The Star Online: Business

S.Korea Oct retail data adds to economic gloom
Samsung SDI, Bosch win EV battery deal from India's Mahindra
Australia trade surplus up strongly for Q3

S.Korea Oct retail data adds to economic gloom

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 06:11 PM PST

SEOUL, Nov 8 (Reuters) Consumer spending in South Korea weakened in October, data released on Tuesday showed, at a time when softening global demand has already clouded the export outlook for Asia's fourthlargest economy.

Sales at department stores run by South Korea's top three chain operators grew 3.8 percent in October from a year earlier, the slowest pace since a 3.6 percent gain in June 2009, the finance ministry said.

Gasoline sales volume fell 1.4 percent in October from a year before while sales of locally produced automobiles dipped 8.8 percent in volume yearoveryear, the ministry said in a monthly report.

The data came before the country's central bank is due to review its interest rate policy on Friday, when many analysts expect the Bank of Korea to hold the rate for a fifth consecutive month in the face of sputtering economic growth.

The central bank estimated late last month the exportdependent economy slowed for a second consecutive quarter in the JulySeptember period as companies curtailed investment amid tepid global demand.

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Samsung SDI, Bosch win EV battery deal from India's Mahindra

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 06:10 PM PST

Published: Tuesday November 8, 2011 MYT 10:10:00 AM

SEOUL, Nov 8 (Reuters) South Korea's Samsung SDI , the world's No.1 rechargeable battery maker, said on Tuesday its joint venture with Germany's Robert Bosch would supply lithiumion batteries for Mahindra & Mahindra's electric cars.

The 5050 joint venture SB LiMotive will supply batteries for Mahinda's first hybrid SUV model from 2013, Samsung said in a statement.

SB LiMotive was chosen to develop EV batteries with U.S. car makers including GM and Ford and already has a lithiumion battery supply deal for Chrysler Group's upcoming electric vehicle, the Fiat 500EV.

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Australia trade surplus up strongly for Q3

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 06:08 PM PST

SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Reuters) Australia's trade surplus narrowed in September as gold shipments took one of their periodic dips, but it was still the fifth highest surplus on record and rounded out a strong quarter of exports for the resourcerich country.

Tuesday's data showed a surplus on goods and services of A$2.56 billion ($2.6 billion) in September, down from A$2.95 billion in August and below of market expectations.

Yet the surplus for the whole third quarter still rose a hefty A$1.5 billion to A$7.8 billion, a tide of cash that is underpinning investment in the booming mining industry.

"That's a very good improvement for the quarter and, since a lot of it seems to have been in export volumes, should have made make a useful contribution to economic growth," said Stephen Roberts, a senior economist at Nomura.

Other figures out from National Australia Bank showed business confidence picked up in October as firms anticipated a cut in interest rates, which was duly delivered by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last week.

Financial markets are almost fully priced for another cut in rates to 4.25 percent in December, though most analysts think the central bank will prefer to wait a little longer to asses the flow of domestic news.

"We have tentatively assumed that the RBA will cut by 25 points again in February on the basis that core inflation should remain subdued," said NAB chief economist Alan Oster.

"However, another cut is by no means certain, particularly if activity and employment are showing signs of strength in early 2012," he added.

Australia's trade performance has been one such area of strength as Asian demand for resources like iron ore and coal led to high prices and record export earnings.

Thus while exports fell 2.5 percent in September, that followed a jump of 8.8 percent the month before and still left them up almost 17 percent on September 2010.

For the third quarter, exports of A$70.4 billion were 13 percent higher than the same period last year. China alone took 28 percent of those exports, while the European Union and United States combined accounted for just 10 percent.

Imports also fell by 1.3 percent in September, as a drop in petrol and cars offset the purchase of civil aircraft.

IRON ORE OFF HIGHS

Export earnings may have peaked for now given spot prices for iron ore have tumbled in recent weeks as Chinese steel mills stepped back from the market.

One measure of iron ore prices slid 35 percent over September and October to a low of $116.90 a tonne, before bouncing somewhat to $125.

The reversal dragged down the RBA's measure of Australian commodity prices from record highs in September and October, though it was still up 19 percent on the year.

The central bank last week acknowledged this was likely the start of a longawaited pullback in the country's terms of trade.

"Indeed the recent significant falls in the price of iron ore suggest that the decline could be happening a little faster than earlier expected," the RBA noted in its quarterly review of the economic outlook.

Still, the bank remains optimistic that commodity demand from the industrialising billions in China and India will run for years to come and expected the terms of trade to stay at very high levels compared with recent decades.

Australia's major resource companies are just as optimistic and are pouring massive sums into expansion projects.

Deloitte Access Investment Monitor estimates a record 935 investment projects are planned or under way worth $894 billion, equal to a staggering 69 percent of Australia's A$1.3 trillion in annual economic output.

Of these, 14 were multiyear projects worth more than A$10 billion and five over A$30 billion, making them relatively resilient to shortterm swings in global growth.

All this spending is set to greatly boost export volumes of iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas, where the country is on course to be the secondlargest exporter of LNG by 2015.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 7 November 2011