CHINA SECURITIES REGULATOR WILL EASE IPO RULES FOR FIRMS FROM POOR AREAS

                             

SHANGHAI: Companies from western regions and five autonomous ethnic regions will be encouraged to list and receive policy support for initial public offerings, the state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday, citing comments from a regulatory official.

These companies will be eligible for expense deductions and other favorable policies when applying for IPOs, said Jiang Yang, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission at a working conference.

More capital will fund agricultural projects to support leading agricultural companies, Jiang also said.

China has recently resumed IPOs after a long freeze this summer amid turmoil in its equity markets which took benchmark indices down around 40 percent from mid June highs.

Beijing has also struggled to reduce financing costs for small and medium sized firms, many of which have trouble accessing affordable bank credit even though they are responsible for much of China's employment and growth.

INDIA’S MARUTI WINS SHAREHOLDER APPROVAL FOR GUJARAT PLANT

                             

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd , India's top carmaker, has won shareholder approval to source cars from a Gujarat plant to be built by parent Suzuki Motor Corp, its chairman said on Thursday.

Maruti received 89.8 percent of minority shareholders' votes in its favour, R.C. Bhargava said. Nearly two years ago minority shareholders had opposed the original Gujarat plant plan saying Maruti would not benefit.

The carmaker, which contributes about a third of its parent's revenue, will now invest surplus cash in boosting its local research and development centre and doubling the number of dealerships, Bhargava said.

Maruti, whose market value surpassed that of Suzuki in July, sold 1.2 million vehicles in the year to end-March.

GREECE’S JOBLESS RATE DROPS TO 24PC IN THIRD QUARTER

                               

ATHENS: Greece's jobless rate fell to 24 percent in the third quarter from 24.6 percent in the April-to-June period, data from the country's statistics service showed on Thursday.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in the first quarter of 2014, at 27.8 percent. About 73.7 percent of Greece's 1.16 million jobless are long-term unemployed, meaning they have been out of work for at least 12 months, the figures showed.

Athens has already published monthly unemployment figures through September, which differ from quarterly data because they are based on different samples. Quarterly figures are not seasonally adjusted.

The debt crisis and austerity imposed by the EU/IMF lenders in exchange for Greece's bailouts have wiped out about a quarter of the country's economic output, driving the jobless rate to record highs.

Greece's economy contracted by 0.9 percent quarterly pace in the third quarter as capital controls to shore up banks weighed down on investment, exports and consumer spending.

The 173 billion-euro economy is expected to shrink by 0.7 percent in 2016.

BANK STOCKS LIFT SAUDI AFTER RATE HIKE; SABIC UP

     

DUBAI: Bank stocks led gains on Saudi Arabia's bourse as investors bet that interest rate hikes at home and abroad would boost lending margins.

National Commercial Bank climbed 2.9 percent, Al Rajhi Bank jumped 6.4 percent and Samba Financial Group rose 2.8 percent.

Saudi banks' funding costs are perhaps the lowest globally because most depositors put their money in non-interest paying current accounts for religious reasons, said Hisham Tuffaha, head of equity investments at Riyadh-based Mulkia Investments.

Therefore, traders have bought bank stocks on expectations that interest rate rises will increase lenders' margins, he said.

The Saudi central bank has raised its reverse repurchase rate, the rate at which commercial banks deposit money with the central bank, to 0.5 percentage point.

That should limit the incentive for the banks to move money overseas in search of higher returns and came within an hour of the United States raising interest rates for the first time in nine years. The Saudi riyal is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE (SABIC) rose 2.1 percent after it proposed a cash dividend of 3 riyals per share ($0.80) for the second half of 2015. This would be the same as for the corresponding period of 2014 and comes despite a 9.3 percent drop in third-quarter profit.

"SABIC has maintained generous dividends and that's why it's popular with investors," Tuffaha said.

Some bank stocks such as SABB, Banque Saudi Fransi and Saudi Hollandi are trading at trailing price to earnings ratios of less than 8.5, Reuters data shows.

"We've not seen PE ratios this low for 7-8 years. Valuations are very attractive even with the low oil price," said Tuffaha. "We don't have listed energy companies - for most sectors where's the direct link to oil?"

He forecast Saudi's market would bottom out, pointing to a combined PE ratio of less than 13 when the historical average is 16-17.

Saudi's index rose 2.2 percent to 7,020 points, taking its gains to 5 percent since Monday's three-year low.

BlackBerry Z10 unlocked pre-orders appear online, price tag and release date not revealed

                                             

No word yet about the phone’s official price, but rumor has it that Canada’s BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion (RIMM), is taking the “premium lane” similar to the Apple iPhone 5 and few Android devices. A source from a third-party online store told us that the unlocked BlackBerry Z10 in white will arrive first this quarter sporting $700 to $800 price tag. It is worth noting that the model that will arrive online is the “unlocked” variant and not a carrier-subsidized model.

More Reading:Before its launch date, the white BB Z10 was leaked online.

In United States, major carriers will offer the BB Z10 for $199.99 with service agreement plus additional fees for taxes and data plan. Off-contract, the BlackBerry Z10 is priced $600 each. Verizon Wireless said in a press release that its BB Z10, as well as the BB Q10 (with physical keyboard), will tap its faster Long Term Evolution network or 4G LTE. Verizon also added that it will simultaneously launch the white and the black models on launch date.

With the new BB 10 mobile operating system, the BlackBerry Z10 offers a new “look and feel” and rivals the top 2  smartphone players, Android and iPhone — and threatens the anticipated growth of Windows Phone. The handset features a 4.2-inch LCD display with 1280 x 768 resolution at 356 pixels per inch, beating the display on the iPhone 5 and the Google Nexus 4. The Z10 also features an 8-megapixel back-facing camera, a front-facing video BBM video chat camera, dual-core processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB of on-board storage with micro-SD card slot for additional storage.

SWATCH WATCHES; BUILDING A PATENT ADVANTAGE

                                

Ever since other companies started to develop smart watches, Swatch Group has filed 173 patents, especially after rise in smart watch trend from 2012. However this patent building spree is completely going over the head of competitors like Apple.

Even though Apple watches are also famous, they do not reach the level of Swatch, especially after the latter started acquiring patent after patent. Through this patent buying, it can be seen that swatch CEO Nick Hayek is not willing to take any chance of losing ground to competition. According to Envision IP’s managing attorney Maulin Shah, “The Swiss company has developed and patented watch circuitry and hardware that will allow them to introduce their own branded smart watch without having to partner with telecoms and handset makers.”

On other hand analysts are critical of Swatch’s patents buying spree. “The quartz crisis is in the background of everything they do,” says Jon Cox, an analyst at brokerage Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich. “It probably leaves a bit of a scar on them, and that’s something in the back of their minds when they have technology: Patent first, ask questions later.”

However, the company and its officials have refused to comment on the patent acquisition, or the designs and ideas for which these patents have been acquired. It is as if even Swatch does not know what it will be making in future

FORD ADDS ALUMINUM-INTENSIVE TRUCK BRAND, NOVELIS A SUPPLIER

NEW YORK: Ford Motor Co plans to launch a second line of aluminum-intensive trucks and Novelis Inc will supply the high-strength aluminum, Novelis said on Tuesday.

Novelis said it expects to begin shipping product from its Oswego, New York, plant for the F-Series Super Duty truck line in spring 2016. Ford's first aluminum-body truck, the 2015 F-150, was launched in December 2014.

The trucks will go on sale late next year, a Ford spokesman said, adding that Alcoa Inc, which supplies the F-150 along with Novelis, will also be a supplier for the Super Duty trucks.

Automakers have been looking for lighter aluminum alloys to replace high-strength steel, which is far heavier.

Lighter aluminum alloys would enable them to build vehicles that burn less fuel but meet safety standards. Growing aluminum demand from car manufacturers is one of the few bright spots in a severely oversupplied market.

The Super Duty series is the first major vehicle to announce it is becoming aluminum-intensive since the F-150 announcement last year. The move may restore positive sentiment on automotive demand for aluminum after an absence of new plans for aluminum-intensive vehicles following the F-150's shift.

Novelis plans to use "what we learned from the massive success of the game-changing 2015 Ford F-150" in working on the F-Series, Novelis North America President Marco Palmieri said in a statement.

The move comes a month after Novelis raised concerns about US automotive aluminum demand, with Chief Executive Steve Fisher saying the industry was going through a "digestion period" following Ford's F-150 announcement.

He said plants were shifting capacity to automotive purposes, and away from other applications, at a slower rate than anticipated.

Novelis, owned by Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, is in the process of constructing its third automotive sheet finishing line at Oswego to supply the F-Series, which will be the second-highest volume aluminum automobile after the F-150.

The use of aluminum in the F-Series will reduce the trucks' weight by 350 pounds (159 kg), compared with a 700 pound (318 kg)-reduction for the F-150.

The news comes as exports from top-producer China have pressured London Metal Exchange (LME) prices to 6-1/2 year lows, prompting curtailments at US primary aluminum smelters.

The US Midwest premium paid on top of LME prices for physical delivery has also tumbled by two-thirds this year, though it has increased slightly and stabilized around 8.75 cents a lb on news of the smelter closures.