Dow Jones Indexes launches indexes for Asia, Europe


“A 30-stock index is not necessarily ideal as a benchmark for asset managers but it does lend itself well to investible products such as ETFs, for which there is a lot of demand from mutual funds and other investors,” said John Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes. “We see the index as a shorthand expression of the regional market.”Seven of the component stocks on the Asia Dow are based in Japan, the most of any nation in the index followed by Australia, China and Hong Kong with four each.Toyota Motor Corp , and the Hong Kong listings of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd and HSBC Holdings Plc are some of the large Asian blue-chips included in the Asian index.The Asia Dow takes a slightly different approach from others in that Japan and Australia are also included in a Pan-Asian index.Traditionally, the regional investment landscape has been split into Japan and Asia excluding Japan, partly because of the developed nature and larger size and depth of the Japanese equity market compared with the rest of Asia.”We are sensitive to Japan’s size, but I think there is a countervailing trend here of looking at the region as a single equity market which would include Japan,” said Prestbo.Southeast Asia also finds representation in the Asia Dow with one company each from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, namely Astra International , CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd .

US FDA advisers skeptical on Teva Parkinson’s drug


Azilect, generically known as rasagiline and already approved as a Parkinson’s therapy, is the first drug to seek FDA’s approval as a medicine that affects the course of the neurogenetic disorder instead of merely masking its symptoms.

No G20 progress seen on stronger Chinese yuan-G20 source


Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 biggest developing and developed economies (G20) meet in Paris on Friday and Saturday to discuss, among other things, ways to rebalance growth between the world’s economic powers.China’s control over the exchange rate of its currency is seen by many G20 countries as one of the key reasons for global trade and savings imbalances.The United States and Europe have long called for Beijing to free the yuan, which China says it would do, but only over the medium term, without giving any dates.The European Union wanted China to agree to a road map of making the yuan fully convertible in a bid to elicit some commitment to dates, but the efforts failed.”No, they were pretty firm on that — there will be no progress,” one G20 official said of talks with China.”They say their contribution to global growth in the short-term will be to ensure that growth in China does not slow down, even if they face the risk of inflation, through expansionary fiscal policy,” the official said.”They always say that over the medium term they will make their currency fully convertible and free the exchange rate, but there will not be anything now,” the official said.Another G20 source said after preparatory talks late on Thursday that China would commit in Paris to boost its consumption through a five-year plan, via households and companies as well as infrastructure.China and the United States sparred this week over a U.S. Senate bill to press Beijing to raise the yuan’s value.China’s trade surplus narrowed for a second straight month in September, to $14.5 billion, with both imports and exports lower than expected, reflecting global economic weakness and domestic demand cooling.Meanwhile, data released in Washington gave new ammunition to U.S. lawmakers pressing for legislation to crack down on Chinese currency practices that they blame for millions of lost American jobs.The U.S. Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit with China rose to a record $29.0 billion in August as imports grew 6.4 percent to $37.4 billion. The trade gap with China totaled $189.3 billion through the first eight months of the year, on pace to surpass last year’s record of $273 billion.

PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Oct 11


European Union leaders have given themselves a deadline of two weeks to agree a comprehensive deal to tackle the euro zone debt crisis, a grand bargain senior European officials said would include a final decision on Greece’s bailout and a new strategy to recapitalise Europe’s banking sector.REGULATORS STAND UP FOR NEW CAPITAL RULESGlobal regulators insist the economic cost of implementing tough new rules on bank capital requirements will have only a tiny effect on global growth, with their latest estimate putting the impact at barely a tenth of the industry’s own projection.DUTCH FAVOUR TOUGH STANCE FOR EURO ZONEThe Netherlands’ popular and plain-speaking finance minister is insisting on harsh enforcement measures against countries that violate euro zone budget agreements as the price of any major new agreement to save the euro.STANDARD CHARTERED BANKER ATTACKS WESTERN REGULATORSOne of Standard Chartered’s most senior executives has sharply criticised western regulators for using the wrong mechanisms to deal with the financial crisis, granting free rein to Asian markets where there has been a bias towards growth-focused regulation.CALL FOR NEWS CORP VOTE AGAINST MURDOCHSNews Corp faced intensifying pressure for corporate governance changes on Monday as the biggest investor advisory group in the U.S. recommended shareholders vote against the re-election of 13 of the media company’s 15 directors, including Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive.UK DIVIDENDS SET TO RISE BY 12 PERCENTDividend payments from UK’s largest 200 companies by market value are set to rise by more than 12 percent this year and next, according to new research by Shore Capital stockbrokers.BEIJING INTERVENES TO HELP STABILISE BANKSThe Chinese government will boost its stakes in the country’s largest banks, as it attempts to shore up slumping financial stocks and to restore investor confidence.CHINESE STEEL CHIEF TO LEAD GLOBAL BODYThe head of one of China’s biggest steel companies will this week become chairman of the World Steel Association, in one of the first incidences of a Chinese manager taking the helm of a big global industry body.