| Aseambankers gets aggresive
PETALING JAYA: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has long been the country's biggest commercial bank but its merchant banking and stockbroking units were not similarly ranked in their respective sectors. That has started to change. Aseambankers Malaysia Bhd, the group's investment bank, has moved up the league tables and rankings. It was among the market leaders in the issue of bonds and advisory mandates for initial public offerings (IPO) last year. Its stockbroking division became more visible in the rankings. Aseambankers was ranked ninth in market share last month, according to Bursa Malaysia's data. It was not even separately ranked among 15 brokers but mixed with small brokers under the others category in the same month last year. Aseambankers appointed Surachet Chaipatamanont as its CEO last July when he mapped new strategies, for which he hired top talent from the industry to execute. He brought in new people for equity research and the market has taken notice of us, he said.
Ask the Fool Liquid, But Not Wet
A: It often refers to a company's cash, and assets that can be quickly converted into cash (such as money market funds and investments in stocks and bonds), minus its short-term debt. Companies with high liquidity can be less risky, but they might also grow more slowly, as assets that could be put to work growing the business are instead kept readily accessible. Liquidity also refers to the stock market's ability to handle a large volume of trading without big price swings. Major investors such as mutual fund managers care about this because if they want to buy a million shares of something, they don't want their purchases to drive up the stock price sharply. Imagine Scruffy's Chicken Shack (ticker: BUKBUK). If it has five million shares outstanding at $10 a share, there's only $50 million worth that the market can buy or sell.
Analysts Initiate Fortress Investment With 'Buy' Rating
FP Trading Desk submits: After the stock skyrocketed from a starting point of US$18.50 per share on its first day of trading (Feb. 9), Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) shares dipped substantially with much of the market in March. However, the first private equity and hedge fund group to go public in the U.S. saw its shares climb US$1.71 to close at US$28.53 on Wednesday after Banc of America and Goldman Sachs initiated covered on the stock with ‘buy' ratings. Tuesday's announcement from Fortress that it declared a partial first quarter cash dividend of US$0.1225 per Class A share surely helped. While Banc of America analyst Michael Hecht has a US$35 price target on Fortress shares, Goldman's Marc Irizarry expects the shares to climb to $32.47.
Schwab Launches Three Funds Similar to Popular ETFs
THE SO-CALLED fundamental index a benchmark that weights companies according to criteria like revenues, earnings, dividends, book value and cash flow vs. just market capitalization has been one of the most controversial investment ideas of the last three years. Its critics complain the only reason it beats established benchmarks like the S&P 500 is that it benefits from a small-cap and value-stock bias, two categories that have done well recently. But supporters of the architect of the index, Research Affiliates' Rob Arnott, counter it is simply a better investment than the S&P 500, which can drag unknowing investors into every bubble that comes along. "The S&P 500 chases fads," says Arnott. There used to be only one way to invest in this index: Buy Powershares products.
Sector Snap: E-Brokers
A BMO Capital Markets analyst late Tuesday initiated coverage of Internet stock brokerages, saying they are benefiting from retail clients who want more tools for investing on their own. These "e-brokers" target mass affluent clients, or clients who are too rich to leave their money in a commercial bank but not quite rich enough to invest in a hedge fund or investment bank. BMO Capital Markets analyst Michael Vinciquerra initiated coverage of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. with an "Outperform" rating. He said TD Ameritrade is well positioned to benefit from investors' desire for help managing their own assets. Vinciquerra's price target of $23.50 is more than 50 percent higher than the stock's close at $15.31 Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Canada Stocks Rise to Record on US Jobs; Railroad Shares Jump
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's main stock index rose to a record, led by Canadian National Railway Co., as a stronger-than- expected U.S. jobs report allayed concern that demand for Canadian exports will slow. Canadian National paced gains among industrial companies, which are sensitive to the economy, after Warren Buffett's investment company increased its stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Shares of materials producers such as Teck Cominco Ltd. rose as copper prices climbed a five-month high. ``The jobs report is helping sentiment,'' said Paul Hand, managing director, equity trading, at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. Buffett ``is an astute investor, who looks for value,'' and ``copper is better, so materials are holding up.'' The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 57.31, or 0.4 percent, to 13,482.33 in Toronto.
China's Earnings Season: What to Expect in April
Blaze Fabry submits: We are bullish on Chinese stocks. It seems to us, however, that average American investors got a distaste of China after the 9 percent plunge in Shanghai on February 26 that sent global equity markets south. As a result, March was a very quiet month for us stock researchers, while this was the time stock research would have been needed the most. We will get back to this later. As the following chart reveals, despite the 9 percent one day plunge, the Shanghai Composite index in green has recovered while the Dow (red) and the Hang Seng (blue) are still below the late February levels. click to enlarge Bright corporate earnings prospects and huge amounts of money rushing into the Chinese stock exchanges, Shanghai and Shenzhen, are providing sustained growth momentum to the equities.
THE NR EYE: Indian stock markets regain NRIs’ trust
Non-resident Indians, it seems, are much wiser than their compatriots back home when it comes to investing in equity. Either that, or being cut off from the daily market grapevine puts them in the category of investors rather than speculators by default. In any case, NRIs are much better off not falling prey to the rumours and remaining steadily focused on the Indian growth story. They must be getting worried, though, each time the Indian stock indices take a plunge. And, this has not been a rare phenomenon. The last Black Monday, for example, when the Bombay Stock Exchange plummeted by 617 points, must have sent shivers down quite a few spines. The good part is, the Sensex has bounced back each time. For the speculator, such market tumbles bring gloom, but for the investor, it is something to cheer about.
|
