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Daily Forex Forecast 23/03/2011

The Australian Dollar was supported yesterday by firmer commodity prices and a return to risk after last week's co-ordinated G7 intervention to curtail the surging Japanese Yen.

Focus On Post-Fukushima Recovery For Uranium

By Gavin Wendt, Founding Director & Senior Resource Analyst MineLife Pty LtdThe reactions of financial markets around the world to the horrific events that have taken place in Japan have been reasonable and entirely predictable. Markets that were already nervous from the ongoing political unrest in MENA, ongoing European debt woes, rising oil prices and fears of an outbreak of inflation, have used...

The Overnight Report: Take A Breather

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 17 points last night or 0.2% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1293 and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%.After several sessions featuring large moves, first to the downside and then to the up, Wall Street decided to take a break last night. There was news to digest but nothing much to change the current situation. Volume was anaemic.In Japan, power has now been restored to all six reactors a...
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Upswing in dwelling starts falters

National dwelling commencements fell again in the December quarter, reinforcing the urgent need for governments to address supply side policy failures, according to Master Builders Australia, the peak building and construction industry association.

Facebook ensures child-friendly environment for young users

Facebook has been deleting the accounts of its underage users, at a rate of up to 20,000 globally being wiped out each day, which the social media company said is only one of its numerous ways of policing its 630-million strong followers worldwide.

Astra Investimentos Launches Astra Agro Fund to Invest in Brazilian Agribusiness sector

Andrew Jenner CEO of Astra Investimentos, announced today the launch of the Astra Agro Fund L.P. The fund has signed a strategic advisory agreement with Rabobank Brasil and will invest primarily in privately held agribusiness companies in Brazil. [Jenner] says recent global and local trends in food staples make the commodity-rich country a compelling investment opportunity.

AMP to issue $6m notes for AXA takeover

Wealth manager Australian fund manager AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) said a unit has launched a A$600 million floating rate subordinated exchangeable note to partially fund its takeover of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd's Australia and New Zealand businesses.

BC Iron to force Regent to proceed with $345 million offer

Iron ore junior BC Iron Ltd (ASX: BCI) has asked the Takeovers Panel to challenge the validity of Regent Pacific Ltd’s purported termination of the Scheme Implementation Agreement (SIA) between the companies as announced on Tuesday 15 March 2011.

China Tightens Further

- Beijing increases its reserve ratio for the ninth time in 12 months- Another rate hike already priced in- Economists at odds over the ongoing pace of tightening measuresBy Greg PeelLast Friday the People's Bank of China announced yet another increase to the reserve requirement ratio for depository institutions, this time by 50 basis points. That's the third RRR hike this year and the ninth in tw...

Uranium Tanks But Support Found

By Greg PeelI updated the uranium spot price situation late last week in the wake of the nuclear reactor crisis which had seen uranium producer stocks taken to the cleaners. ("Uranium Update")At that point the immediate response in consultant UxC's indicative price had been a 10% price fall to US$60/lb, but after a week of trading fellow consultant TradeTech has dropped its previous indicative pri...

Sprint Mobile integrates Google Voice

Google has announced a partnership agreement with Sprint Mobile to integrate Google Voice into the mobile phone's applications. In a press statement, Google said the firm has been working to bring an integrated Google Voice experience to your mobile device by building mobile apps, introducing Google Voice Lite, and most recently Number Porting.

Daily Forex Forecast 22/03/2011

The Australian Dollar (1.0050) moved slowly and steadily upwards in Asian trade yesterday as commodities in general started the week on a firmer foot and news out of Japan confirmed that 2 out of the 6 reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant were under control.

Australian Stock Market Report - Morning 22/03/2011

US existing home sales fell by 9.6pct in February to an annual rate of 4.88 million - a near nine year low and more than double the fall analysts had expected. The supply of homes available for sale rose to 8.6 months.

The Overnight Report: The Upside Of War

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 178 points or 1.5% while the S&P gained 1.5% to 1298 and the Nasdaq added 1.8%. The Dow reclaimed the 12,000 mark, closing at 12,036.Wall Street has always loved a good war. Typically stocks fall on the threat of war and rebound strongly when pictures of the first plumes of smoke are broadcast. Speaking in Chile this morning, President Obama declared that he expected the e...

Australia: Fitch Optimistic On Australia's Energy

It wasn't surprising that the Australian dollar regained parity with the greenback yesterday afternoon, as reports from Japan on the continuing nuclear power station crisis improved.The dollar rose from 99.59 USc at the close in New York early Saturday to around $US1.1019 yesterday in local trading.All the doom and gloom reports in the media and from some analysts disappeared as well as the c...

Talbot's Sundance estate sold to China's Hanlong

Sundance Resources Ltd (ASX: SDL) says all of Ken Talbot's shares in the iron ore explorer have been transferred to Hanlong Mining, making the Chinese company Sundance's largest shareholder.

Upgrades For Australian Banks

- Analyst bank target prices unchanged despite global disruptions- Several ratings upgrades in the past week- ANZ's Asia strategy sets it aside from the packBy Greg PeelI lasted updated the Australian banking sector a month ago just after all the interim and quarterly results were in. At that point analysts felt the results had been reasonable without being spectacular, and market prices were now ...

Australian Dollar Outlook 21/03/2011

The Australian dollar has opened firmly in the mid 0.9900’s this morning after one of the wildest weeks in the currency markets since the GFC in late 2008.

If It Bleeds It Leads

- The threat of a Japanese nuclear disaster is much less than perceived by media and financial markets- The newest generation of nuclear power plants represents even less risks By Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the HerdAs a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationWhat is happening in Japan is a humanitarian disaster, but not because of what primetime pu...

REPEAT Rudi's View: Looking Forward

(This story was originally published on Wednesday, 16 March 2011. It has now been re-published to make it available to non-paying members at FNArena and readers elsewhere).- February revealed an extreme gap in earnings growth between "winners" and "losers"- This gap is expected to narrow, if not close over the next 18 months- This prospect is not priced in share prices for most industrial stocksBy...

Daily Forex Forecast 21/03/2011

The Australian Dollar has bounced dramatically off 3-month lows against the greenback around the 0.9780 area and opens the new week at 0.9950.

Australian Stock Market Report - Morning 21/03/2011

The Group of Seven nations intervened in currency markets on Friday to reduce the value of the Japanese yen - the first co-ordinated intervention since 2000. A strong yen would hamper economic recovery in Japan.

FNArena Surveys Investor Sentiment

From now onwards, FNArena will survey investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a similarly leading gauge as the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US. You are hereby invited to participate by expressing your personal view on the share market. The survey takes up a few minutes only. As we do this in coordination with the Australian Investors Association (AIA) we ask m...

DIARY: Japan, Libya, US GDP, Australian Stability

Japan, the situation in Libya and other states in the Middle East, the NSW election and a moderate flow of economic data here, in the US and Europe will dominate this week.Hopefully events this week will be better for Japan and global markets.Friday night's intervention to boost the value of the yen by the Group of Seven major economies will help settle last week's volatility.The situati...

Qantas settles New Zealand freight cartel

Australian national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) had reached a settlement with the New Zealand Commerce Commission in relation to price fixing conduct within its freight division between 2000 and 2006.

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