Forex: EUR/USD holds at 1.2700 in European session - NASDAQ Forex: EUR/USD holds at 1.2700 in European session - NASDAQ

Monday, June 18, 2012

Forex: EUR/USD holds at 1.2700 in European session - NASDAQ

Forex: EUR/USD holds at 1.2700 in European session - NASDAQ

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Market opening after Greek elections' results: rally to 1.2747 high as first reaction, then a correction down to almost Friday's close at 1.2672, and only after that a steady rise back to 1.2700 levels was seen.

The pair is trying to hold at the 1.2700 handle and the opening price of 1.2695. With an absolute majority government coalition likely (New Democracy + Pasok), the market is relieved and starting to price its attention June 28/29 European Council preparations. Meanwhile, German ministers voice their opinions regarding renegotiating terms with Greece.

"Immediate focus lies at 1.2800/23 zone, however, corrective easing on extended hourly conditions, is not ruled out", wrote Windsor Brokers analyst Slobodan Drvenica, pointing to initial support at 1.2667, followed by 1.2630.



Finance Ministry favours proposal to give DMIC's 26% stake to Japanese government - Economic Times
NEW DELHI: In order to give a big thrust to manufacturing sector, the Finance Ministry has given green signal to the DIPP's proposal to give 26 per cent stake to the Japanese government in the USD 100-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project.

"We have received comments from the Finance Ministry and they have supported the proposal. Soon we will move the final note for Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approval. We had moved the draft cabinet note in December 2011 itself," a commerce and industry ministry official said.

All the other concerned ministries including the labour ministry have already supported the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

As per the draft cabinet note on the DMIC Development Corporation (DMICDC) re-structuring, 49 per cent stake will be held by the government, 26 per cent by the Japanese government and 25 per cent with state-run institutions - Life Insurance Corporation, HUDCO and India Infrastructure Finance Company.

The DMIC Development Corporation (DMICDC) is a special purpose vehicle for the implementation of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project. It will run the trust fund into which the government, multilateral agencies and Japanese entities will invest to finance the project.

The official said timely restructuring would help in fast-tracking the ambitious project.

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index of IIP, grew barely 0.1 per cent in April, as against 5.7 per cent in April 2011.

The Corporation will develop industrial enclaves along the Delhi-Mumbai rail corridor encompassing seven states - Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Cabinet had approved equity restructuring of DMICDC and an expenditure of Rs 18,500 crore on development of infrastructure in September 2011.

This plan will make DMICDC a deemed government company. Japan, which has expressed keen interest in the DMIC project, intends to invest USD 4.5 billion in the project, which will cover 1,483 km between Delhi and Mumbai, over the next five years.

The DMIC project, which was conceptualised in 2006, is being developed in collaboration with Japan as a manufacturing and trading hub, though Japanese participation did not involve equity holding till now.

The project aims to create globally competitive environment and latest infrastructure to activate local commerce, enhance foreign investment, create employment opportunities, enhance exports and attain sustainable development.

According to experts, the progress and implementation of projects would depend upon the availability of land.



Trade Forex as Sterling Falls Following BoE Announcement - Yahoo Finance

LONDON, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

On Friday, June 15, the pound fell against the US dollar following the Bank of England's announcement of an emergency liquidity package the day before. But how will you profit from this fall?

In the guide below, we show you how you can profit from the depreciating sterling through a spot forex trading account from City Index.

BoE Announces Emergency Liquidity Package

On Thursday evening last week (14 June), Governor Mervyn King suggested more quantative easing (QE) could be on its way as the Bank of England announced an emergency liquidity package to support the British banking system.

In his keynote speech, King said that the BoE would also be providing cheap long-term funding to encourage lending to businesses and consumers.

Pound Depreciates against Dollar

Whilst many investors in the marketplace said the measures planned by King would support the UK economy; further suggestions of monetary easing prompted investors to sell-off sterling in early London trade on Friday (15 June).

How to Trade Forex

With a City Index forex trading account you can take a position on the future price movement of 37 currency pairs within the foreign exchange market.

As a global currency market - trading 24-hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday night - forex offers traders multiple opportunities to potentially profit from fast-moving major, minor and exotic currency pairs.

Unlike in traditional equity markets, trading forex with City Index allows you to profit from market movements - regardless of whether they are rising or falling.

With this in mind, using the example above whereby the pound depreciates against the US dollar - traders have the potential to 'go short' and sell the pound with the aim of potentially profiting from every pip that it depreciates further.

In addition, as a leveraged product - forex trading requires only a small percentage of the underlying market's total value as an initial deposit.

This enables traders to control a relatively large exposure for only a small amount, gain greater access to the global currency markets and possibly magnify gains.

It is important to remember, however, that as a leverage product, you also run the risk of losing more than your initial deposit. A forex risk management strategy should be used in order to limit potential losses.

Start Trading Forex

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Read More Forex Trading Tips

If you found this article helpful, you may want to read more just like this. You can access a range of free forex trading tips, guides and articles through the City Index website also.


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FOREX-Euro falls, Spanish woes overshadow Greek poll - Reuters UK

Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:10am BST

* Euro turns negative vs dollar, retreats from 1-mth high

* Spanish bond yields rise above 7 pct

* Rally on pro-bailout win proves short-lived

By Nia Williams

LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - The euro fell from a one-month high against the dollar on Monday with the election win for pro-bailout parties in Greece overshadowed by Spanish bond yields surging back above the 7 percent level which traders view as unsustainable.

While the election result allayed immediate fears of Greece being forced out of the euro zone, uncertainty persisted as the winning centre-right New Democracy party tried to form a government with other parties backing the international bailout.

Many investors said the new government could not hope to deliver on further austerity measures with the economy already into a fifth year of deep recession.

Market players were also concerned about the euro zone's ability to take effective steps to protect Spain and Italy from the debt crisis.

"The euro is already off the day's highs, displaying that while we have a decent result in the Greek election, everybody knows it's going to be a long, rocky road and we are nowhere near the end of Greece's problems," said Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank.

"Even if we carry on getting a better outcome with respect to Greece we have still got Spain and problems there."

The euro fell 0.15 percent on the day to $1.2619 on reported selling by Asian investors and after breaking below reported stop-loss orders around $1.2660-70. It had earlier hit a peak of $1.2748 in Asian trade.

Ten-year Spanish government bond yields, hit by persistent concern about the country's fiscal and banking problems, rose above the 7 percent level deemed unsustainable in the long run and at which other peripheral countries have asked for a bailout.

Despite the problems facing the euro zone, some strategists saw potential for the euro to rise given a build-up of huge short positions in the common currency, taken on concerns that a win for anti-bailout parties could lead to Greece rejecting austerity measures and leaving the euro.

Positioning data showed speculators' massive net short positions of 195,187 contracts last week, even after having trimmed them from the previous week's record high of 214,148 contracts.

"The election results should keep hopes alive that Greece will stay in the euro," said Taisuke Tanaka, chief FX strategist at Deutsche Securities.

"There are massive short positions on the euro. Market players now need to consider whether the euro has more downside or upside, ahead of euro zone policy makers' meetings in coming days."

European finance ministers meet on Friday and a European Union summit is scheduled for the end of this month.

QE RISK SUPPORTS EURO

Although the Greek election result was expected to provide only limited support to the euro, many said the common currency could benefit versus the dollar on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve may opt for more easing to boost growth.

Many market players expect the Fed could extend its long-term bond-buying through Operation Twist by a few months from the current deadline of June, after a series of disappointing data.

Additional easing from the Federal Reserve could also support other perceived riskier currencies against the safe- haven greenback.

The dollar index was up 0.1 percent at 81.731 after hitting a one-month low of 81.188. The Australian dollar was close to flat at US$1.0073, paring gains from a one-month high of US$1.0135.

"There's a chance the Fed could adopt more of an easing bias at its policy meeting on Wednesday and that should cap the dollar for now," said Peter Dragicevich, an FX economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The safe-haven yen fell against the euro to 99.87 yen and against the dollar to 79.04 as a result of the initial risk-positive reaction to the Greek vote.

There was little movement in the Swiss franc against the euro, which traded at 1.2010 francs, just above the 1.20 franc floor enforced by the the Swiss National Bank. Many market players have been increasingly wary of a test of the floor as concerns about the euro zone debt crisis intensified. (Additional reporting Hideyuki Sano; editing by Stephen Nisbet)



Forex Flash: The likelihood of a Greek exit has decreased markedly - Nomura - FXStreet.com
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FOREX-Euro hits 1-month high on Greek relief - Reuters

Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:03am EDT

* Fear of Greece's immediate exit from euro recedes

* Focus on how euro zone bonds will react to Greek elections

* Aussie hits 1-month high vs USD

* Dollar undermined by Fed easing speculation

* Euro net short positions remain high

By Hideyuki Sano

TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - The euro briefly hit a one-month high against the U.S. dollar on Monday after Greek parties supporting a bailout won a slim parliamentary majority, allaying fear of an immediate break-up of the currency bloc.

While there is scepticism in the market over the euro zone's ability to take effective steps to deal with the debt crisis that is now threatening Spain and Italy, massive speculative bets built against the currency could mean a good chance of further short-covering.

"This election results should keep hopes alive that Greece will stay in the euro," said Taisuke Tanaka, chief FX strategist at Deutsche Securities.

"There are massive short positions on the euro. Market players now need to consider whether the euro has more downside or upside, ahead of euro zone policy makers' meetings in coming days. I think risk currencies could recover some of their lost grounds," he added.

The euro rose to as high as $1.2748, near a 38.2 percent retracement of its decline from its February high of $1.34869 to two-year low of $1.2288 hit on June 1.

It later gave up part of the gains on profit-taking but stayed about 0.4 percent above its late U.S. levels last week, last trading at $1.2706.

Some traders think the euro could eventually test resistance levels such as $1.2904, a 61.3 percent retracement of its decline from May, ahead of European finance ministers meeting on Friday and EU summit at the end of this month.

Data from a U.S. financial watchdog showed speculators in Chicago still held massive net short positions of 195,187 contracts last week, even after having trimmed them from previous week's record high of 214,148 contracts.

The huge bearish positions had been made on worries that Greece could leave the currency bloc if the leftists opposing the bailout had won the election.

Greece's two pro-bailout parties begin forging a government on Monday, after having won a total of 162 seats in the 300-seat parliament, beating the radical leftists who rejected austerity measures.

But analysts say any coalition could be short lived, and many market watchers believe a new government cannot hope to deliver on further austerity measures with the economy already into a fifth year of deep recession.

"The euro now has a good technical outlook and bad fundamental outlook," said a trader at a Japanese bank.

SPAIN NEXT FOCUS

One immediate focus is whether the Greek election results will help drive Spanish and Italian bond yields lower, some traders said.

"I think the essential problem facing markets right now has to do with Spain's financial institutions, and steps have already been taken to address that," Akira Hoshino, chief manager for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ's foreign exchange trading department.

"The euro could test the upside this week, such as levels around $1.28 to $1.30, especially with the FOMC coming up," Hoshino said, adding that the dollar could see some weakness and the euro may find support ahead of the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday.

Many market players expect the Fed could extend its long-term bond buying through the Operation Twist by a few months from the current deadline of June, after a series of disappointing data.

In fact, the euro's recovery from its two-year nadir hit on June 1 has been driven not so much by its own strength as weakness in the U.S. dollar based on speculation about more easing from the Federal Reserve.

The dollar index hit one-month low of 81.188 , before paring part of losses to stand at 81.35.

The Australian dollar also hit one-month high of $1.0135 , and last stood at $1.0110.

"There's a chance the Fed could adopt more of an easing bias at its policy meeting on Wednesday and that should cap the dollar for now," Peter Dragicevich, an FX economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Broad recovery in risk sentiment helped to push the yen lower from Friday's one-week high against the dollar, with the dollar trading at 79.19 yen, up 0.5 percent.

But some market players think a rally in the euro and risk assets could be fleeting, citing uncertainty over the shape of a new government in Athens and how Spanish banks will be rescued from the damage from burst in real estate bubble.

"For sustained gains in EUR in the days ahead, further 'encouraging' headlines will likely be needed from this week's G20 meeting and the later EU summit," said analysts at CitiFX in Singapore.

"We are sceptical that this marks the beginning of a new uptrend," they added.



Executive coach: 'Finance is an amoral world, bordering on the immoral' - The Guardian

This blog suffers from an inevitable selection bias, as it can only feature those people in finance who agree to be interviewed. Hence, a second category of interviews with people who come into close contact with the kind of bankers who are unlikely to talk to me. Such as this elegantly dressed man in his early 40s. A psychologist by training, he has been working as an 'executive coach' for the past few years. He orders a coffee, then a glass of red wine.

"In two decades as a psychologist I have encountered perhaps half a dozen people in whom I could not detect at least something positive, if only a sliver. The psychopaths are a really rare breed. But they seduce the rest.

"I am sure your readers are familiar with psychological research comparing the personality traits of prison populations with those of successful managers. It found remarkable similarities; they are narcissistic, egocentric, manipulative … The research has been replicated over at least 12 different populations and the findings are consistent. Criminals and CEOs are remarkably similar.

"We're moving slightly beyond my field of expertise but a question I often ask myself is: who are the owners of those major banks and corporations who figured out that if they want to make so much money, they need to get a psychopath in who will then turn the entire organisation into a ruthless money-making soul-destroying machine? That's pretty clever, isn't it? To find a psychopath to do that for you?

"In youth psychology there's a well-known phenomenon regarding collective self-harming. You have a shelter that's housing, say, 50 boys. All of a sudden and apparently out of nowhere, they all start mutilating themselves. A wave. It's only natural for outsiders to assume that something must be very wrong with that shelter. However, research and experience demonstrate that all you need to do is find the one person who started it. Isolate him from the group and lo and behold, the wave stops and everything goes back to normal.

"Individuals have very powerful influence over groups, and it makes you wonder about banks and financial firms; what if they were like the shelter, and you need to find that one switch, that one person, to turn a whole group around?

"I am an optimist, humans are good animals, we have a tendency to get distracted and be led astray. As for this financial crisis, well, it's only a crisis. That's right, psychologists consider a crisis as simply one point in a cycle of growth; it's when the patient is about to make a breakthrough, and evolve.

"This is what's intriguing about the current financial crisis so far … Where are the thought leaders indicating the path to a new phase in our economic evolution? Who will augur in the growth moment from this crisis? I don't see new ideas coming to the fore.

"My clients are predominantly working in finance, aged somewhere between 32 and 47. They are the cum laude crowd who were always at the head of the pack. All of a sudden and to their astonishment, they find themselves being overtaken by less talented people; it's office politics and they don't know how to play it.

"Firms are pyramids, and a lot of talented people in their late 30s get shunted out. It's a typical bottleneck and my clients come to learn how to navigate it.

"Mid-30s is also when people are just before their mid-life crisis. They have more or less found out who they are, they can sort of see the limit of their potential, and it leads to disenchantment, disillusionment. 'I will not become the next Richard Branson', they realise. "At the same time they see that all good intentions aside, the world is tough place, and you need to be tough to survive and succeed. This is the age when you see people suddenly become serious. They have lost their innocence.

"My clients are from all over the world and they've come to London to fight. This is the top of the top, over here, and the fighting can be ruthless. My clients are the slightly more creative ones, not the standard pin stripe/porte manteau types.

"You asked me earlier what kind of animal the executive coach might be. Maybe it's a salmon, naturally inclined to swim upstream, against the current.

"I have worked in many areas of counselling, including at the very bottom of society; from illiterate heroin prostitutes to bankers. Differences? Bankers and others in the corporate world have extremely high intelligence. They think very much in transactional terms; how can this guy help me get what I want? My first consult is free, and when there's a click between us, I can see them smell a profit. They decide, if I pay this guy his fee, he will help me make much more money myself.

"They have little time so when I work with bankers I am less suggestive. I take charge of the process, lead them to where I think they should go.

"About a quarter of my clients are corporate but not finance. Is there a difference? They are all incredibly tough and everyone says their motivation is money. But when you drill down into what's driving people in the corporate world, other motives come to the surface. With people in finance, it really is money, I find.

"Finance is an amoral world, bordering on the immoral. Take the financial transaction tax. The idea: there is horrific poverty so let's levy a tiny tax and use it to alleviate that. But when I suggest to my clients this might be a good idea, I practically get lynched. No way, they say. They want to pay as little tax as possible, and that's it.

"As I said, amoral bordering on the immoral. Take the PPI mis-selling where essentially banks sold people insurance that was worthless. They get caught and the banks have to pay people their money back. Next thing you know, banks hire incredibly expensive 'consultants' to find ways to pay as little as possible.

"It's almost a perversion. The CEOs such as Fred Goodwin and Jamie Dimon and the like. They present themselves as to the outside world as posh and erudite and sophisticated; as supermen. But they are just like you and me, with similar needs and fears. We shouldn't fall for their spiel.

"What would shock readers most when they saw what I see? Let me think. How so many brilliant, arrogant, super-talented young people get abused, sucked dry, burned out and then tossed aside by corporations and banks. In the early days of capitalism it seems the game was to exploit the less gifted; miners, factory workers etc. Today it's about taking advantage of talent. People are used, then discarded. Especially these days with the crisis. Fear rules supreme. You can get fired any moment, five minutes and you're gone. Corporations fan out over universities making all these promises. But very few people make it to 'the boardroom'. That's the key concept for everyone, 'the boardroom'.

"One of the chief causes of stress is boredom. Now, those people on the trading floor, they may go through hours and hours with nothing to do. Another cause of stress is when the level of control you have over your own life is very low. Banks are managed very badly, in fact they are over-managed. Imagine you have lots of bosses and every week you're told to do your job differently. It can drive people nuts.

"For psychologists like me the world of finance is very interesting, if only in purely clinical terms. You're a CEO and you pay yourself £8m. Now, look at the kind of organisation you need to put in place in order to make that amount … It's almost dirty.

"It gets more interesting still when your company has failed on a range of issues, and at the end of the year you still pay yourself those £8m. There's an outcry but you say: 'it's in my contract'. Now, take a step back, how has that £8m become so important to you that you can't even see why you shouldn't get them? Apparently your need for the money is so strong you stop registering the anger you provoke.

"Those CEOs and managing directors at banks with their millions … They deserve our pity, really. They are the victims of their own twisted minds. And it will bring them down. Whether you are a paedophile or pervert or control freak or psychopath; sooner or later a twisted mind will turn on itself.

"For many years I worked with paedophiles. It is simply astonishing how vulpine, how cunning these people have become. The same with hard drug addicts; their brain seems to have taken on a life of its own, and developed into something so clever, so entirely focused on satisfying their needs. For those brains, lying and cheating become acceptable, normal even.

"When we treated them, or tried to, the key was to make them realise that they created victims, that people suffered because of them. One thing that struck me about this group of patients – we'd call them 'clients' – was how they seemed to derive immense pleasure from surreptitiously screwing people over, then getting away with it. At the same time they seemed to have a deep urge to get caught.

"The biggest misunderstanding about the people I work with? That they are going to solve this.

"The truth is, there is no system, there is no 'they'. There are just individuals."

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Rupee payments for Iran oil exempted from local taxes: Finance Ministry - Economic Times
NEW DELHI: In order to facilitate purchase of crude oil from Iran, the Finance Ministry has issued a notification exempting payments made in Indian rupee for such imports from any local tax.

The notification, under Section 10 (48) of the Income Tax Act, related with tax exemptions in regard to foreign oil companies selling crude oil in India has notified the National Iranian Oil Company has as a "foreign company".

"This notification shall be deemed to have come into effect from the first day of April, 2012, and shall, accordingly, apply in relation to the income of the assessment year 2012-13 and the subsequent years," it added.

The notification, issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in the Finance Ministry, clears the way for oil refiners to pay Iran in rupees.

As per an agreement, India will pay 45 per cent of the value of its oil exports from Iran in rupees. The rest will continue to be paid in euros through a bank in Turkey.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree had in his Budget for 2012-13 exempted payments to Iran from taxes in "national interest".

It was feared that the money paid to National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) may be considered as income generated by Iranian firm in the country and liable to be taxed. The withholding tax was up to 40 per cent, which neither NIOC or the Indian refiners wanted to pay.

Iran is India's third largest crude oil supplier accounting for for less than 10 per cent of its total crude oil imports. Despite Western sanctions, New Delhi is keen to retain Tehran as its key supplier but has faced problems paying for oil imports.

India will import 15.5 million tons of crude oil from Iran this fiscal, down from 17.44 million tons last year.

India currently pays about USD 1 billion a month through a Turkish bank but there are fears that US and European sanctions against Iran may block even this route.

As a way out, rupee payments have been agreed to. Under the mechanism agreed, NIOC will accept 45 per cent of the payments in an account opened in Kolkata-based UCO Bank. UCO Bank has been chosen because it has no US or European exposure and its overseas presence is limited to Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

Without sanctions waiver, imports from Iran could come to a halt as shippers have refused to transport oil without an insurance cover.

India is the world's fourth-largest oil importer and second biggest customer of Iran.



EU ministers to end sanctions on Hungary, diplomats say - ibtimes.co.uk

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Another diplomat briefed on member states' positions concurred. "It is guaranteed," the diplomat said.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made his recommendation to lift sanctions after the EU executive improved its forecast for Hungary's fiscal deficit to 2.7 percent of economic output in 2013, below the EU's 3 percent ceiling.

Budapest had angered the Commission and other EU countries by failing to rein in its deficit in a sustainable manner since it joined the EU in 2004 and the Commission's new powers to police budget deficits across the bloc served to put more pressure on Orban's government.

The sanctions, used for the first time against an EU country on a budget issue, marked a low point between Brussels and Orban, whose centralising style prompted Barroso to raise concerns about authoritarianism in Hungary.

But relations have warmed in recent weeks as Budapest has also moved on bringing new central bank laws in line with EU norms.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield)



Man Group finance director Kevin Hayes steps down - BBC News

Kevin Hayes has stepped down as finance director of struggling hedge fund firm Man Group on the day the company is demoted from the FTSE 100.

Jonathan Sorrell, Man's head of strategy and corporate finance, will replace him at Europe's largest listed hedge fund.

Man, whose shares have slumped, is being replaced in the FTSE 100 list of the UK's leading companies by Babcock.

Mr Hayes is leaving to pursue "other interests", Man said in a statement.

He joined Man in 2007.

Man Group shares have tumbled since the last FTSE review in March, and are down almost two-thirds since last year.

The firm's funds have struggled as cautious clients withdraw money because of the market turmoil caused by the eurozone debt crisis.

Mr Sorrell, son of WPP advertising chief Sir Martin Sorrell, spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs before joining Man last August.

In a statement, Man chief executive Peter Clarke said Mr Sorrell's experience "will be extremely valuable as we continue to develop and evolve in challenging world markets".


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