Precious Metals Prices

Price of Gold Futures        3months        US$   1,334.74

Price of Silver Futures       3months        US$       21.28

Strategic cooperation between Singapore's Hyflux and China's Sichuan Province

Singapore's leading water treatment firm Hyflux said Monday that it has inked an exclusive strategic cooperation framework agreement for an eco project in China's Sichuan Province.

The project, named Hejiang Fobao Yulanshan Mountain Wetlands project, is planned "to be a world-class ecological and environmentally friendly development consisting of residential, commercial, recreational and tourism developments."

Hyflux, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hyflux Management and Consultancy Pte Ltd signed the agreement with Hejiang County People's Government and Sichuan Hengxin Weiye Investment Co., Ltd.

The Hyflux said during the six-month validity period of the agreement, it will conduct feasibility studies with Hengxin Weiye Investment. The two companies will also work with local government of Hejiang County "on the features and other details of the project, including the design and development of sustainable water infrastructure and other environment related facilities."

Abe to revise Japanese pacifist Constitution

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that to revise the country's war-renouncing constitution is a historic duty of him, local media reported.

The prime minister made the remarks in a speech at Nagato city in Yamaguchi prefecture. He said he would achieve the goal in order to make Japanese children be proud of their country through educational reform, reported Japan's broadcaster NHK.

Japan revised several versions of history textbooks, whitewashing its war crimes in the World War II. The move has drawn strong opposition from neighboring countries that suffered Japan's aggression during the war.

Japan's current constitution, also known as the pacifist constitution, renounced the country's rights to announce war against other countries.

However, Japanese rightwing politicians called for revising the constitution and upgrading the country's Self-Defense Forces to a full national army, triggering international concerns over the issue.

Globalization in trade and integration of capital Markets and its repercussions in inflation and asset prices

"Many economists argue that monetary policy should aim at stabilizing inflation as traditionally measured, for example, by consumer price developments. However, there is a good deal of evidence that overheating can manifest itself even under conditions of price stability as conventionally defined and that it may show up in balance sheets, in asset prices, or in the form of financial fragilities. I also believe that there is a basis at least for the hypothesis that the forces of globalization in both goods markets and financial markets are contributing to dampen pressures on goods and services prices while at the same time increasing the risk that potential inflationary pressures show up in asset markets instead. This is consistent with the view of some economists that the risk of asset market bubbles may be greater at low rates of inflation in goods and services prices. The question then arises whether the focus of monetary policy should be expanded to help stabilize asset markets. 
Let me stress immediately that I share the concern of those who argue that monetary policy should not attempt to target asset prices. However, this does not imply that monetary policy should not pay attention to the consequences of asset price developments.
These issues have become more pressing in light of the integration of capital markets which may be contributing to cyclical divergences across countries.
  At the same time, global competitive forces help to keep goods prices inflation relatively low in countries with strong economic expansions. The tendency for the capital inflows to lead to exchange rate appreciation is also a factor that is helping to keep our traditional measures of inflation in check, thereby muting or delaying the signals of inflationary pressures that we are accustomed to monitor. As a result, there is a risk that we may continue to experience macroeconomic instability with boom and bust cycles as seen in the past, even in the absence of strong inflation signals from our traditional indicators. To reduce this risk, I believe that monetary authorities need to pay more attention to asset markets and to unsustainable balance sheet developments. The implication is that interest rates will probably still need to vary a great deal over the business cycle even if inflation is relatively low".

Flemming Larsen, the deputy director of research at the IMF

Speech at the Conference, June 11th 1999

Global Economic and Financial Developments in the 1990s and Implications for Monetary Policy. 

Mexico's PRI party agrees with reform in energy legislation

Mexico should not be fearful of change when it comes to reforming the country’s aging energy sector, said Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Parliamentary Coordinator Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera on Sunday.

 “We want a transformational reform that creates jobs and social wellbeing and reduces energy prices,” Beltrones said. Beltrones made his comments the same day President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that he will present his proposals for energy reform on Monday.

 Peña Nieto had previously been scheduled to present the bill last week but he delayed it at the last minute. Peña Nieto is expected to propose introducing foreign capital into what is currently a state-run hydrocarbon industry — a move that has sparked divisions between those who see it as the fastest way to modernizing the sector’s ailing industry and those who feel it would compromise Mexico’s patronage of its natural resources, currently protected by the Constitution.

 “The great majority of Mexicans have the plain conviction that governance of denial and simplification has produced stagnation, isolation and frustration,” Beltrones said. Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) Parliamentary Vicecoordinator Miguel Alonso Raya said Mexico must not give in to pressure for the country to give up its reserves.

 “We shouldn’t give in to pressures to relinquish our hydrocarbon reserves, or to those who want to modify the constitution and who look to appropriate part of the earnings of our reserves through concessions,” Alonso Raya said.

Source: The News Mexico

China unveils financial support for small businesses

China's cabinet on Monday unveiled details of financial support for the cash-strapped small businesses which play a key role in growth and employment.

Credit growth to small enterprises should not be lower than total credit growth. The incremental amount should not be less than that recorded a year earlier, read a statement by the State Council.

Village banks, credit companies and other small financial institutions are encouraged to set up branches in areas where small businesses are concentrated.

Private banks, financial leasing companies and consumer financial companies are also encouraged to set up in those areas.

"Private capital should have easy access to the finance industry. Small financial institutions can provide effective services and promote fair competition," the statement noted.

With the economy slowing for several quarters, the government is looking to small businesses to stabilize growth and employment.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 99 percent of companies registered in China are small or medium enterprises. They provide up to 80 percent of urban jobs and 60 percent of economic output.

Source Xinhua

Housing investment in Beijing -8.8% YoY

Housing investment in Beijing fell 8.8 percent year on year to 74 billion yuan (12 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-July period, as home price caps dented investment, data released Monday showed.

During the period, total property investment rose at a year-on-year rate of 1.2 percent, which indicated a slowing growth, to 164.4 billion yuan, the municipal bureau of statistics said in a statement.

Zhang Dawei, director of Centaline Property's research center, said property developers couldn't get satisfactory presale prices when applying for presale permits due to housing price caps that were implemented in March, thus affecting sales and investment.

At the end of July, 64.4 million square meters of residential housing was under construction, down 3.3 percent from a year earlier.

Property sales climbed 20.8 percent year on year to 9.9 million square meters in the seven months. Of the total, home sales grew at a slower annual rate of 16.7 percent to 7.25 million square meters.

Housing sales have slowed sharply since March, when a 20-percent tax on capital gains from property sales went into effect along with tighter purchasing restrictions aimed at cooling off the market.

Source  Xinhua