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ASEAN Markets Set Fresh Highs

ASEAN markets continue their amazing run forward, and even though we may be due for a small retraction the base has been built for ASEAN to continue setting new highs.
In Malaysia the Index rose 0.8 percent to its highest since Feb. 21, 2008
Supermax Corp Bhd recorded a 77.8% jump in net profit to RM45.9mil for [...]

China:ABC set to become World’s largest listing

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) is set to raise up to US$23.2B in the World’s largest listing, according to the price range the lender set for its shares.
ABC said late on Monday in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it had set the price range for the Shanghai portion of its initial [...]

Abhisit Vejjajiva to Take Action in Bangkok Crisis

“From now on, what the government will do may risk clashes and losses, but the government knows what it’s doing. What needs to be done must be done,” Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a weekly televised address.
“I have already decided what steps to take, but I need to make sure it will be successful and [...]

Wall St Gaps Up on Earnings

U.S. stocks rose for a fifth straight day as better-than-estimated results at Intel Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and CSX Corp. and an increase in retail sales bolstered confidence that a six-week rally was justified.
Intel rallied 3 percent after the world’s largest chipmaker forecast rising sales this quarter and record profit margins for the year, [...]

Bad News for Banks: Troubled mortgages hit record high

For more than 616,000 familys there are few green shoots to see, their loans were hit with foreclosure actions in the first 3 months of the year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Despite all the hand-wringing and attempts to contain the foreclosure plague, the problem still spread during the first three months of [...]

Monument Securities – Hoping against hope

LONDON (Dow Jones)–The S&P Case-Shiller index of home prices in twenty US metropolitan areas fell by 2.2% between January and February this year, according to data released yesterday. That was hardly a sign of stabilization in the housing sector.
Nevertheless, the financial markets took comfort from a fall in the year-on-year rate of decline in this [...]