HK - Economic Data & News 01 (May 08 - Sep 14)

[millionairemind]

anuary 19, 2010, 5.58 pm (Singapore time)

HK unemployment rate dips to 4.9%

HONG KONG - Job creation in the construction, import-export and hotel sectors drove Hong Kong's unemployment rate below 5 per cent for the first time since late 2008, the government said on Tuesday.

The city's jobless rate fell to 4.9 per cent between October and December, which was also the fourth consecutive decline since the start of the global financial crisis, the Census and Statistics Department said.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate fell from 5.1 per cent in the September to November period, the government said.

Hong Kong said it last recorded a jobless rate below 5 per cent in the period between November 2008 and January 2009.

In the most recent period, the number of jobless declined by 8,200 to 172,800, while the overall workforce fell slightly from 3,678,600 to 3,669,900 in the three months ending December, the government said.

Matthew Cheung, secretary for labour and welfare, said Hong Kong could see a further drop in unemployment as firms hire staff for the busy Chinese New Year holiday next month.

'(But) a solid recovery of the labour market in the longer term would hinge on the pace of job creation in the corporate sector,' he warned in a statement.



'Despite the continued decline of the unemployment rate in recent months, the economic outlook is still subject to uncertainties. We shall remain vigilant and continue to monitor closely the labour market situation.'

Mr Cheung's comments come less than a week after Hong Kong's financial secretary warned that the city's economy could take a hit if a turnaround in the United States fails to take hold.

The city's Chief Executive Donald Tsang has also warned that the financial hub's economy could be in for a tumble by mid-2010. -- AFP

[winston]

Hong Kong's 40 Richest by Russell Flannery

Ties to China help boost their fortunes by $53 billion, but they are still $44 billion shy of 2008's record high.

As China goes, so too does Hong Kong these days, usually for the better but not without risks, as evidenced by the Hang Seng's recent pullback in response to the Chinese government's plans to tighten lending.

This is particularly true for the city's richest businesspeople, who have largely been upping their bets on the mainland, investing billions in buildings, shops and hotels.

Peter Woo's Wheelock is finishing construction on one of Shanghai's tallest towers. Gordon Wu's Hopewell Holdings ( HOWWY.PK - news - people ) is building highways there. Hang Lung Group, run by Ronnie Chan, gets 40% of its rental income from Shanghai. Tang Yiu's Belle International is the mainland's largest retailer of women's shoes. Over a dozen of Hong Kong's 40 richest have substantial real estate investments there.

The mainland has also bolstered fortunes in Hong Kong and Macau as affluent Chinese tourists spend their money in the city's stores, hotels and casinos. All of this has helped push up the total net worth of Hong Kong's 40 richest to $135 billion, up from $82 billion a year ago but still below its 2008 high of $179 billion.

There are exceptions to the China rule though. The Fung brothers, who run global outsourcing firm Li & Fung, are adding to their wealth by bolstering their business all over the world, particularly in the U.S. In the past year, it became the sole outsourcing agent for Talbots ( TLB - news - people ) and bought U.S.-based Wear Me Apparel's clothing and accessories operations, whose products are sold at retailers like Macy's ( M - news - people ). Then last week the firm, which already makes clothing, toys and other items for retailers like Kohl's ( KSS - news - people ) and Target ( TGT - news - people ), announced a partnership with Wal-Mart Stores ( WMT - news - people ), in which it will act as a buying agent for the world's largest retailer.

Li Ka-shing is again the city's richest, gaining $5 billion, though still worth a lot less than his 2008 estimate of $32 billion. Not one list member is poorer. Twenty-four of the returning tycoons added at least 50% to their net worths. Even manufacturers laid low by last year's global recession are doing much better, including the year's biggest percentage gainer, Lee & Man Paper's Patrick Lee.

There are eight newcomers. Some of the notable ones include Allan Wong, cofounder of VTech, maker of cordless phones and electronic education toys; Tang Hsiang Chien, father of Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration, Henry Tang; brothers Alfred Chan and Edward Tan, who are Canadian nationals but Hong Kong residents who operate luxury department stores in China; and Noble Group's vice chairman, Harindarpal Banga, a foreign national who has long lived and worked in Hong Kong.

This year's list includes the cousins of Hysan Development's Peter Lee, who died in October (they shared Lee's fortune). Missing are seven from last year's ranks, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, restaurateur Michael Chan and logistics vet Jim Thompson, all of whom added to their fortunes but couldn't keep pace.

Unlike our billionaires rankings, our Hong Kong list includes numerous family fortunes. In acknowledgment of that, we once again combined the fortunes of cousins Michael and Patrick Wu.

The list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals themselves, stock exchanges and analysts. Stock prices and exchange rates were locked in on Jan. 22. Private companies were valued based on comparison with prevailing earnings or other financial ratios.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/03/hong-k ... elsections

[winston]

HK election aims to pressure Beijing for democracy

Hong Kongers voted Sunday in territory-wide special elections triggered by five opposition legislators who resigned in the hopes of pressuring Beijing to implement full democracy in this former British colony.

The five former lawmakers, who represent each of Hong Kong's five major electoral districts, quit in January with the intention of setting up a showdown against pro-Beijing candidates that will serve as a de facto referendum on democracy.

While Hong Kong has continued to enjoy Western-style civil liberties under Chinese rule, its top leader is picked by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists and its 60-member legislature is half-elected, half chosen by interest groups.

Beijing has condemned the democracy activists' campaign and Hong Kong's leading pro-China political parties announced a boycott.

With the five ex-legislators likely to win re-election overwhelmingly against a smattering of unknown candidates, political analysts question if the campaign will influence the Chinese government. Still, the democracy activists have pressed ahead, arguing that a strong turnout on Sunday will pressure Beijing.

The five candidates made a last-minute appeal for votes on Sunday, canvassing restaurants where locals were enjoying dim sum — Cantonese bite-size snacks — and touring the territory in cars.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired Hong Kong bishop and an outspoken democracy advocate who's frequently critical of Beijing, was among the early voters on Sunday. Zen told reporters Hong Kong's lack of democracy was at the root of problems like a big rich-poor gap and the government's pro-business bent.

"People's lives won't improve without a democratic system," he said. "I hope everyone will come out today and take advantage of this opportunity to express our anger peacefully."

Toeing Beijing's line, the Hong Kong administration has called the referendum campaign unnecessary, with leader Donald Tsang saying Friday that he and his senior officials won't vote in the special election. But the government has gone ahead and organized the contest as required by law.

Source: AP News

[millionairemind]

June 17, 2010, 5.28 pm (Singapore time)

Hong Kong jobless rate rises to 4.6 percent

HONG KONG - Hong Kong said on Thursday that its unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in the March to May period, as continued turmoil in the world economy left employers nervous about hiring.

The increase - up from 4.4 per cent in February-April - was due to belt tightening across several sectors, including real estate, entertainment and retail, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

It was Hong Kong's first unemployment rate increase since mid-2009, the agency said.

Total employment fell by around 7,100 to 3,483,300, the department said.

Matthew Cheung, the city's Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said uncertainty in the global economy's recovery and volatility in the city's property market sent the jobless rate higher.

'Some employers were more cautious in hiring, thus resulting in a decrease in total employment,' Mr Cheung said but added: 'Hong Kong's overall economic performance remains largely positive at present.' -- AFP

[winston]

Uncertain fund flows lie ahead: HKMA

Friday, June 25, 2010

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is expecting uncertainties in capital movements in and out of the territory over the next six months after six months of no net change.

However, the recent fluctuation in the Hong Kong-dollar exchange rate within the convertibility zone of 7.75 and 7.85 to the US dollar merely reflects the changes in demand for the local currency due to external factors, deputy chief executive Eddie Yue said.

It is not attributed to sharp outflows of funds, he wrote in yesterday's HKMA Insight column, dismissing market worries.

Fewer initial public offerings in Hong Kong and concerns over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe may have heightened investors' risk aversion and prompted funds to flow into US-dollar assets, Yue said.

But the IPO and fund-raising plans of mainland banks in the second half of this year would attract liquidity back to the city and have an effect on exchange rates, the de facto central bank said.

Yue stressed Hong Kong's fundamentals remain strong thanks to its sound fiscal position and substantial reserves.

These traits would let the SAR withstand volatility in both exchange and interest rates sparked by sudden reversals of fund flows.


http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 00625&fc=8

[winston]

Singlet to Singlet in 3 generations ? Or is it Clogs to Clogs in 3 generation ?


Hong Kong prepares for life after the tycoons

Hong Kong's billionaire tycoons enjoy a status close to royalty in Asia's wealth-obsessed financial hub.

The city's richest man Li Ka-shing has the fame of a movie star, while the court case involving the will of eccentric pig-tailed billionaire Nina Wang last year enthralled Hong Kong with its brew of sex, money and power.

But Wang's death in 2007 and the hospitalisation last year of casino tycoon Stanley Ho were a stark reminder that some of Hong Kong's 40 richest tycoons -- synonymous with its post-war economic success -- are in their twilight years.

They will leave behind eye-popping fortunes worth more than 130 billion US dollars and vast business empires that control everything from supermarkets and property development to ports and telecoms.

"Hong Kong in this respect is very special," said Henry Hirzel, managing director of wealth management for Asia-Pacific at Swiss bank UBS. "The question is can this mega-wealth be kept together?"

That will depend on whether Hong Kong's super-rich families descend into squabbles and bitter lawsuits once their entrepreneurial patriarchs die, analysts said.

To avoid huge fights over their fortunes, many ageing tycoons create trusts leaving properties and other assets to specific family members.

"But that doesn't guarantee relatives won't go to court after their death," said Jonathan Mok, a partner at blue-chip firm Mayer Brown JSM.

There is also no guarantee that the tycoons' offspring will have the interest or ability to run the business -- less than 20 percent of first-generation companies survive by the third-generation, Hirzel said.

"This is a region of family businesses," he said. "Some families do (succession planning) very well and others don't... Most people leave their succession to chance."

Stanley Ho, who controlled Macau's gaming sector for four decades until it opened to foreign competition in 2002, has at least 17 children with four women -- an extended family not entirely unique to some of Hong Kong's wealthiest people.

Two of Ho's children, Pansy and Lawrence, run rival gambling concessions with overseas partners in Macau. Pansy Ho also sits on the board of her father's Shun Tak Holdings conglomerate along with siblings Daisy and Maisy Ho.

The 89-year-old Ho -- released from hospital in March after an eight month stay -- has long been embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with his estranged sister Winnie over control of his casino firm Sociedade de Jogos de Macau.

Reports of his poor health sent shares in his casino firm tumbling.

Li Ka-shing's son Victor is deputy chairman of his father's conglomerate Cheung Kong (Holdings), while the billionaire's other son Richard took a hit last year when a Hong Kong court scuppered his bid to privatise telecom giant PCCW, ruling that a shareholder vote on the deal was rigged.

Despite exceptions like Pansy Ho and her sisters, Hong Kong sons are most favoured to take over the family business, although the eldest doesn't necessarily get the spoils, said author Joe Studwell.

"Very, very occasionally a girl might be chosen over a boy if that boy is particularly incompetent," said Studwell, whose "Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia" takes an inside look at the region's super-rich.

"So it is a best-male-gets-it deal. And fathers are pretty ruthless about bypassing elder sons who don't cut it."

"Many patriarchs make the inheritance decision late, not least because not deciding gives them a lot of power over family members," he added.

Nina Wang -- once Asia's richest woman, who controlled the Chinachem property empire -- highlighted a key red flag for the tycoons: unclear wills.

The long-running saga kicked off after Wang's tycoon husband Teddy was kidnapped in 1990 and never seen again, sparking a nasty legal dispute between the wealthy woman and her father-in-law for control of the fortune.

Both had competing wills, but the courts eventually sided with Nina, who died two years later.

She, in turn, purportedly left two wills -- both scant on details -- which became the subject of another bitter legal battle between her family and Wang's former lover, feng shui master Tony Chan.

Wang's family prevailed in February, with the trial judge accusing Chan of profferring a fake will to get his hands on the multi-billion-dollar estate. Chan was arrested shortly after the judgment and then released on bail.

Historically, Hong Kong's wealthy have been reluctant to even draw up a will, although that tradition is changing, Mok said.

"For many Chinese it is like a death omen -- they don't like the thought of it," he told AFP.

"The older generation of Chinese were reluctant to have a will."

But the future of the tycoons' businesses may depend most on how easily they loosen an iron grip on the day-to-day running of their companies to make way for a new generation of management.

"Businesses that are dominated by personalities are harder to keep going across generations than ones which run on systems and structures," Studwell said.

"The big boss approach carries big risks."

Source: AFP Global Edition

[winston]

Not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: Nomura Remains Bullish On HK Office Sector

0922 [Dow Jones] Nomura remains bullish on HK office sector, given limited relief recently from proposed redevelopment of Central government office as Central vacancy falls to 3.7% in August (below 4% for 1st time post 2008) and less potential long-term office supply due to industrial sites' conversion into residential; also notes robust demand as jobless rate down to 4.2% in June-August vs 4.3% May-July.

Regarding home sales, says primary market volume remained subdued last week in absence of new project launches with 12 units sold over past weekend, vs previous weekend's 17 units, as market awaits upcoming major launches including Cheung Kong's (0001.HK) Oceanaire in Ma On Shan (1,143 units).

"We believe a stronger-than-expected primary launch could help revive the physical market which has undergone a consolidation period since mid-August."

Hang Seng Property Subindex ends +1.5% at 29,595 yesterday.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[LenaHuat]

Last nite, Taiwanese and HK TV reported a discernible trend of Shenzhen residents crossing over to HK over weekends to do marketing! Yes, marketing ( ) for household provisions like milk powder, sugar, coffee bags, paper products etc. Because of the depreciating HKD, stuff are much cheaper in HK than Shenzhen

[winston]

And the Daya Nuclear plant is just 50km away ...

Rare earthquake felt in Hong Kong

A rare earthquake rattled Hong Kong on Friday, prompting alarmed residents to call local authorities to report feeling the tremor.


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/814438 ... -hong-kong[*]

[winston]

DJ HK Exchange To Let China Companies Use Mainland Accounting Rules, Auditors

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK) said Friday it will allow locally listed Chinese companies to prepare their financial statements using Chinese accounting standards and also permit mainland auditors to vet them.

Under a reciprocal arrangement with China, Hong Kong companies listed on the mainland will be able to use their own standards and auditors, HK Exchanges said.

The agreement comes after the Hong Kong stock exchange launched a consultation on the proposed changes in August 2009 and is the result of a joint effort between mainland China authorities and Hong Kong regulators, the statement said.

Mark Dickens, HK Exchanges' head of listings, said the framework 'is expected to increase market efficiency and reduce compliance costs of mainland incorporated companies listed in Hong Kong.'

Source: Kate O'Keeffe, Dow Jones Newswires