Another Shrimp On The Barbie ......

Scenes from Sydney ...



Probably can't get this book in KL .... shots of sports personalities in compromising positions ... Mourinho getting a quickie from Lampard



Hmmm ... a hard to get book in Dymocks



The lovely Strand Arcade preparing for Christmas ... below, the Sydney Tower, good to look at but don't waste your money going up there.

 The secluded Clovelly Beach near Coogee ....

 View from Star City

 This is LOL funny ... its a shares portfolio ranking with experts (finance journalists and analysts plus fund managers) ... guess who's out in front ... the fucking Dartboard!!!

 Something about great OZ beef in good Vietnamese pho

Not A Bad Idea

Pretty good idea .... no unnecessary obstruction ...

Renminbi Going International & Gaining Traction In Acceptance

It is safe to say that if you have a very liquid portfolio of assets, its wise to put a substantial sum in renminbi deposits or quality renminbi bonds. Before China’s renminbi (RMB) can challenge the dollar, it first needs to be freely available for trade and investment. By internationalising renminbi through offshore financial markets, China is introducing openness and transparency while retaining greater controls over its home market and capital account.



This process has started in some Asian countries and is spreading quickly to other parts of the world.

Bilateral trade between China and the Southeast Asian economic bloc reached a record high of USD400.9 billion in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 10.2 per cent. China is increasingly “near-sourcing” raw materials, components and finished products from within Asia. Trade between these two huge markets will continue to grow and if a sizable proportion of an emerging-market country’s trade is with China, it can make sense to settle that trade in renminbi.

This is already happening in Hong Kong. Cross-border trade settled in yuan increased 6.6 per cent in August to RMB304.2 billion on a month-on-month basis, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. This has helped Hong Kong generate the largest renminbi liquidity pool outside mainland China. Taiwan and Singapore are catching up quickly after setting up clearing services earlier this year.



HSBC Global Research forecasts that by 2015, one third of China’s total trade and half of the trade between China and emerging markets will be settled in renminbi.

Growing offshore use of renminbi is not confined to Asia: Europe is now the largest contributor to renminbi payment growth. According to Swift, London accounts for 28 per cent of offshore transactions settled in renminbi with China and Hong Kong, and RMB settlement has more than doubled in France, Germany and Luxembourg in the past year.

For a currency to achieve investment, and ultimately reserve status, it has to create incentives for foreigners to trade and hold it. It is worth pointing out that trading of the Chinese yuan in global foreign exchange markets has more than tripled from three years ago because of the expansion of the offshore market. Daily turnover in renminbi has increased to USD120 billion from USD34 billion three years ago.



Bilateral trade between China and the Southeast Asian economic bloc reached a record high of USD400.9 billion in 2012

Dim sum bonds opened the door for foreign companies to finance in the Chinese currency.

Chinese regulators have increased the quota for Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII), which stands at 270 billion yuan (USD44 billion) and around half that had been taken up by last month. The authorities almost doubled the quota of the Qualified Foreign Insitutional Investor (QFII) scheme to USD150 billion as Beijing moves to widen channels for foreign investors to buy mainland stocks, bonds and money-market instruments.

According to the International Monetary Fund, rapid liberalisation of cross-border capital movements could produce over several years net outflows from China equal to 15 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, amounting to some USD1.35 trillion. The holders of China’s vast domestic savings pool may also seek diversification in overseas markets. This would increase global renminbi liquidity, providing another boost to the currency’s internationalisation.

As China’s importance as a trading power increases, some central banks are, or planning to, include renminbi in their reserve portfolios. Taiwan’s central bank has added renminbi assets to its foreign reserves portfolio and the Reserve Bank of Australia intends to hold up to 5 per cent of its reserves in renminbi assets. At the same time, the People’s Bank of China and the European Central Bank have a three-year bilateral currency swap agreement worth 350billion yuan (USD57 billion) to provide further liquidity support for renminbi use overseas. An additional 23 central banks and monetary authorities have signed similar arrangements.

China is now further internationalising its currency by encouraging the development of multiple offshore centres, not only Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and London. Others such as Toronto, Luxembourg, Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt and even Sydney are quickly catching up and will help the renminbi grow.



International currencies should have three basic characteristics: convertibility; broad acceptance and wide use in various areas of international trade, settlement, investment, debt payment; and stable value. Current account convertibility has now been achieved and restrictions on the capital account are being loosened. Renminbi is rapidly becoming not just acceptable but desirable in the mercantile capitals of the global economy and is showing every sign of being a currency of the future.

p/s article published in HSBC.com

Special Discounted Airfares From Qatar Airways For 3 Days Only

http://www.qatarairways.com/my/en/offers/global-promotion.page?gclid=CPnP9cHk27oCFcQb4god8A0Alg&CID=SXMY06644003730069704040000&s_kwcid=AL!3739!3!32395968657!e!!g!!qatar%20airways&ef_id=UmMIyAAAAJ3-bW5v:20131111032522:s

FOR 3 DAYS ONLY - BIGGER WORLD PROMOTION

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Save up to 25% off during our 3-day Bigger World Promotion

To celebrate Qatar Airways joining oneworld, enjoy special fares during the Bigger World Promotion to more than 125 destinations.

From now to 13th November 2013, save on Economy and Business Class fares throughout the expanding Qatar Airways network.

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Check out sample fares to some of our most popular destinations
From	To	All-inclusive fare for Economy Class	All-inclusive fare for Business Class
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	London (LHR)	2793 MYR	9788 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Paris (CDG)	2268 MYR	9432 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Dubai (DXB)	2090 MYR	5210 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Frankfurt (FRA)	2464 MYR	9083 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Rome (FCO)	2657 MYR	11881 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Istanbul (IST)	2053 MYR	6370 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	New York (JFK)	3308 MYR	14355 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Chicago (ORD)	3457 MYR	14930 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Barcelona (BCN)	2947 MYR	11684 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Moscow (DME)	2747 MYR	11313 MYR
Kuala Lumpur (KUL)	Cape Town (CPT)	3108 MYR	10421 MYR

Terms & Conditions

• Sales period : 11th -13th November 2013
• Travel period : 14th November 2013 - 19th June 2014. All travel must be completed by 19th June 2014.
• Blackout dates (travel not allowed)
  - 8th - 23rd December 2013
  - 2nd - 12th January 2014
• Valid on Qatar Airways operated flights, with following exceptions:
  - All itineraries orginating from Qatar
  - Flights between Denpasar/Bali and Singapore, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.
  - All itineraries to Doha as a final destination (excluding transit in Doha), except itineraries originating from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Itineraries requiring a transit in Doha are allowed.
• Minimum stay : 3 days
• Maximum stay : 1 month, with the exception of all itineraries originating from Australia which will be valid for 3 months.
• tickets must be purchased at least 3 days in advance of travel.
• Discount applies to instant purchases only.
• Discount applies  to Economy and Business Class return tickets. For flights where Business Class is not operated, First Class is applicable.
• Seats are limited and are subject to availability of the relevant booking class: O and Q for Economy, I and A for Business and First Class travel.
• Fares include all applicable discounts, fees, taxes and airport charges. Services fees may apply for tickets purchased at Qatar Airways sales offices or through travel agents.
• Ticket are non-endorsable, non-refundable and non-transferable and non-changable (except for itineraries originating from Brazil, Iran, Korea, and Qatar). Incase of no-show, ticket has no value for use on any other service, and it is non-refundable, non-changeable and non-bookable.
• For itineraries orginating from Iran, tickets are non-endorsable and non-transferable. Changes are allowed at a penalty of USD 50 on top of any fare differences. Cancellations before or after deparures are refundable for a fee of USD 50. Incase of no-show, a no-show fee of USD 100 will be applied on top of the changes or refund fee.
• For itineraries originating from Korea, tickets are non-endorsable and non-transferable. Changes are allowed at a penalty of KRW 100,000 on top of any fare differences. Cancellations before departure are refundable for a fee of KRW 300,000. Cancellations after departure are non-refundable. In case of no-show, a no-show fee of KRW 300,000 will be applied on top of the change or refund fee. 
• For itineraries originating from Brazil tickets are non-endorsable and non-transferable and non-changable . Cancellations before depatures are refundable for a fee of USD 300. Cancellations after departure are non-refundable. Incase of no-show, ticket has no value for use on any other service, and it is non-refundable, non-changeable and non-bookable.
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Asset Class Returns as at 31 October 2013

There was minimal turbulence in asset prices in October. Aside from commodities, the major asset classes posted another solid batch of gains, building on September’s bull run. The Global Market Index (GMI) posted a 2.8% increase last month, leaving it higher on the year by a solid 12.0%.

Equities in emerging markets continued to revive in October, delivering a strong 4.9% gain that led the way among the major asset classes for the month. The pop was enough to give these stocks a small gain on a year-to-date basis and reverse most of the losses that had accumulated during a sharp correction in the spring and early summer.

Meantime, commodities broadly defined are still bumping around the bottom of the performance ledger, shedding 1.5% last month. This is highly revealing as commodities stuck out like a sore thumb. Methinks it has to do with USD rebalancing. The QE effect clearly has not gone into "new investments or new economic activity", thus the demand for commodities has remained benign. The bulk of the liquidity has flowed towards banks' deposits and maybe some bargain hunting in distressed properties.

The key drivers of GMI’s buoyant year-to-date results so far in 2013 are stocks in the developed world. US equities in particular have been flying, with the Russell 3000 rising nearly 27% this year through October 31. In close second place: foreign stocks in developed markets via the MSCI EAFE Index. 

In other words, underweighting in the developed world's stock markets has come with a hefty opportunity cost in 2013. You might not know it but its close to the end of the year and 2013 had been a big BULL market for US and developed markets equity. It is likely that those markets will continue to rise to close the year high so as to prepare for a sound bonus season come January 2014. 

Twitter, Too Much Froth

I am not a tech-bashing person. I really liked Facebook and still do as I have had that in my portfolio with Marketocracy. I even had a trade with Linked In for a while. Now, Twitter is very frothy. The stock rose to $44.90 at the close in New York from the initial public offering price of $26, delivering the biggest one-day pop for an IPO that raised more than $1 billion since Alibaba.com Ltd. debuted in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twitter sold 70 million shares, raising $1.82 billion.

What Twitter did correctly, which Facebook did not .... leave some upside for investors, do not max out your IPO valuations. But the froth in Twitter is mainly speculation as many of the original pre IPO shareholders still have moratoriums on their shares. I mean seriously, Twitter is more expensive than Facebook!!!!???

The San Francisco-based company, which is unprofitable and has one-fifth as many users as Facebook, is benefiting from investors’ thirst for companies that will grow quickly in expanding markets like mobile advertising.

At the current price, Twitter is valued at $24.9 billion, or 22 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion, according to analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with 11.2 times that Facebook traded at today, and price-to-sales ratio of 11.7 for Linked In. As a side note, when put side by side ... Facebook is still way cheaper than Linked In as well. I mean, the reach and breadth and indispensability of Facebook ... how to fight?

Facebook declined 3.2 percent, and LinkedIn fell 4.2 percent today. At its market debut in 2012, Facebook’s stock was flat, propped up by bankers, while LinkedIn’s more than doubled on the day it went public in 2011.

Price ‘Hype’

The pricing puts the onus on Twitter to deliver on its promises of fast growth after earlier pitching shares as low as $17. Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo has rallied investor interest in Twitter’s rapid sales curve -- with revenue more than doubling annually -- even with no clear path to making a profit.

The company received orders for about 30 times as many shares as it offered at the $26 IPO price, a person with knowledge of the matter said. About 8 million of the shares, or 11 percent of the total in the IPO, were allocated to retail investors, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A typical retail allocation is 10 percent to 15 percent.

I think Twitter can be a buy but below $30.

OWNERS OF TWITTER

Evan Williams (Founder)  12%

Rizvi Traverse (fund)  5%

Jack Dorsey (Chairman)  4.7%

Dick Costolo (CEO)  1.6%

Other funds with less than 5% stakes: Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures,  DST Capital and  Benchmark Capital