| STX Pan Ocean wins $273m coal shipping contract
SINGAPORE-LISTED STX Pan Ocean 028670.KS said the firm has won a contract to transport steaming coal worth $273 million. The South Korean dry bulk commodities shipper said that the 15-year deal, with Korea Southern Power Ltd, begins in 2011 and will be a stable source of profit for the company. -- REUTERS .
Glencore – the power behind the Xstrata throne
As global mining firms circle London-listed Xstrata, behind the headlines is one of the most powerful commodities companies in the world and two men seen among the sharpest in the business. Holder of a strategic 34.6 percent stake in Xstrata is privately-owned trading firm Glencore International, which from the Swiss lakeside town of Zug controls a multibillion-dollar pipeline of oil, coal and crops as well as metals, and has almost $15 billion in shareholder funds in its coffers. Glencore began life in 1974 as a commodity trading firm set up by secretive billionaire commodities merchant Marc Rich, who sold out to management in 1994. The men who run Glencore now, Chairman Willy Strothotte and Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg, may not be as famous but they have arguably been as successful.
Culling weak funds will strengthen ETF herd
The long-expected culling of the weak has begun in the world of exchange-traded funds. Eleven duds listed in the U.S. market are being closed and the safest bet on the stock markets right now is that more of these mutual fund alternatives will bite the dust before long. "We've always thought that the next bear market – and we're probably in one right now – would eliminate a lot of the duplicate funds and the esoteric funds," said Tyler Mordy, director of research at Hahn Investment Stewards & Co. Bring it on, baby. Closing ETFs addresses the confusing glut of products, while the impact on people who actually own doomed funds is minimal, other than a potential tax hit. ETFs are stocks that provide a clean, cheap way to buy the returns of hundreds of stock indexes and commodities.
NCEL launches awareness drive for rice trading
KARACHI: National Commodities Exchange Limited (NCEL) on Monday launched a month-long pre-launch programme and investor awareness drive ahead of the commencement of listing and trading of its IRRI-6 Rice Futures Contract.
Managing Director Assim Jang said NCEL will be in Kandhkot, in upper Sindh, holding the first of investor awareness seminars aimed at informing the potential participants, including growers, millers, traders and exporters of the details of Futures Trading in IRRI-6 rice and encouraging their participation.
We have chosen these areas to start out investor awareness drive as they are the trading hubs of IRRI-6 rice, Assim said adding, we feel it is important to reach out to the key participants in our market on a one-to-one basis, they will not only ultimately benefit from this new contract, but also will provide NCEL with the necessary depth and liquidity, he added.
Emissions Trading Commodifies Carbon, But Does It Really Help Solve ...
Proponents of carbon trading see markets as the best mechanism for reducing emissions, while critics characterize carbon trading as a devil's bargain that steers profits to polluters. SocialFunds.com -- You cant solve problems just by throwing money at them, the old saying goes. Capitalists, who think markets are the solution to everything, reverse this equation by turning problems from money-pits into money-makers. Essentially, they seek to harness the profit motive to cure societys woes by transforming problems into commodities. This is precisely the strategy behind the emerging carbon trading markets.
While most markets facilitate product accumulation, these markets encourage problem elimination. For example, by trading carbon emission rights that are capped and subsequently ratcheted down, the rights become more scarce and hence more valuable.
HSBC to set up brokerage in UAE equity markets
The company, to be called HSBC Middle East Securities, will offer UAE domestic market brokerage services to both institutional and retail investors. The company is expected to begin trading for institutions by the end of 2007, and to offer retail brokerage services in 2008. Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA), the regulator for the UAE's securities markets, recently granted HSBC authorisation to establish the brokerage company. The authorisation is subject to the various legal and infrastructural requirements meeting the approval of ESCA, as well ADSM and DFM. With this approval, HSBC is poised to become the first global bank on the UAE's exchanges. HSBC already buys and sells UAE shares on behalf of Western institutions through third party brokers. In addition, HSBC is a sub-custodian on both ADSM and DFM, and this service will continue to be provided by the bank's specialist sub-custody operation.
2007: worst year for the environment
That snow is darker than the fresh snow and lies ready and waiting to warm up quickly when next year's sunlight melt off the winter's powder. The result: many scientists believe the Arctic Ocean has reached a "tipping point" in which nothing but deep and sustained global cooling could reverse the rapid trend toward diminishing summer ice. "Everything is working in consort toward a bluer or totally blue Arctic Ocean ," said Josefino Comiso, senior research scientist for polar oceanography at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. .
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