Friday 28 June 2013

India: coal and gas stocks get boost | beyondbrics

"On Friday, India’s cabinet approved the creation of an independent regulator for the coal industry and announced that the Coal Regulatory Authority Bill 2013 will now be put before Parliament.

So far, all as expected. So why have shares in Coal India jumped over 7 per cent?

The proposed regulatory body would set out the methodologies to be used in setting prices, rather than determining them directly. And its other responsibilities would include testing the quality of coal, as well as settling disputes in the industry. But it’s not revolutionary: the new body will still leave price setting powers with Coal India. And in any case, purchasers usually test the quality of the coal they are buying."

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ENERGY - BP confirms TAP to carry Azeri gas to Europe via Greece, Albania, Italy

"BP said on Friday that natural gas from Azerbaijan's vast Shah Deniz II field will flow to Europe via Greece, Albania, Italy route confirming defeat for the Nabucco West project which had proposed a pipeline to Austria.

First envisioned more than a decade ago, the project reflects a European Union push for alternatives to Russian gas imports and is expected to start flowing in 2019.

"Azerbaijan's first gas to Europe will be exported via the TAP pipeline," said Gordon Birrell, BP regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey."

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Sony says Dubai dealers sold Iran $12.8 million in equipment | Reuters

"Sony Corp said some dealers in Dubai resold about $12.8 million worth of its video equipment and medical instruments to Iranian ministries, in a move that could possibly attract U.S. penalties.

The dealers resold some equipment to Iran's broadcasting unit and health ministry, and some also planned to sell equipment to the information technology department of the country's police, the firm said in a filing with the U.S. regulator.

"If the relevant authorities were to impose penalties or sanctions against Sony, the impact of such sanctions could be material," the company said in Thursday's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission."

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A Gauge of Investor Fear in India Goes Largely Unnoticed - MoneyBeat - WSJ

"An index that measures investor fear in India’s stock markets recently hit its highest level in nearly a year, but hardly anyone noticed. That may change if the National Stock Exchange of India receives approval to launch trading products linked to the index.

India’s VIX, modeled after CBOE’s Volatility Index, rises when stocks fall, and vice versa. The CBOE VIX is widely followed by those trying to track market sentiment, and is used as a counter-intuitive indicator of market turning points at extreme levels.

In India, few people even know what the VIX is."

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Dubai gold premium surges as airlines can’t cope with huge demand « ArabianMoney

"The restrictions on freight capacity in airlines serving Dubai, one of the world’s key gold trading centres is forcing the premium on the physical metal to record levels due to a surge in demand for the physical metal now that the paper futures price has fallen so low.

The National newspaper today quotes the MD of Kaloti Gold in Dubai, Tarek El Mdaka as saying that he cannot find a place for transporting gold on Emirates, BA and Swiss this weekend. He is bringing between 1.5 and two tonnes of gold into the city every day, and it is going straight back out to overseas buyers."

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Murdoch, Abu Dhabi group eye Financial Times - Yahoo!7 Finance Australia

"Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Abu Dhabi's state media group are in talks to acquire the Financial Times Group for about $1.2 billion, a report said Friday.
The move would see Murdoch add the respected Financial Times name as well as 50 percent of the Economist magazine to his vast empire, which already includes the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
The Edge Review, a regional political and business digital magazine based in Malaysia, said the talks had been progressing for more than a month with the owners -- London-based publishing and education giant Pearson."

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Myanmar telco auction: the good and the bad | beyondbrics

"The decision by Myanmar’s government to award two fiercely contested national mobile communications licenses to Qatar’s Ooredoo and Norway’s Telenor Mobile Communications on Thursday raised as many questions as answers among Yangon-based analysts – not least due to an eleventh-hour effort by the country’s parliament to block news of the winning bids.

At the same time, conclusion of the contest reassured a growing number of investors eyeing Myanmar that the country is capable of conducting a transparent, fair and efficient public tender.

Under decades of harsh and secretive military rule, Myanmar was known for corruption and opacity in its business dealings. The telecoms contest – the first large public tender outside the natural resources sector to include foreign companies – was widely praised by consultants and participating companies, including Sunil Bharti Mittal, head of India’s Bharti Airtel, as “world class”."

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India’s smartphone surge: look out for the local brands | beyondbrics

"India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s third largest market for smartphones, joining China and the US on the podium.

In some ways, it’s unsurprising. With a population of over a billion people India is bound eventually to be among the largest markets for pretty much anything. What is interesting is how Indians are using their phones – and the local handset makers that are seeing lightning fast growth.

The Indian market is growing rapidly with sales up 164 per cent year-on-year to 10m between January and March, according to the consultancy, Strategy Analytics. Compare that with growth of 86 per cent in China, 24 per cent in Japan and 19 per cent in the US, and a global average of 39 per cent in the same period."

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Saudi America Will Overtake Saudi Arabia As The World's Top Oil Producer Within A Decade - SFGate

"There's still some debate about whether America's shale oil boom is  merely an overnight sensation or a true-blue gamechanger — we've featured both sides here.

In a new study published by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, former oil company executive Leonardo Maugeri predicts that for America's three largest shale oil plays — the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin in Texas — the boom should last at least another decade.

He arrives at that estimate by calculating current well densities — how many wells there are in a given acre of shale play — and improving rig efficiencies, the result of improved drilling times and lower-cost drilling methods. Plus, he writes, new infrastructure coming online will make it cheaper to invest in these plays:"

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