Global shares slip ahead of central bank moves

The euro maintained it's place near an eight-week high on Wednesday, helped by expectations the European Central Bank will act decisively to tackle the debt crisis and of more monetary easing in the United States.

But global growth worries weighed on equity markets, dragging world shares lower, while oil prices eased after Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf of Mexico looked set to spare local production facilities from significant damage.

US stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Moves in major risk asset markets are being limited by hopes that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will signal an easier U.S. monetary policy in a speech to international central bankers gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the end of the week.

There is also rising optimism that the ECB, which will meet on September 6, is close to producing a decisive bond-buying plan to bring down high Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, and ease Europe's three-year-old debt crisis.

But with the risk of disappointment on both fronts high, investors were adopting a cautious approach.

Concerns about the global economic outlook were firmly outweighing any potential positive impact of central bank actions in the equity markets, pulling the FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.4 percent to 1,083.80 points.

The euro area's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was also down 0.6 percent at 2427.95 points.

A mixed session in Asia, where evidence of slowing activity in China has been weighing on sentiment, left the MSCI world equity index facing a sixth day of losses. It was down 0.1 percent at 323.27 points.

Emerging stocks also hit their lowest levels in nearly four weeks due to the sharp drop in Chinese shares, which are the largest component of the index.

source business-standard com

Asian economies Will Rule the World by 2050

A study showed that because of the region's rapid growth that boosts wealth creation, Asian countries Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are projected to be the world's richest economies on a per capita basis by 2050. The survey was done by property giant Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank. The survey also showed multi-millionaires in Asia will continue to outnumber those in North America and Western Europe by 2050.

Singapore topped the list in 2010 and is expected to keep the top spot in 2050, when the city-state's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would reach $137,710.

It will be trailed by Hong Kong ($116,639), Taiwan ($114,093) and South Korea ($107,752) with the United States coming in fifth place, falling from third place in 2010.

Singapore's 2010 GDP per capita stood at $56,532, while Hong Kong ($45,301) the only other Asian economy in the top 10 that year was in fourth place.
Taiwan and South Korea were not even in the top 10 in 2010.

"While rapid GDP growth does not in itself guarantee a sharp rise in high networth individuals, rapidly growing economies do provide key opportunities for large-scale wealth creation," Grainne Gilmore, head of UK Residential Research at Knight Frank, wrote in the study.

Gilmore said there are now around 18,000 "centa-millionaires" those with $100 million or more in assets in the region covering Southeast Asia, China and Japan, more than the 17,000 in North America and 14,000 in Western Europe.

By 2016, Southeast Asia, China and Japan are expected to have 26,000 centa-millionaires, compared with 21,000 in North America and 15,000 in Western Europe, she wrote, citing data from Ledbury Research.

On a country basis, the United States will lead in 2016 with 17,100 centa millionaires but China is expected to double its numbers to 14,000.

"Southeast Asian deca-millionaires, those with $10 million or more in assets, already outnumber those in Europe and are expected to overtake those in the US in the coming decade," she said.

source Yahoo news

S&P 500 gains six days streak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Standard & Poor's 500 finished slightly higher on Friday to run its streak to six straight sessions, but activity was light and gains were slight as the market enters a seasonally slow period.

The Dow and the S&P 500 closed out their fifth straight week of gains, led once again by expectations for global central bank stimulus despite discouraging signs for growth like weak data from China.

Overall, the S&P has gained a scant 0.3 percent over the past three sessions, a sign that while investors aren't looking to cut positions, they're also reluctant to make robust moves above the three-month highs the S&P has been hovering around.

Volume was incredibly light, with about 4.97 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, well below last year's daily average of 7.84 billion.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) rose 42.76 points, or 0.32 percent, to 13,207.95 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) added 2.97 points, or 0.21 percent, at 1,405.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) advanced 2.22 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,020.86.
Data on Chinese trade and bank lending suggested pro-growth policies have been insufficient in the face of weak demand from China's trading partners, and more urgent government action may be needed to stabilize the economy. Data on Chinese exports included a 16 percent decline in shipments to Europe from a year ago.
Trading has been relatively light in August, ahead of what is anticipated to be a busier September when market participants return from summer holidays and central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, may swing into action.

The European Central Bank is expected to act soon, though not before September, to lower punishing borrowing costs for Spain and Italy as a way to stabilize the euro zone's economy.