoPhillips signed an agreement last week to supply liquefied natural gas to China Petrochemical Corp. Australia resumed trading today following a five-day Easter break.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1 percent to 139.30 as of 11 a.m. in Tokyo, set for its highest close since March 4. More than three stocks gained for each that fell on the gauge. The measure climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
“The U.S. economy is recovering and corporate earnings are strong,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “More and more manufacturers are resuming operations at factories. That means the impact of the earthquake disaster won’t last for long, and that’s positive for stocks.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average increased 1.3 percent as the government said 90 percent of the country’s earthquake- stricken factories will resume production by July. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 0.8 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.3 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 0.6 percent as the nation’s economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, driven by exports. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.1 percent, erasing gains of as much as 0.3 percent, as a report showed the country’s consumer prices gained the most in five years in the first quarter.
Exporters Rally
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent today. In New York, the index rose 0.9 percent to 1,347.24 yesterday, the highest level since June 2008, as earnings at companies from 3M Co. to United Parcel Service Inc. and Ford Motor Co. topped analysts’ estimates and after a report showed confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in April.
Exporters advanced after a report from the New York-based Conference Board showed the confidence index rose to 65.4 in April from a revised 63.8 reading in March. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected an advance to 64.5.
Samsung Electronics, which gets about 22 percent of sales from America, climbed 2.9 percent to 923,000 won in Seoul. LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s second-biggest electronics maker, gained 2.4 percent to 107,000 won. Canon, which gets more than 80 percent of its sales outside of Japan, surged 6 percent to 3,705 yen in Tokyo.
Federal Reserve policy makers began two days of meetings yesterday, and will likely say they’ll complete a second round of scheduled bond purchases worth $600 billion through the end of June to help sustain the recovery.
Origin Energy, TSMC
Origin Energy jumped 4 percent to A$16.88. The company and its partner ConocoPhillips last week clinched Australia’s largest liquefied-natural-gas export deal, agreeing to supply 4.3 million metric tons of the fuel a year over two decades to China Petrochemical, also known as Sinopec Group.
The Australia-Pacific LNG venture partners also agreed to sell a 15 percent stake in the proposed $18.5 billion LNG project in Queensland state to Sinopec for $1.5 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, advanced 2.1 percent to NT$71.8 in Taipei after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its share-price forecast to NT$90 from NT$64.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 7.1 percent by the S&P 500 and 2 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.7 times for the S&P 500 and 11.4 times for the Stoxx 600.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Asian Stocks Fall as Earnings Miss Estimates; Nintendo, Mitsubishi Decline
Asian stocks declined for a second day as companies from Nintendo Co. to Nidec Corp. (6594) reported earnings that missed analyst estimates and after commodity prices dropped.
Nintendo, the world’s largest maker of video-game players, slumped 4 percent in Tokyo. Nidec, the biggest global maker of motors for hard-disk drives, decreased 2.3 percent. China Life Insurance Co. fell 2.5 percent after its first-quarter net income declined. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s No. 1 commodities trader, retreated 1 percent after copper and oil prices fell.
“As stimulus measures are withdrawn, company profits will be affected,” said Pauline Dan, Hong Kong-based chief investment officer at Samsung Asset Management, which oversees about $72 billion. “A lot of the demand in the past two years has been driven by government spending. While valuations are reasonably attractive, investors need to be selective when picking stocks as inflation remains a big concern.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.5 percent to 137.81 as of 11:50 a.m. in Tokyo, with two shares falling for each that rose. The gauge climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average decreased 1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Index fell 0.8 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index was little changed.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. In New York yesterday, the index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,335.25 as lower commodity prices drove down energy and raw-material producers, and as Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Scott toilet paper and Huggies diapers, cut its profit forecast.
Asia vs U.S. Earnings
About 40 percent of companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported earnings since April 11 beat estimates, compared with 88 percent among companies on the S&P 500 Index. (SPX)
Nintendo declined 4 percent to 19,520 yen in Tokyo. The company said net income slumped 66 percent to 77.6 billion yen ($946 million) in the year ended in March. The earnings, Nintendo’s forecast for a 42 percent jump in profit this fiscal year and predictions for operating profit and sales, all lagged behind analyst estimates.
Nidec dropped 2.3 percent to 6,920 yen after projecting net income will be 52.5 billion yen this fiscal year, compared with the median analyst estimate of 74 billion yen. Drugmaker Shionogi & Co. tumbled 5.7 percent to 1,300 yen after reporting full-year net income totaled 20 billion yen, missing its profit outlook by 33 percent.
China Life, the country’s largest insurer, fell 2.5 percent to HK$29.90 in Hong Kong. The company said first-quarter net profit slumped 22 percent to 7.97 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) from a year earlier as payouts increased after policies matured.
Commodities Drop
Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., a South Korean shipping line, decreased 3.8 percent to 32,650 won in Seoul. The company said it had a first-quarter operating loss of 24.1 billion won ($22.2 million) compared with a profit of 6.17 billion won a year earlier.
Raw material producers declined after copper and oil futures dropped. Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 3.3 percent to $9,390 a metric ton today. Crude oil for June delivery dropped as much as 1 percent to $111.20 today.
Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), the Japanese trading house that gets about 40 percent of revenue from commodities, lost 1 percent to 2,166 yen in Tokyo. Rival Mitsui & Co. slipped 0.6 percent to 1,417 yen. Inpex Corp., Japan’s biggest energy explorer, dropped 1.2 percent to 604,000 yen. Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, decreased 1.8 percent to HK$19.52 in Hong Kong.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 6.2 percent by the S&P 500 and 1.7 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark index are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.3 times for the Stoxx 600.
Nintendo, the world’s largest maker of video-game players, slumped 4 percent in Tokyo. Nidec, the biggest global maker of motors for hard-disk drives, decreased 2.3 percent. China Life Insurance Co. fell 2.5 percent after its first-quarter net income declined. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s No. 1 commodities trader, retreated 1 percent after copper and oil prices fell.
“As stimulus measures are withdrawn, company profits will be affected,” said Pauline Dan, Hong Kong-based chief investment officer at Samsung Asset Management, which oversees about $72 billion. “A lot of the demand in the past two years has been driven by government spending. While valuations are reasonably attractive, investors need to be selective when picking stocks as inflation remains a big concern.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.5 percent to 137.81 as of 11:50 a.m. in Tokyo, with two shares falling for each that rose. The gauge climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average decreased 1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Index fell 0.8 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index was little changed.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. In New York yesterday, the index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,335.25 as lower commodity prices drove down energy and raw-material producers, and as Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Scott toilet paper and Huggies diapers, cut its profit forecast.
Asia vs U.S. Earnings
About 40 percent of companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported earnings since April 11 beat estimates, compared with 88 percent among companies on the S&P 500 Index. (SPX)
Nintendo declined 4 percent to 19,520 yen in Tokyo. The company said net income slumped 66 percent to 77.6 billion yen ($946 million) in the year ended in March. The earnings, Nintendo’s forecast for a 42 percent jump in profit this fiscal year and predictions for operating profit and sales, all lagged behind analyst estimates.
Nidec dropped 2.3 percent to 6,920 yen after projecting net income will be 52.5 billion yen this fiscal year, compared with the median analyst estimate of 74 billion yen. Drugmaker Shionogi & Co. tumbled 5.7 percent to 1,300 yen after reporting full-year net income totaled 20 billion yen, missing its profit outlook by 33 percent.
China Life, the country’s largest insurer, fell 2.5 percent to HK$29.90 in Hong Kong. The company said first-quarter net profit slumped 22 percent to 7.97 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) from a year earlier as payouts increased after policies matured.
Commodities Drop
Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., a South Korean shipping line, decreased 3.8 percent to 32,650 won in Seoul. The company said it had a first-quarter operating loss of 24.1 billion won ($22.2 million) compared with a profit of 6.17 billion won a year earlier.
Raw material producers declined after copper and oil futures dropped. Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 3.3 percent to $9,390 a metric ton today. Crude oil for June delivery dropped as much as 1 percent to $111.20 today.
Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), the Japanese trading house that gets about 40 percent of revenue from commodities, lost 1 percent to 2,166 yen in Tokyo. Rival Mitsui & Co. slipped 0.6 percent to 1,417 yen. Inpex Corp., Japan’s biggest energy explorer, dropped 1.2 percent to 604,000 yen. Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, decreased 1.8 percent to HK$19.52 in Hong Kong.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 6.2 percent by the S&P 500 and 1.7 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark index are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.3 times for the Stoxx 600.
Swiss Bond Sales Boom as Banks Diversify Amid Dollar Plunge: India Credit
After a 24-year hiatus, Indian companies are poised to raise almost $1 billion of Swiss franc- denominated bonds, about a quarter of total overseas borrowing in 2011, as demand rises among European investors.
State-owned IDBI Bank Ltd. (IDBI) will meet Swiss investors next month in its bid to become the fourth Indian issuer this year to borrow in francs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Union Bank of India’s 3.375 percent franc bonds due August 2015 yield 109 basis points more than debt of similar maturities and ratings sold by Jona, Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd., the world’s second-biggest cement maker.
Borrowers in Asia’s third-biggest economy are selling bonds in Swiss francs for the first time since 1987 as the Dollar Index’s 6.5 percent plunge this year spurs a search for alternative funding. European buyers are lured by higher returns and the Indian government’s forecast for economic growth of more than 9 percent this financial year.
“Interest rates in Switzerland are lower and there is strong demand for emerging-market debt,” said Pierre Faddoul, a Singapore-based credit analyst at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc that manages $287 billion. “Companies selling bonds are looking to gain recognition in the Swiss market.”
‘Conducive’ Market
Lenders Export-Import Bank of India, State Bank of India (SBIN) and Union Bank sold 660 million francs ($750 million) of bonds this year, Bloomberg data show. IDBI last issued notes denominated in the Swiss currency when it raised 100 million francs from 5.625 percent, 10-year securities.
The Swiss market is now “conducive” for raising as much as 200 million francs, Melwyn Rego, Mumbai-based executive director at IDBI, said in an interview yesterday. “We are looking at diversifying our funding sources.”
Five-year rupee funding costs for top-rated lenders were last at 9.29 percent, according to FIMMDA, the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India. Swiss financial companies’ bonds yielded 2.46 percent on average yesterday, SWX index prices show.
IDBI appointed BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG to arrange meetings with debt investors in Switzerland, a person familiar with the matter said April 8. Export-Import Bank of India sold 175 million francs of 3.5 percent bonds this month maturing in April 2016. Borrowing a similar amount in dollars would have cost the lender a 4.1 percent rate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
‘New Markets’
“Issuers like Indian banks have to look at new markets and now probably is the time,” S.S. Mundra, Mumbai-based executive director at Union Bank of India (UNBK), said in an interview yesterday. “We will certainly look at Swiss bonds again when the opportunity arises and that may happen sooner rather than later.”
The rupee has strengthened 0.5 percent this year to 44.49 per dollar as overseas funds raised their holdings of the nation’s fixed-income securities by $2.6 billion to $20.3 billion, official data show. The difference in yields between India’s government debt and U.S. Treasuries due in a decade has widened to 473 basis points from a 10-month low of 437 reached April 8.
The extra yield investors demand to hold top-rated Indian corporate bonds for five years instead of government debt has shrunk 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 122 from an 18-month high on Feb. 23, Bloomberg data show.
Bond Losses
The yield on Swiss government debt maturing in March 2016 rose six basis points this month to 1.4 percent, according to Credit Suisse. In India, the yield on the most-traded 8.08 percent bond due August 2022 advanced four basis points to 8.28 percent yesterday, the central bank’s trading system shows.
India’s bonds have lost 0.7 percent this month, the worst performance among 10 Asian local-currency debt markets outside Japan, indexes compiled by HSBC Holdings Plc show.
Five-year credit-default swaps on State Bank, which is based in Mumbai and regarded by some investors as a proxy for the sovereign, rose seven basis points this year to 168 basis points, according to CMA in New York. IDBI Bank’s five-year default swaps climbed five basis points to 170.
Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a government or company fail to adhere to its debt agreements. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
Haven Reputation
While Swiss investors are looking to diversify their holdings, Switzerland’s reputation as a haven for wealth management attracts Indian companies looking to raise funds, according to Ajay Mahajan, Mumbai-based managing director at the Indian unit of UBS AG.
“The fact the country is rich and has inflows makes a difference in terms of providing the right geography for issuers,” Mahajan said. The dollar’s weakness also has a “role to play in more funds pouring into Swiss francs.”
The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six major U.S. trading partners, is headed for its fifth consecutive monthly fall in April as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates in a record-low range of zero to 0.25 percent, prompting investors to seek higher returns in emerging assets.
The dollar traded at 1.4649 per euro last week, the weakest level since December 2009.
The U.S. economy probably grew at a 1.9 percent annual pace after increasing at a 3.1 percent rate in the previous three months, according to the median estimate of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before an April 28 Commerce Department report.
“Issuers will begin to shy away from dollar-led funding if its weakening becomes a trend they and look for issuance in other currencies as an option,” said Rajiv Kumar Bakshi, Mumbai-based executive director at Bank of Baroda. “Issuers have comfort in the fact that the spectrum of investors for emerging market issuers is widening.”
State-owned IDBI Bank Ltd. (IDBI) will meet Swiss investors next month in its bid to become the fourth Indian issuer this year to borrow in francs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Union Bank of India’s 3.375 percent franc bonds due August 2015 yield 109 basis points more than debt of similar maturities and ratings sold by Jona, Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd., the world’s second-biggest cement maker.
Borrowers in Asia’s third-biggest economy are selling bonds in Swiss francs for the first time since 1987 as the Dollar Index’s 6.5 percent plunge this year spurs a search for alternative funding. European buyers are lured by higher returns and the Indian government’s forecast for economic growth of more than 9 percent this financial year.
“Interest rates in Switzerland are lower and there is strong demand for emerging-market debt,” said Pierre Faddoul, a Singapore-based credit analyst at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc that manages $287 billion. “Companies selling bonds are looking to gain recognition in the Swiss market.”
‘Conducive’ Market
Lenders Export-Import Bank of India, State Bank of India (SBIN) and Union Bank sold 660 million francs ($750 million) of bonds this year, Bloomberg data show. IDBI last issued notes denominated in the Swiss currency when it raised 100 million francs from 5.625 percent, 10-year securities.
The Swiss market is now “conducive” for raising as much as 200 million francs, Melwyn Rego, Mumbai-based executive director at IDBI, said in an interview yesterday. “We are looking at diversifying our funding sources.”
Five-year rupee funding costs for top-rated lenders were last at 9.29 percent, according to FIMMDA, the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India. Swiss financial companies’ bonds yielded 2.46 percent on average yesterday, SWX index prices show.
IDBI appointed BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG to arrange meetings with debt investors in Switzerland, a person familiar with the matter said April 8. Export-Import Bank of India sold 175 million francs of 3.5 percent bonds this month maturing in April 2016. Borrowing a similar amount in dollars would have cost the lender a 4.1 percent rate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
‘New Markets’
“Issuers like Indian banks have to look at new markets and now probably is the time,” S.S. Mundra, Mumbai-based executive director at Union Bank of India (UNBK), said in an interview yesterday. “We will certainly look at Swiss bonds again when the opportunity arises and that may happen sooner rather than later.”
The rupee has strengthened 0.5 percent this year to 44.49 per dollar as overseas funds raised their holdings of the nation’s fixed-income securities by $2.6 billion to $20.3 billion, official data show. The difference in yields between India’s government debt and U.S. Treasuries due in a decade has widened to 473 basis points from a 10-month low of 437 reached April 8.
The extra yield investors demand to hold top-rated Indian corporate bonds for five years instead of government debt has shrunk 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 122 from an 18-month high on Feb. 23, Bloomberg data show.
Bond Losses
The yield on Swiss government debt maturing in March 2016 rose six basis points this month to 1.4 percent, according to Credit Suisse. In India, the yield on the most-traded 8.08 percent bond due August 2022 advanced four basis points to 8.28 percent yesterday, the central bank’s trading system shows.
India’s bonds have lost 0.7 percent this month, the worst performance among 10 Asian local-currency debt markets outside Japan, indexes compiled by HSBC Holdings Plc show.
Five-year credit-default swaps on State Bank, which is based in Mumbai and regarded by some investors as a proxy for the sovereign, rose seven basis points this year to 168 basis points, according to CMA in New York. IDBI Bank’s five-year default swaps climbed five basis points to 170.
Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a government or company fail to adhere to its debt agreements. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
Haven Reputation
While Swiss investors are looking to diversify their holdings, Switzerland’s reputation as a haven for wealth management attracts Indian companies looking to raise funds, according to Ajay Mahajan, Mumbai-based managing director at the Indian unit of UBS AG.
“The fact the country is rich and has inflows makes a difference in terms of providing the right geography for issuers,” Mahajan said. The dollar’s weakness also has a “role to play in more funds pouring into Swiss francs.”
The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against six major U.S. trading partners, is headed for its fifth consecutive monthly fall in April as the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates in a record-low range of zero to 0.25 percent, prompting investors to seek higher returns in emerging assets.
The dollar traded at 1.4649 per euro last week, the weakest level since December 2009.
The U.S. economy probably grew at a 1.9 percent annual pace after increasing at a 3.1 percent rate in the previous three months, according to the median estimate of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before an April 28 Commerce Department report.
“Issuers will begin to shy away from dollar-led funding if its weakening becomes a trend they and look for issuance in other currencies as an option,” said Rajiv Kumar Bakshi, Mumbai-based executive director at Bank of Baroda. “Issuers have comfort in the fact that the spectrum of investors for emerging market issuers is widening.”
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