CORPORATE ASIA SNAPSHOT-Earnings in focus for recovery signs
Oct 6 (Reuters) - A flow of IPOs, led by Hong Kong andChina but with activity from India to Australia, may slow aftersome recent weak trading debuts as a strong economic recoverydriven rally across Asian share markets stalls.
Investors' focus will be on company earnings as thequarterly reporting season gets underway. Key to the economicbounce-back will be U.S. consumer demand. Failing that, canAsia's domestic demand stand up without continued governmentstimulus spending?
Below, Reuters Asia specialist correspondents and editorsin the financial, autos, resources and technology sectors offertheir insight on current trends.
Double-click in [brackets] for related news.
Top Asian company earnings news [E-ASIA-RES-NEWS-LEN]
All Asia company earnings news [E-ASIA-RES-LEN]
Asia company earnings previews [E-ASIA-LEN-RESF]
FINANCIAL
BANKERS WARY OF IPO-FATIGUE
Investment bankers have ridden a wave of IPOs in Hong Kongand China, bringing in welcome underwriting fees, but thehammering meted out to some newly listed IPOs in recent days inHong Kong -- Chinese developer Glorious Property Holdings(0845.HK) dropped 20 percent on its debut last week -- couldmean potential listers may get cold feet. Singapore's Wilmar, the world's largest palm oil producer, maydelay its around $3 billion Hong Kong spin-off, a majordisappointment to banks eyeing a giant fee from the deal.
Loan and M&A volumes are still well below year-ago levels,despite some signs of life coming back to the deals market.
What concerns many bankers is that Asia's stock marketrally has stalled. Yes, there's a lot of activity in placeslike South Korea and Indonesia that inspires hope, but theworry is that stall turns to fall. It's too early to say theworst is over.
[ASIA-RTRS-E-LEN-FIN-NEWS]
Michael Flaherty (michael.flaherty@thomsonreuters.com) >Glorious sputters in HK trading debut [ID:nHKG291426] >After Myer, buyout firms eye exit in Australia [ID:nSYD546565]> Strong Wynn Macau IPO pressures debut, rivals [ID:nHKG57230]> Wilmar seen delaying HK IPO in volatile market[ID:nSIN488550] > Japan banks to bear brunt of new capitalrules [ID:nT306019] > TAKE A LOOK - Global IPO market heats up
[ID:nSP393789]
AUTOS
DOLLAR, TAX POLICIES EYED IN JAPAN
With a new government in place in Tokyo, Japaneseautomakers have plenty to be nervous about in the comingmonths: a finance minister who seems at times to condone astrong yen -- and a fresh ruling party that appearsunenthusiastic about continuing a green car tax scheme that hashelped stem some of the sharp slide in Japanese vehicle sales.
The interim earnings season may not bring any surpriseswith second-half forex assumptions already set around currentlevels. But depending on whether -- and how far -- the dollarfalls further, automakers may reset their assumptions, possiblycalling for downward revisions to their already weak forecasts.
[E-ASIA-AUT-NEWS-RTRS-LEN]
Chang-Ran Kim (ran.kim@thomsonreuters.com) > Mazda to raise$1.1 bln for new R&D [ID:nT115472] > Toyota bosslaments weak dollar as profit-buster [ID:nT297464] > Honda eyesEV as hydrogen infrastructure lags [ID:nT188490] > TAKE ALOOK - Auto industry grapples with change [ID:nCARS1]
RESOURCES
AUSTRALIA GETS TOUGH; IPOS CONTINUE
China-fatigue may be taking hold in Australia when it comesto selling off the country's mineral assets, with the ForeignInvestment Review Board (FIRB) saying it is against majorityforeign stakes in new mining projects.
Australia so far has evaluated each China-relatedinvestment proposal individually, but the guidelineseffectively killed China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co'sbid to buy a majority interest in rare earths miner Lynas Corp(LYC.AX). What the guidelines mean for Yanzhou Coal's (1171.HK)proposed $2.9 billion buyout of Felix Resources (FLX.AX) isanyone's guess.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's market is buzzing with resourcesfirms from all over the world seeking funds to developexpensive projects and finance acquisitions.
Russian aluminium firm UC RUSAL has re-started plans for aHong Kong stock listing to raise $2 billion. Metallurgical Corpof China (1618.HK)(601618.SS) has raised $2.3 billion. Thestock slumped about 12 percent on its debut, but resources IPOswill continue in the near-term, with Mongolia-focused minerswaiting in the pipeline.
Metals/Mining - [ASIA-LEN-RTRS-MTL-NEWS]
Energy - [ASIA-LEN-RTRS-ENR-NEWS]
Joseph Chaney (joseph.chaney@thomsonreuters.com) >Australian Senate backs foreign investment rules [ID:nSYD3553]> China invests in Australian resources [ID:nSP540692]> Yanzhou Coal resubmits Felix bid approval [ID:nSYD466090]> BNP, BOCI tapped for RUSAL's $2 bln HK IPO [ID:nLU240742]> 'Over-priced' MCC falls; may dent new IPOs [ID:nHKG40069]
TECH
TECH FIRMS WARN THEY CAN'T KEEP UP WITH DEMAND
After months of scaling back their output during a globalslowdown, tech manufacturers are finding they may have cut toomuch as demand begins to return for products from PCs andmobile phones to computer servers. Shortages are ripplingthrough many tech sectors, from high-end DRAM and NAND memorychips used in PCs and cellphones to LCD panels used in TVs andPC monitors. Alerts have come from the bigger players suchas Samsung (005930.KS) and LG Display (034220.KS) down the foodchain to smaller firms such as chipmaker Nanya Tech (2408.TW)and AU Optronics (2409.TW) -- all warning of bottlenecks.
The shortages, created by drastic cutbacks during thedownturn, could squeeze producers of higher-end products likestate-of-the-art PCs and LCD televisions, which took some ofthe biggest hits over the last year as consumers and businessesreined in spending.
Telecoms - [RTRS-LEN-E-NEWS-TEL-ASIA]
Electronics - [RTRS-LEN-E-NEWS-ELC-ASIA]
Chips - [RTRS-LEN-E-NEWS-ELI-ASIA]
Doug Young (doug.young@thomsonreuters.com) > Samsung seesstrong Q3; profits may have peaked [ID:nT89846] > Memory chipmarket set for new blow-out banquet [ID:nTP145879] > Toshiba totrim R&D spend in chip business [ID:nBNG474232] > Taiwan tolet chip, LCD makers invest in China [ID:nTP321454] (Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Source: Reuters
