TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issu...
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Bloomberg
30 July 2012
Hedge funds raised commodity bets in the longest bullish streak in three years as speculation that policymakers will increase economic stimulus drove prices towards the biggest monthly rally since last October.
Money managers raised their net-long positions across 18 US futures and options by 3.4 per cent to 1.17 million contracts in the week ended July 24, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data shows. Wagers gained for seven weeks, the longest increase since June 2009. Corn bets climbed to the highest since September 2011, and traders are the most bullish on natural gas since October 2006.
Investors added bets even as commodities fell 0.4 per cent in the week to July 24. The bulls were proved right after prices rebounded 1.8 per cent in the following three days as European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi pledged to protect the euro on July 26. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande echoed his comments the next day.
A US government report on July 27 showed that the world’s biggest economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter, increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to boost aid measures.
“Some of these issues that have been weighing against commodities, particularly industrial metals and energy, have probably overemphasised the negative,” said Bill O’Neill, chief investment officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, which oversees more than US$1.8 trillion. “The fundamental back-up is the policy easing.”
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index jumped 7.5 per cent this month, on course for the biggest gain since last October. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities climbed 1.4 per cent in July, and the dollar gained 1.5 per cent against a measure of six major trading partners.
Treasuries returned 0.7 per cent, a Bank of America Corp index shows. Seventeen of the 24 commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI gained this month, led by a 28 per cent surge in corn. Wheat futures jumped 21 per cent in Chicago, heading for the biggest advance in two years.
The ECB’s Mr Draghi will hold talks with Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann in the next several days in an effort to overcome the biggest stumbling block to new measures including bond purchases, two central bank officials said, Bloomberg reported on July 27.
The ECB’s Governing Council and the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meet this week.
Federal Reserve policymakers are scheduled to announce an interest rate decision at the end of a two-day meeting tomorrow. The central bank may signal plans for additional monetary stimulus, John Taylor, the founder of currency-hedge fund FX Concepts LLC, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on July 27.
The actions from central bankers may not be enough to stem declines in commodities, said Jack Ablin, who helps oversee about US$60 billion of assets as chief investment officer of BMO Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
“Draghi is ramping up the rhetoric, but we’re back to the rhetoric stage,” Mr Ablin said. “For the second half, I see a very cloudy picture. I have a difficult time making a bet right now” on commodities, he said.
Price gains may slow in the next several months as global manufacturing slows, Credit Suisse Group AG analysts led by Tobias Merath said in a report on July 25.
In June, China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 50.2, the weakest pace this year, the Beijing- based National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on July 1.
Investors pulled US$815 million from raw-material funds in the week ended July 25, the most in nine weeks, according to EPFR Global, which tracks money flows. Gold and other precious metal outflows totalled US$585 million, also a nine-week high, the Cambridge, Massachusetts- based company said.
Speculators have got more bullish on commodities since prices last quarter posted the biggest loss since 2008. The number of contracts outstanding across the 24 members of the S&P GSCI rose 0.5 per cent in July, poised for the biggest monthly gain since March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Commodity assets under management (AUM) totalled US$404 billion in June, up 1.2 per cent since the end of 2011 and more than double the amount in 2007, according to data from Barclays Plc. The S&P GSCI surged 85 per cent since Dec 31, 2008.
The Fed lowered interest rates to a record in December 2008 and bought US$2.3 trillion in government and housing debt through June 2011 in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing.
Monetary easing and other government efforts to revive the recovery makes growth more likely for later this year and in 2013, Caterpillar Inc CEO Doug Oberhelman said in a statement on July 25. The company - considered a US economic bellwether because it’s the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment - raised its full- year earnings-per-share forecast by about 1.1 per cent.
A measure of 11 US farm goods showed speculators raised bullish wagers in agricultural commodities by 3.8 per cent to 856,446 contracts, the highest since Sept 6, 2011. Bets on a corn rally climbed 19 per cent to 279,385 contracts. Wheat holdings jumped 9.6 per cent to a record 79,649 contracts.
Dry weather has scorched crops from Russia to the US, sending corn and soybean prices to records on July 23. About 64 per cent of the US was in moderate to severe drought last week, the US Drought Monitor said on July 26. The International Grains Council cut its forecast for Russian wheat production by 8.2 per cent on the same day.
“Now is a good time to build commodity positions,” said Jonathan Guyer, the chief investment officer of Longview Funds Management LLC in Columbia, Maryland, which oversees about US$19 million of assets. “There’s a brighter outlook for Europe to fix its woes and for the US to fix its woes, and for the global economy to begin to emerge” from a slowdown, he said.