Komfie Manalo

An opposition lawmaker has proposed a ban on burka or full-face Islamic veil after a man carried out an armed robbery using the burka to hide his identity.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Friday raised its economic and inflation forecasts and added the current mining boom would lift the local economy, raising prospects of a new round of rate hikes.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday announced a change to U.S. index. The agency said that Tibco Software Inc. would replace Brink's Home Security Holdings Inc. in the S&P MidCap 400 index after the close of trading on Friday, May 14. Brink's Home Security Holdings is being acquired by Tyco International Ltd. in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date, pending final approvals.

Kraft Foods Inc. reported strong first quarter 2010 results bouyed by good operating momentum in every geography. Volume/mix improved sequentially from the fourth quarter 2009 and contributed significantly to income growth and margin expansion for Kraft Foods' base business.

The seasonal Christmas break in South Africa is being blamed for the decline in gold production and reduced earnings for the first quarter of 2010. Records from Gold Fields Ltd. showed that net earning as at end March 31, 2010 slid to US$44 million compared with US$187 million and US$140 million for the December 2009 and March 2009 quarters respectively.

U.S. real estate giant Simon Property Group (SPG) is proposing what is described as its "best and final offer," $6.5 billion or $20.00 per share to acquire General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP) in a fully financed deal.

A survey made by NERA Economic Consulting firm has shows that the number of securities class action filings in Australia reached record high in 2009 and broke the previous record set in 2008. At least six securities class actions were filed in 2009, which brings the total for 2007-2009 to 14 - exactly half of total number of filings since the first securities class action case was filed in Australia in the early 1990s.

Research and Markets, the world's largest market research resource provider, has released its latest report entitled: "Australia - Digital Entertainment and Media Market," which provides a comprehensive look into the country's digital entertainment and media market.

International derivatives exchange Eurex on Friday announced it would list three new options beginning 17 based on the Deutsche Bank ETFs db x-trackers MSCI Emerging Markets TRN, MSCI World TRN and MSCI Europe TRN. Additional ETF options are expected to be listed at Eurex later this year.

CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivative marketplace, on Friday defended Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and that its activities in the CME Group's stock index futures markets does not appear to be unusual.

Data provider EPFR Global said that the worries caused by the prevailing Greece financial problems would carry over until May, which have already damaged balance sheets, stunted Europe's growth prospect and the ability of riskier sovereign borrowers to tap credit markets.

The Australian Equity markets continue to range trade between 4,500 and 5,000, although the rise of 5.13% in the ASX200 in March only just managed to claw back losses in January to be up 0.10% YTD. As a result, with April's decline of -1.4%, and following the sharp falls in May MTD, the market is basically back to levels last seen in September 2009.

The prevailing volatility in FX markets poses a threat to traded life policies (TLPs), warned Jeremy Leach, managing director of Managing Partners Limited MPL. Speaking before an industry conference in London, he advised funds that invest in TLPs to use a mixture of currency hedging strategies to deal with the problem.

After the very strong and correlated returns of March, sovereign debt issues in "emerging" Europe saw the market jittery but displayed an underlying resilience. Most indices ended flat, with resources hardest hit (but at -1.6% that is essentially flat for such a volatile index), said Peregrine Prime, a South Africa based hedge funds manager.

Global investment manager GLG Partners, Inc. has reported a GAAP net loss of $60.8 million or $0.37 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2010. However, the company's assets under management grew 6.7 percent to $23.7 billion compared with the last quarter of 2009. Net inflows in the first quarter of this year totaled $954 million and $1.3 billion of performance gains.

The Asia growth story is attracting global hedge funds to expand operations or move into the region. This current trend is not lost to U.S. investment management technology provider Advent Software which announced the opening of its 3rd office in the region, in Singapore, to cater to clients across Asia and significantly strengthen its presence in the fast-growing market there.

Australian banking giant Westpac on Wednesday released its net income for the six months up to March 31, 2010 which showed net profits reaching A$2.88 billion dollar (US$2.62 billion). In a statement, the bank attributed better economic conditions and smaller losses from bad debts as the primary sources of the gains.

Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings said that a study of 308 U.S. companies showed that capital expenditures would rise by an average of 3.1% this year as against 2009, reflecting a stabilizing economic conditions.

The controversial new 40 percent tax on so-called "super profits" of the country's mining sector again drew flak from Australia's main conservative Liberal-National opposition party which vowed to block passage of the proposed measure.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Wednesday dismissed speculations the ongoing Greek crisis may hit Asia and said Asia's government-issued bonds appear to post positive growth from low debt levels and developing economies. It said Asia would perform better compared with its Western counterparts which are weakened by the debt default crisis in Greece.

An Australian biotechnology company is claiming to have isolated a natural extract from seaweed which has been shown to inhibit the H1N1 virus. The breakthrough offers new home for the containment of influenza outbreaks.

Small- and medium-based (SMB) companies are utilizing social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, blogs, YouTube, Twitter and others, for their business operations. IT marketers have discovered the power of these social media to generate sales, a report said.

Asian hedge funds posted its first outflow in the first quarter of this year after two consecutive quarters of net capital inflows as the industry was hit with at least $700 million in redemptions as at end March 31, data provider Hedge Funds Research Inc., said.

Singapore-based consultancy firm GFIA Pte Ltd., released its latest research paper on the trend of Asian hedge fund launches, including a review of the different strategies utilized by asset managers in the past several years.

OcanaGold Corp., and Australian and New Zealand listed own for operating New Zealand's largest gold mine - and operator of the largest diamond mine in New Zealand, said that results from drilling at its Frasers Underground mine in the Macraes Goldfield in Otago identified extensions to the area of gold mineralisation.

The prevailing controversy over U.S. investment banking giant Goldman Sachs dragged the Australian on a low start when the markets opened Monday as demand for growth assets fell.

The government's plan to impose a 40 percent tax on above-normal mining profits got an ally from union members who criticized what they described as "disgraceful scare campaign" that the new levy would translate to job losses in the industry.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Cream arrived in India on Sunday for a weeklong visit aimed at strengthening the Aussie-India trade and economic partnership. Crean said he hopes to raise the level of relationship between Canberra and New Delhi to a new level.

Journalists from across the globe are celebrating World Press Freedom Day Monday. To commemorate the event, the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) had called on governments worldwide to remove the barriers to the free flow of information.