Is anyone trading Asian Equities? Or following Asian Markets? Hong Kong?

I was wondering if anyone has news in the Asia
reason. HK seems to be inversely performance to the major indexes in
asia and even when the US has been rallying I've noticed that HK was
still down. Opinions? Insight?

Wynn Resorts anyone!? HK doesn't have any casinos at all! I hear this will be bad "morally" for HK according to some locals. However, this definitely will probably have positive slippery slope effects into the HK economy.

Im sure macau won't be too happy about this. Certainly competition in the casino industry in HK has much more potential now with a huge major competitor competing alone in HK. Perhaps macau may loose its competative advantage; unless policy makers or locals protest against this.

-snapman

Asian Leaders Focus on Freer Trade

By THOMAS FULLER

Published: October 25, 2009

CHA-AM, Thailand — After a year of uncertain
economic prospects, Asia’s leaders expressed cautious optimism at a
weekend meeting here as they returned to the business of increasing
trade within the region, lowering tariffs and discussing plans for a
wider Asian free-trade zone. “Recovery has taken hold in
Asia,” Kasit Piromya, the Thai foreign minister, said Saturday in a
news conference summarizing the findings of a summit of the 10 leaders
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, as well as China, Japan and South Korea.The gathering at this beachside town south of Bangkok also included
meetings with leaders from Australia, India and New Zealand on Sunday.
Leaders focused in large part on the nuts and bolts of expanding trade,
especially one of the crucial impediments to regional commerce: the
lack of good transportation in the less-developed parts of the region.The
gathering appeared to serve as a coda to the economic crisis in Asia,
during which many trade-dependent Asian economies suffered sharp
contractions. Asia now appears to be bouncing back rapidly, especially
when compared with the United States and Europe. “There’s
greater self-confidence,” said Rodolfo C. Severino, head of the Asean
Studies Center and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in
Singapore. “The financial systems have weathered the crisis quite well
because their conservatism shielded them.”The Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva,
said a major concern raised by leaders Sunday was finding new avenues
for economic growth that were not dependent on the markets of the
United States and Europe. “The old growth model where, simply put, we
have still to rely on consumption in the West for goods and services
produced here, we feel will no longer serve us,” he said. A
statement issued after the final meetings Sunday said the leaders were
“encouraged that the global economy had shown signs of recovery” but
urged governments to remain vigilant. Leaders discussed many other issues here, including climate change
and the formation of a human rights commission in Southeast Asia. But
there were also reminders of the tensions accompanying Asia’s economic
rise, especially jockeying by Japan and China for the top leadership
role in the region. The Japanese and Chinese governments have
competing proposals to finance infrastructure projects in Southeast
Asia, and the two nations appeared to disagree at the meeting about the
future of an East Asian free-trade zone. The Japanese delegation
stressed the importance of the involvement of the United States,
perhaps in part to appease concerns in Washington over possible shifts
in Tokyo toward a more Asia-centered Japanese foreign policy. “Japan places the U.S.-Japan alliance at the foundation of its diplomacy,” Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister, told the leaders at the summit meeting, according to a Japanese government spokesman.There are several proposals for a future East Asian free-trade zone —
the Japanese version is called the East Asian Community — but all are
vague, and leaders say they are a long way from reality.The proposals are often compared to a European Union-style
single market, but analysts say a pan-Asian economic bloc would be
unlikely to have open borders, free movement of labor and common
security policies. China did not publicly offer its vision of an
East Asian community, but a statement issued after a meeting of what is
known as Asean plus three — the leaders of Asean, China, Japan and
South Korea — said those 13 countries would form the “main vehicle
toward the long-term goal of building an East Asian Community.” That
would seem to exclude a role for the United States.Asean leaders said they “commended” and supported China’s efforts to expand the use of its currency, the renminbi, instead of the dollar
in some regional trade transactions. And the leaders said they
“welcomed” China’s initiatives to build roads in south-central Myanmar
and western Cambodia and its financing of a bridge over the Mekong
River between Laos and the Thai town of Chiang Khong.China told
Asean leaders that they were eligible for a $15 billion Southeast Asian
infrastructure loan program sponsored by the Chinese government.During
the summit meeting, Mr. Abhisit was asked if Southeast Asian countries
risked being caught between competing superpowers. “I see it as Asean
providing balance,” he said. The leaders said they were “well on
track” for the Asean free-trade area by January. The agreement, long in
the making, eliminates tariffs for 87 percent of imports within Asean
countries.Asean’s 10 member countries are Brunei, Cambodia,
Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.

Last Thursday, the world learned China achieved 8.9% in Q3 based on
year over year, while for the first three quarters the nation achieved
7.7% GDP growth year over year. Having said that, China needs to
achieve at least 8.9% in Q4 to reach their average 8% growth for 2009,
which means the massive stimulus policy needs to stay for Q4 at least.
It was reflected recently in a speech by Premier Wen Jiabao. Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to continue his government's aggressive
stimulus efforts on the World Economic Forum meeting
in China last month. The Chinese leaders know that stimulus needs to
stay well into 2010 to sustain the growth before the economy can grow
itself.

China's $700B stimulus was largely spent on building
infrastructure, such as the high speed railway across the nation. As a
result, steel demand, hence the metal coal from overseas are sky
rocketing. Both Peabody Energy (BTU) and Alpha Natural Resource (ANR)
are seeing strong demand from China. The metallurgical coal demand is
growing as China uses it to produce steel domestically. China is not
importing steel from overseas, which is reflected in the weak demand in
international steel names, such as US Steel (X), Nucor (NUE) and ArcelorMittal (MT).
Building the high speed railway and other infrastructure will keep the
demand of raw materials such as metallurgical coal growing in the next
5 years.

China is also spending aggressively on renewable
energy. The nation sees the industry as an opportunity to surpass
western nations in the 21st century. So far 270GW from solar, wind and
nuclear power is planned to reach China before 2020. Many Chinese
companies in the space have seen domestic demand picking up, such as GE
(GE), Yingli Green (YGE), Solarfun Power (SOLF), Suntech Power (STP), JA Solar (JASO) and Best Solar. As a result, Chinese solar names will out perform US names such as Sunpower (SPWRA) and First Solar (FSLR).

Banks finance offshore
drilling

(24-10-2009)

An oil rig off the coast of the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau. — VNA/VNS Photo Ha Thai

HA NOI — Three Vietnamese banks will jointly provide a loan of
up to US$51 million to the PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation
(PVEP) to exploit oil and gas in the Ca Ngu Vang (Gold Tuna) oilfield.

Under a credit agreement signed in Ha Noi on Thursday with the
Viet Nam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB), Asia Commercial Joint
Stock Bank (ACB) and the Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), the
PVEP would use the five-year loan to pay for the development and exploitation of
oil and gas at the oilfield, located southeast of Viet Nam’s continental shelf.

VIB was the largest provider with $18.62 million or 36.42 per
cent of the total credit.

Addressing the signing ceremony, VIB General Director An Thanh
Son said that co-operation with the PVEP was a basis for his bank to further
develop ties with PetroVietnam (PVN) as well as with other PVN member firms, and
it was an affirmation of the bank’s policy of supporting business.

The Ca Ngu Vang oilfield in the Cuu Long Basin, offshore Viet
Nam, was prospected in October 2002. A plan for the oilfield was approved in
late 2006 with the participation of the PVEP, Soco Viet Nam Ltd of the UK, the
PTTEP Hoan Vu Co Ltd of Thailand and the Hoan Vu Joint-venture Company.

Exploitation of the field began in July last year with a daily
output of between 10,000 and 20,000 barrels of oil and 25-50 million cu.m of
natural gas.

"To meet the demand for loans for the PVN and the economy in
general, VIB completed procedures to increase its charter capital from VND2.2
trillion to VND2.4 trillion for the second time of the year," Son said.

The bank would issue 20 million shares for the charter capital
increase with a total face-value of VND200 billion, he said. — VNS