Believing in the bears, running with the bulls

Given the strength of the stock market rally over the past eight months, and considering just how supportive conditions are for share prices right now, it might seem surprising that anyone at all is still bearish on equities.

Strong demand shows that Hong Kong IPOs still coveted

Top-end pricing indicates demand; no investor fatigue despite IPO surge

How recent wars shaped the PLA Air Force

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force has grown in leaps and bounds since it was set up with a handful of planes seized from the defeated Kuomintang force.

Unforgettable humiliation led to development of GPS equivalent

An “unforgettable humiliation” the People’s Liberation Army suffered during the Taiwan Strait missile crisis in 1996 prompted the mainland to build its own global navigation and positioning satellite system, a retired senior military official has disclosed.

Malls are big in China’s smaller cities

Mushrooming of mega shopping centres fuelled by retail boom

China according to Chinese

Guoco a winner, with or without BEA buyout

High hopes of Guoco Group, led by Malaysian chairman Quek Leng Chan, launching a takeover bid for Bank of East Asia have sent shares of the lender surging more than 14 per cent this week.

Nasdaq sees doubling of its Chinese listings

Nasdaq OMX Group said the number of Greater China companies listed on its exchange could double in as little as two years, fuelled by a growing appetite for these shares from a wider range of institutional investors in the United States.

Speculative money propels B shares in catch-up play

The mainland’s foreign-currency B shares rose yesterday amid an influx of speculative capital as analysts cautioned investors of a boom-to-bust scenario.

Crackdown imminent on hoarding of land

The mainland plans to penalise developers that hoard sites to boost land prices.

Beijing rejects projects worth 200b yuan

China, the world’s third-largest economy, has rejected requests to build industrial projects worth almost 200 billion yuan (HK$227.06 billion) and plans new measures to close factories to curb overcapacity and pollution.

Hong Kong should get fair deal over entry of mainland auditors

Former premier Zhu Rongji is known for his poker face. Unlike his self-aggrandising peers, Zhu rarely painted the huge calligraphy displays that one finds hanging at the doorways of almost every major mainland institution. He only did four.

It was spring 2001. He was visiting the newly founded Shanghai National Accounting Institute, one of the country’s three schools for accountants.

He wrote four words: “Bu zuo jin zhang (No book-cooking).”

Sino-Env gets flak over sacking of finance head

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is threatening to delist waste recycler Sino-Environment if it fails to brush up on its governance practices.

Sino-Environment given 30 days to tackle governance issues

The Singapore Exchange has given Sino-Environment Technology 30 days to address issues raised by its independent directors (IDs) or face delisting after the IDs hit out at the company’s summary dismissal of its financial controller.

Growing US$ carry trade could fuel new speculative mania: Tsang

A carry trade that is building up in the US dollar could fuel a new wave of speculative mania, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said yesterday.

Shenzhen wants to be clean, just like Singapore

Shenzhen is in the midst of a self-improvement binge. On the orders of provincial party secretary Wang Yang, the ragged boom town has set the target of catching up with premier Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Seoul within 10 years, and becoming a “world-class international metropolis” within 20.

Magazine’s new team face uphill battle to maintain standards

Caijing magazine’s new editorial team will have a tough job maintaining quality and regaining the confidence of readers and advertisers following the departure of its founder, Hu Shuli, along with most of the staff of its business and editorial operations.

Caijing founding editor quits to launch venture

Editorial chief of mainland magazine known for stinging exposes unable to agree with publisher

West suspects Beijing has developed space-age arms, despite Hu’s denials

Military observers say satellite image confirms suspicions about PLA capabilities

US$ carry trade set to be next bubble horror

Speculators will get their fingers burned, just like their yen carry trade counterparts

China in race to secure overseas uranium supply

Whether it is in the frigid Athabasca Basin in north Canada, the arid Outback of Australia or the dunes of Namibia in southwest Africa, mainland firms have been eagerly acquiring access to uranium deposits around the world to supplement domestic supply of the raw material for nuclear power.

Vintners approach fickle Chinese market cautiously

Chinese wine imports have soared more than ten-fold in the past few years but foreign producers hoping to cash in on the boom are warning that the market is fickle and not for the faint of heart.

Waking the warrants market from its slumber

After experiencing explosive growth for the past few years, the covered warrants market in Singapore seems to have fallen off the cliff.

Year-end rally touted for mainland stocks

Unexpectedly strong earnings at listed mainland companies have spurred analysts to raise their profit forecasts, creating room for about a 15 per cent rise in Shanghai’s benchmark stock index over the next three months.

Has landslide threat halted dam’s finale?

Yunyang government admitted on its website that the frequent occurrences of landslides had alarmed the central government. What is clear is that the dam, a source of national pride, is now a headache for many.

Fossil trade puts China’s natural history at risk

China’s opening up may have led to an economic miracle, but it has been a mixed blessing for one of the world’s major finds of prehistoric fossils, as dealers and foreign buyers have exploited the lack of effective heritage laws to spirit them overseas.

Big money fuels illegal trade in rare fossils

“You want fish fossils, no problem. But bird fossils? That would be difficult.” The vendor at the Shenyang antique market looked nervously over his shoulder. “The authorities are very strict about bird and dinosaur fossils. I do not want to lose my licence.”

Her recipe for success is make the clients wait

Zhao Yue is creative director of Panda Mandy’s Slow Delivery, a start-up, snail-paced postal service that is the perfect antidote to today’s hectic world.