FG to Sell Stake in Abuja Commodity Exchange

The Federal Government plans to sell its ownership of the Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange by the middle of the year, after missing an initial deadline, in a plan to revive trading.

“The government wants to privatise the only commodity exchange and it had committed to doing it by the end of last year,” the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh told Bloomberg.

She added: “It didn’t meet that deadline, but it’s planning to do something by the middle of 2014.”

Companies including Nigeria’s Heirs Holdings Limited, a Lagos-based investor with interests across Africa in banking, energy, real estate and agriculture, plan to acquire or set up a commodities exchange in the country.

Companies including Nigeria’s Heirs Holdings Limited, a Lagos-based investor with interests across Africa in banking, energy, real estate and agriculture, plan to acquire or set up a commodities exchange in the country.

Nigeria had Africa’s third-biggest cocoa harvest last year and produces crops such as cotton and sugar. The Abuja bourse was converted from a stock exchange to a commodities market in 2001, according to its website, and it has information on crops traded dated January 2008.

The Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, had said he wants to acquire the state-owned Abuja-based exchange when it is sold. If it’s unable to buy the exchange, Heirs Holdings would apply to the SEC to set one up, he had added.

The company, through its African Exchange Holdings Limited unit, has stakes in Kigali, Rwanda-based and Lagos-based National Association of Securities Dealers trading platform. In collaboration with the Nigerian Grain Reserve Agency and the Agriculture Ministry, Heirs Holdings in November established an electronic warehousing system linking farmers and traders as part of the groundwork to set up a commodities exchange.

“We have a number of both domestic players and international players who are very interested,” Oteh said.

“They’d rather acquire the privatised exchange, so they’re trying to see how far the government is going with this initiative and if not they’re prepared to seek a registration for a new commodity exchange," she added.

Gold and Silver could see another bear market rally

There are no major US economic data releases today or tomorrow. It will be a technical trade with demand from India and China as the key factors. Traders will start to take positions for next week's Federal reserve meeting. Next week’s FOMC meeting is the last meeting for outgoing Federal reserve president Ben Bernanke. Once again the US growth outlook and the US interest rate outlook will be the key.

Key factors which can cause furor in gold and silver markets are (a) FOMC meet (b) Chinese demand in the Chinese New Year of Horse (c) January US nonfarm payrolls.

Indian Rupee Advances To 4-day High Against US Dollar

Indian rupee climbed against the US dollar in morning deals on Tuesday.
The rupee that closed yesterday's deals at 61.54 against the greenback advanced to a 4-day high of 61.425. The rupee may face upside target around the 60.00 area.

#Silver must sell

Silver signalling commencement of downtrend athough it has changed today high INR 44,647/- but sellers can still take or hold their selling positions with proposed stoploss. Downtrend in silver has already begun but clound will disappear completely when silver will trade below INR 44,350/- level.

Silver Bearish Trend

Silver to remain bearish if it trades below INR 44,555/- sellers can hold their selling position if downtrend continues with stoploss of INR 44,870/- but make sure to create fresh positions only if #Silver trades below INR 44,555/- otherwise avoid selling 

Precious Metals Turned Red

Silver after making intraday high of INR 45,600/- slipped to low of  44,805/- (CMP- INR 44,900/-) day trader should avoid this risky trading session or make entry with strict entry & exit levels by following proposed stoploss

Once sizzling emerging markets have turned bearish

Brazil, Russia, India, China — commonly referred to as the BRICs — and throughout Asia wafted upward into the stratosphere, and investors did what they always do: They chased this hot performance.But over the past two years these once-sizzling markets have turned bearish as all get-out. Emerging markets began to buckle in early 2011, and since then U.S. stock market performance has been far superior to these developing markets.

Since early 2011, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has gained 41 percent, while the MSCI Emerging Market Index has dropped 12 percent. That’s a 53-percentage-point difference — yowzer — and the pain has continued into this year with emerging markets dropping about 5 percent as the S&P 500 is basically flat.

While the U.S. economy moped along at a dilatory pace, economies in these developing nations grew at almost absurd rates. Economic growth in China, for example, rose above 10 percent compared with a 2 percent pace in the U.S.The BRICs were the sexy investment of that period, but a confluence of factors has soured investor appetite for this asset class.First, explosive growth in the developing world brought fear of inflation, which prompted credit tightening and interest rates to rise, especially in China.

The MSCI Emerging Market Index currently sports a stock price-to-earnings ratio — a common measure of valuation — of only 9.7. In contrast the p/e of the S&P 500 is almost double that at 18.8. It’s next to impossible to predict when an asset class has hit rock bottom, but even at these levels it’s probably still too early to dive into the sector.

In addition to higher interest rates, the other issue overhanging emerging markets involves all the new commodity production capability that has come online since 2005. Capital spending on mining capacity, plants and equipment has exploded in these countries, which means the supply of raw materials should be plentiful in the coming years, and that means prices should remain subdued.“It’s hard to envision emerging market stocks reclaiming leadership against this undertow of excess commodity supply,”

Australian dollar lower on stronger US jobs data, Fed minutes

THE Australian dollar fell after the release of some good US employment data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting.AEDT the local unit was trading at 89.07 US cents, down from 89.25 cents at yesterday's close.A report from payrolls firm ADP showed that US private-sector job growth surged in December, topping November for the strongest pace of the year with 238,000 jobs added.
Early this morning the minutes of the US Federal Reserve December policy meeting showed that most members were optimistic about the US economic recovery.

OM Financial senior client adviser Stuart Ive said the Australian dollar fell as the greenback strengthened against most of the major currencies.

"The first downward move came after the ADP employment data from the US, that data was a lot stronger than expected," he said. "It raises expectation that the Fed is going to continue cutting back on the economic stimulus.

"There was a bit of a fall as the US dollar strengthened, then equally we had another bit of a fall after the Fed minutes were released.

"They showed a bit more of an upbeat outlook from the Fed, that the economy is still marching along.

"I think we're looking at a stronger US dollar overall, it's not really an Australian dollar story today."

US Senate confirms Yellen as Federal Reserve chair

Janet Yellen as the new leader of the Federal Reserve, marking the first time a woman has headed the world's most powerful central bank.

President Barack Obama's nominee earned bipartisan support in the bitterly divided chamber, but the 56-26 vote was still among the closest in the 100-year history of the institution.

Several senators who supported Yellen, currently Fed vice-chair, arrived too late for the vote.

Yellen, 67, will replace current Chairman Ben Bernanke, who steps down on January 31 after eight years in the job, during which the pair dealt with the country's worst economic crisis since the Great Depre

ssion.

Bernanke's successor's main task will be ensuring the US economy does not slip backwards at a time when other countries are beset by weakness.

Especially crucial will be further pushing down the American jobless rate, which fell to 7.0 percent in November, still significantly higher than Bernanke, Yellen and other Fed policymakers have deemed satisfactory.

Obama cheered the Senate approval, saying Yellen would serve the central bank and the country well.

"The American people will have a fierce champion who understands that the ultimate goal of economic and financial policymaking is to improve the lives, jobs and standard of living of American workers and their families," he said in a statement.

"As one of our nation’s most respected economists and a leading voice at the Fed for more than a decade -- and vice chair for the past three years -- Janet helped pull our economy out of recession and put us on the path of steady growth."

Yellen has built a strong reputation as an academic economist, and as a veteran policymaker at the Fed she is not expected to veer far from the policies set by Bernanke.

SMERA Ratings Ltd

India’s leading credit rating agency SMERA Ratings Ltd (SMERA) has recently completed 25,000 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises – (MSME) ratings in India.This milestone was achieved by SMERA in 8 years of its operations. SMERA Ratings Ltd., formerly known as SME Rating Agency of India Ltd., is a pioneer in MSME ratings and is also an accredited rating agency by Reserve Bank of India – (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India – (SEBI).

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World oil demand to grow in 2014 by OPEC

With global economic growth in 2014 projected to increase to 3.5 per cent from 2.9 per cent in 2013, world oil demand is forecast to rise by one million barrels per day, according to the latest monthly bulletin of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

World oil demand is expected to grow by one million barrels a day (b/d) in 2014 compared with 900,000 b/d last year, supported by improved performances by the emerging economies and as the global economy continues to recover in general, it said.

"Oil demand growth continues to come mainly from non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, while OECD oil demand is expected to show a further contraction, albeit at a slower rate," OPEC's Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) observed.

Silver Sell

#Silver after gaining almost INR 3,000/- from its recent low of INR 42,435/- which is made on 31/12/2013 is expected to go down CMP- INR 45,570/- set to test level of INR 44,500/- to 45,000/- seller's to maintain strict stoploss