The Nation Newspaper

Category: Equities

  • Global bonds surge on outlook for record rates

    Bonds are rallying from the United States of America (USA) to Germany to Australia amid speculation the Federal Reserve will disappoint investors looking for signals it’s moving closer to raising interest rates from a record low.

    Treasury 10-year yields rose yesterday from almost the lowest level since May. German benchmark rates dropped to a record yesterday amid bets the European Central Bank will resort to buying bonds to spur growth. Unrest in Ukraine and Gaza is fueling the rally by boosting demand for the relative safety of government debt.Ten-year yields were at or near 2014’s lowest levels in 21 of 25 developed markets tracked by Bloomberg.

    “The Fed is likely to be a bit of a damp squib,” said Nick Stamenkovic, a fixed-income strategist at broker RIA Capital Markets in Edinburgh. “Treasuries in general have been more affected by the geopolitical environment, particularly at the longer end.”

    Bloomberg reported that Treasury 10-year yields added two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 2.48 percent. The price of the 2.5 percent note due May 2024 was 100 6/32. The yield fell three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, on Tuesday after sliding to 2.40 percent on May 29, the least since June 2013.

    Australia’s (GACGB10) 10-year yield dropped five basis points to 3.42 percent, and Japan’s was little changed at 0.53 percent.

    German 10-year bund yields fell as low as 1.109 percent yesterday, dropping below the previous record set in 2012 when the region was in the throes of a downturn that threatened the euro’s existence. It’s little changed today at 1.12 percent.

    The Bloomberg Global Developed Sovereign Bond Index (BGSV) has gained 4.8 percent this year through yesterday, recouping a decline from 2013.

    “The potential implications for global growth seemed to have underpinned Treasuries and global fixed income,” said Su Lin Ong, head of Australian economic and fixed-income strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in Sydney. “It’s hard to see an end to some of these geopolitical risks.”

    The Fed will keep its target for overnight bank lending in a range of zero to 0.25 percent at the end of its two-day meeting today, based on a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

    US policy makers are scaling back the bond-buying program they have used to support the economy, and will reduce monthly purchases to $25 billion from $35 billion this week, based on responses from economists.

    Dan Fuss, whose Boston-based Loomis Sayles Bond Fund (LSBDX) outperformed 98 percent of its competitors during the past five years, said geopolitical risks will keep the Fed from raising interest rates for at least a year.

    “There’s reason to worry geopolitically,” Fuss said this week on Bloomberg Radio’s “The Hays Advantage” with Kathleen Hays in New York. “I think our central bank takes that into account.”

    Traders see almost an 80 percent probability the Fed will raise the target for its benchmark to at least 0.5 percent by September 2015, based on futures contracts.

    The US is scheduled to sell $15 billion of two-year floating-rate notes and $29 billion of seven-year fixed-rate securities today. The government auctioned five-year notes on Tuesday and two-year debt the day before.

  • RT Briscoe gets shareholders’ nod to raise N10b

    RT Briscoe gets shareholders’ nod to raise N10b

    Shareholders of RT Briscoe (Nigeria) Plc yesterday authorised the board of the company to raise N10 billion to deleverage its operations as the automobile and real estate company struggled with losses induced by huge interest expenses.

    At the annual general meeting in Lagos, shareholders mandated the board to raise new funds through any option or a combination of debt instruments, preference shares and ordinary shares by way of rights issue, private placement or offer for subscription.

    To create room for the impending fresh capital, shareholders also increased the authorized share capital of the company from N2 billion divided into 4.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N3.25 billion divided 6.5 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

    Addressing the shareholders, chairman, RT Briscoe (Nigeria), Mr. Clement Olowokande said the directors on the company have been strategizing on how to optimize the use of available resources and opportunities for maximum returns.

    According to him, in order to raise the much needed capital for business expansion and working capital, the board is exploring the possibilities of recapitalizing through debt instruments, additional equity or a combination of both.

    He assured shareholders that the board will on behalf of the shareholders, carefully select auspice time and modality for implementing these options.

    He enjoined the shareholders to support the company in its efforts to recapitalize its business and stem the tide of losses in recent years.

    “The automobile industry in Nigeria, particularly for motor dealers and distributors like us, is currently in a development phase that requires significant capital outlay for stock, after sales infrastructure and implementation of development phase for the future,” Olowokande said.

    He said the competition in the market place has become more severe as all major brands in the world are now present in the country.

    On the future prospect of the company, the chairman the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP confirmed enormous business opportunities in the country for a company like RT Briscoe.

    Olowokande observed that contrary to prior economic data before the rebasing, that the oil and gas sector represented 32 per cent of the economy, under the new set of data, that sector only contributed 14 per cent while much of the balance came from previously unreported, consumer-driven sectors.

     

     

     

     

    He also said that a report by the World Bank that the Nigerian had expanded by an average of six percent annually since 2006 and which according to IMF data is expected to achieve a rate of seven percent this year, gives much room for optimism and confidence in the business outlook, adding that this is further bolstered by reports that the population is growing by more than two percent per year, indicating a growing market for the company’s goods and services.

    The chairman also said the new automotive policy designed to favour local manufacturers and assembling of semi and completely knocked down parts is viewed by the board of the company as a challenge to improve the business horizon of the company.

    Owing to difficult operating environment in 2013, RT Briscoe recorded a group turnover of N21.8 billion during its financial year ended December 31, 2013 compared with a turnover of N21.9 billion during the corresponding period of 2012.

    “Irrespective of the progress made in property development projects, the International Financial Reporting Standards do not allow income to be realised until contractual arrangements are concluded and interest in the property is transferred to a third party,” Olowokande said.

    RT Briscoe recorded a loss before tax of about N152 million in 2013 as the company continued to wriggle in mounting interest expenses. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of RT Briscoe for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed top-down decline in all key performance indices, underlining the decline in sales and continuing negative impact of the company’s financing expenses.

    The report indicated a loss before tax of N151.60 million in 2013, sustaining the red line that started in 2012 when the company lost N228.50 million. However, with tax gains of N59.59 million in 2013, net loss after tax dropped from N280.72 million in 2012 to N92.02 million in 2013.

    Turnover dropped from N21.98 billion in 2012 to N21.77 billion in 2013. Gross profit slipped from N2.68 billion in 2012 to N2.56 billion while operating profit dropped from N941.78 million to N801.81 million. Finance expense meanwhile rose from N1.26 billion in 2012 to N1.47 billion in 2013. The depressed bottom-line also impacted on shareholders’ funds, which slipped from N3.13 billion in 2012 to N3.05 billion in 2012.

    After several years of unbroken dividend payment, RT Briscoe had entered the red zone in 2012. Shareholders saw a reduction of about 25 kobo in the underlying value of each of their shares as returns for the 2012 business year in contrast with dividend per share of 10 kobo received in 2011 and 2010 respectively. The company is also not paying any dividend for the 2013 business year, obviously due to the negative bottom-line.

     

     

  • UBA grows gross earnings to N138b in first half

    UBA grows gross earnings to N138b in first half

    United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc at the weekend released its earnings for the first half of this year showing modest growths in key headlines.

    Key extracts of the interim report and accounts of UBA for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 indicated that gross earnings rose to N138 billion in first half of 2014, representing an increase of 8.7 per cent on N127 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2013.

    The top-line performance was boosted by strong growth in the bank’s core banking operations as interest income rose by 11 per cent to N98.5 billion in 2014 as against N88.6 billion in the comparative period of 2013.

    The report showed that net interest income rose slightly to N55.2 billion, non-interest income rose 3.1 per cent to N39.8 billion; operating income was up 2.7 per cent to N92.2 billion and  profits  stood at N29 billion for the period.

    Group managing director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said the bank would remain focused on its medium and long term strategies to grow market share in all its businesses across Africa while reducing its costs.

    “We are confident that business returns will be much better in the remaining period of the year as we continue to deploy new and innovative ways of delivering value adding products and services,” Oduoza said.

    He assured that the bank would deliver better returns to shareholders.

    The bank had last year initiated a new business development plan aimed at consolidating the bank’s position as a leading pan-African global financial services group.

    The three-year business development plan codenamed Project Alpha was designed as the group’s next focus of strategic transformation and it contained key transformation initiatives.

    Oduoza said the new business plan was designed to consolidate the group’s strategic positioning and fully capture the opportunities from Africa’s economic renaissance.

    According to him, Project Alpha is focused on leveraging all aspects of the group’s footprint, product offerings and operational capability, allowing a commitment to customer service transformation, market share growth, the implementation of key e-banking initiatives across all segments, the growth of corporate and trade finance capabilities.

    He outlined that a critical aspect of the Project Alpha initiative is the focus on UBA Africa, which currently contributes 20 per cent to group performance and is projected to contribute about 50 per cent by 2016.

    UBA had grown its top-line by 20.2 per cent to about N265 billion in 2013 as it sustained positive trends in several key performance indices. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of UBA for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed appreciable improvements in the top-line, operational efficiency and customer’s confidence. The bank paid a dividend of 50 kobo per share.

    The report indicated that gross earnings rose from N220.1 billion in 2012 to N264.7 billion in 2013. The top-line performance was largely driven by a growth of 40.4 per cent in loans and advances as well as a 25 per cent growth in the bank’s total deposits.

    Consequently, the bank’s loan-to-deposit ratio improved from 38.7 per cent to 44.3 per cent. It also enhanced its operational efficiency and productivity with the cost-to-income ratio improving by four percentage points from 64.8 per cent to 60.9 per cent. Profit before tax grew by 7.8 per cent to N56.06 billion in 2013 as against N52.01 billion in 2012. This indicated a return on equity of 21.8 per cent.  The bank’s balance sheet expanded to N2.64 trillion while total deposit base closed the year at N2.22 trillion.

     

     

     

     

  • SEC to sponsor foreign training for award winners

    SEC to sponsor foreign training for award winners

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is concluding arrangements to sponsor five Nigerian journalists on an intensive training on capital markets at the International Law Institute, Washington DC, USA.

    The journalists are being sponsored by SEC in redemption of their prize winnings in the 2012 and 2013 editions of the SEC Capital Market Essay Competition for Journalists which was instituted by the Commission in 2012.

    Of the five journalists, two were prize winners in the 2012 edition of the competition. They are Iheanyi Nwachukwu of Businessday newspaper and Taofik Salako of The Nation newspaper. They are to undergo two weeks and one week of intensive training on The Foundations and Development of Capital markets at ILI respectively. Winners in the 2013 edition included Teslim Shitta-Bey of Business Hallmark newspaper, Patrick Atuanya of Businessday newspaper and Sule Teliat Abiodun of Businessday newspaper. Shitta – Bey and Atuanya will undergo two weeks of training at ILI while Abiodun will spend a week in the institution.

    The third place winners – Abiodun Eromosele of Thisday newspaper (2012) and Chris Ugwu, then of Leadership Newspapers (2013) who were entitled to a week – long training in a leading local institution have since redeemed their prizes by undergoing training on Business Writing and Communication Skills at the Financial Institutions Training Centre, FITC in Lagos.

    In a statement, SEC stated that the SEC Capital Market Essay Competition for Journalists, a signature annual event of the SEC, is a specific capacity building mechanism for the media industry.

    “It also fosters investor education through interest in reading and writing about the markets among journalists as well as the wider society. Plans are afoot to activate the 2014 edition of the competition through which fresh winners will emerge,” the Commission stated.

    It noted that in line with the objective of widening knowledge of the capital markets among journalists and wider audiences, the competition offers only training and non pecuniary rewards to winners. These include two weeks and one week of intensive training on finance,  business and capital markets for first and second prize winners respectively in a major learning centre abroad while the third prize winner is entitled to a week-long training in the subjects in a reputable local institution.

     

  • Sterling Bank gains on core banking focus as earnings rise

    Sterling Bank gains on core banking focus as earnings rise

    •Grosses N49b in six months

    Sterling Bank Plc rode on the back of increasing efficiency and growing market share in its core commercial banking business to deliver impressive growths in the top-line and profitability in the first half of 2014.

    Interim report and accounts of the bank for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 released at the weekend indicated double-digit growth of 16.3 per cent in the gross earnings, driven by larger growth of 20.5 per cent in interest income. Net interest income rose by about 40 per cent, underlying significant improvement in the cost-to-income ratio in the core banking operations. This also impacted on the operating income, which rose by 25.4 per cent.

    Gross earnings rose to N48.7 billion in first half 2014 as against N41.86 billion in comparable period of 2013. The top-line was driven by interest income, which rose from N31.08 billion in first half 2013 to N37.44 billion in first half 2014. Net interest income leapt to N21.28 billion in 2014 as against N15.17 billion in 2013. Non-interest income also increased to N11.3 billion in first half 2014 compared with N10.8 billion recorded in comparable period of 2013. Operating income thus rose from N25.95 billion to N32.54 billion.

    However, the bank’s operating expenses increased by 28.5 per cent to N23.8 billion in first half 2014 as against N18.5 billion in first half 2013, driven by on-going investments in branch refits and expansion, and rollout of alternative channels. This moderated the net bottom-line. Profit before tax rose slightly from N6.27 billion in 2013 to N6.34 billion in 2014. With 131 per cent increase in income tax from N350.15 million to N809.73 million, net profit after tax stood at N5.5 billion.

    Commenting on the results, managing director, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola, said the performance in the first half of the year further demonstrated the underlying strength of the bank’s core business.

    He noted that in spite of the challenging operating environment, the bank achieved a 130 basis points improvement in net interest margins to 7.7 per cent resulting from a 60 basis points reduction in cost of funds and a 70 basis points increase in asset yield.

    He explained that the increase in cost-to-income ratio increased by 20 basis points to 73 per cent due to ongoing investments in the upgrade of the bank’s physical infrastructure and the rollout of alternative channels.

    “During the period, we completed eight new branches while 13 others are at various stages of completion. We also remodeled several of our existing branches, deployed 120 additional Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and signed-on over 200 merchants to drive our Agent Banking model for financial inclusion,” Adeola said.

    He said the bank would remain focus on further improvement in its efficiency and cost reduction to ensure that it delivers on its full-year targets and provides increased returns to shareholders.

    “We are confident that the second half of the year would reinforce the trend we have seen in the first six months. We remain focused on efficiency – keeping the cost-income ratio within an acceptable range. By and large, we are optimistic that Sterling Bank’s full year returns will be in line with our forecasts and expectations,” Adeola assured.

     

  • RT Briscoe gets shareholders’ nod to raise N10b

    RT Briscoe gets shareholders’ nod to raise N10b

    Shareholders of RT Briscoe (Nigeria) Plc yesterday authorised the board of the company to raise N10 billion to deleverage its operations as the automobile and real estate company struggled with losses induced by huge interest expenses.

    At the annual general meeting in Lagos, shareholders mandated the board to raise new funds through any option or a combination of debt instruments, preference shares and ordinary shares by way of rights issue, private placement or offer for subscription.

    To create room for the impending fresh capital, shareholders also increased the authorized share capital of the company from N2 billion divided into 4.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N3.25 billion divided 6.5 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

    Addressing the shareholders, chairman, RT Briscoe (Nigeria), Mr. Clement Olowokande said the directors on the company have been strategizing on how to optimize the use of available resources and opportunities for maximum returns.

    According to him, in order to raise the much needed capital for business expansion and working capital, the board is exploring the possibilities of recapitalizing through debt instruments, additional equity or a combination of both.

    He assured shareholders that the board will on behalf of the shareholders, carefully select auspice time and modality for implementing these options.

    He enjoined the shareholders to support the company in its efforts to recapitalize its business and stem the tide of losses in recent years.

    “The automobile industry in Nigeria, particularly for motor dealers and distributors like us, is currently in a development phase that requires significant capital outlay for stock, after sales infrastructure and implementation of development phase for the future,” Olowokande said.

    He said the competition in the market place has become more severe as all major brands in the world are now present in the country.

    On the future prospect of the company, the chairman the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP confirmed enormous business opportunities in the country for a company like RT Briscoe.

    Olowokande observed that contrary to prior economic data before the rebasing, that the oil and gas sector represented 32 per cent of the economy, under the new set of data, that sector only contributed 14 per cent while much of the balance came from previously unreported, consumer-driven sectors.

    He also said that a report by the World Bank that the Nigerian had expanded by an average of six percent annually since 2006 and which according to IMF data is expected to achieve a rate of seven percent this year, gives much room for optimism and confidence in the business outlook, adding that this is further bolstered by reports that the population is growing by more than two percent per year, indicating a growing market for the company’s goods and services.

    The chairman also said the new automotive policy designed to favour local manufacturers and assembling of semi and completely knocked down parts is viewed by the board of the company as a challenge to improve the business horizon of the company.

    Owing to difficult operating environment in 2013, RT Briscoe recorded a group turnover of N21.8 billion during its financial year ended December 31, 2013 compared with a turnover of N21.9 billion during the corresponding period of 2012.

    “Irrespective of the progress made in property development projects, the International Financial Reporting Standards do not allow income to be realised until contractual arrangements are concluded and interest in the property is transferred to a third party,” Olowokande said.

    RT Briscoe recorded a loss before tax of about N152 million in 2013 as the company continued to wriggle in mounting interest expenses. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of RT Briscoe for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed top-down decline in all key performance indices, underlining the decline in sales and continuing negative impact of the company’s financing expenses.

  • SEC to sponsor foreign training for award winners

    SEC to sponsor foreign training for award winners

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is concluding arrangements to sponsor five Nigerian journalists on an intensive training on capital markets at the International Law Institute, Washington DC, USA.

    The journalists are being sponsored by SEC in redemption of their prize winnings in the 2012 and 2013 editions of the SEC Capital Market Essay Competition for Journalists which was instituted by the Commission in 2012.

    Of the five journalists, two were prize winners in the 2012 edition of the competition. They are Iheanyi Nwachukwu of Businessday newspaper and Taofik Salako of The Nation newspaper. They are to undergo two weeks and one week of intensive training on The Foundations and Development of Capital markets at ILI respectively. Winners in the 2013 edition included Teslim Shitta-Bey of Business Hallmark newspaper, Patrick Atuanya of Businessday newspaper and Sule Teliat Abiodun of Businessday newspaper. Shitta – Bey and Atuanya will undergo two weeks of training at ILI while Abiodun will spend a week in the institution.

    The third place winners – Abiodun Eromosele of Thisday newspaper (2012) and Chris Ugwu, then of Leadership Newspapers (2013) who were entitled to a week – long training in a leading local institution have since redeemed their prizes by undergoing training on Business Writing and Communication Skills at the Financial Institutions Training Centre, FITC in Lagos.

    In a statement, SEC stated that the SEC Capital Market Essay Competition for Journalists, a signature annual event of the SEC, is a specific capacity building mechanism for the media industry.

    “It also fosters investor education through interest in reading and writing about the markets among journalists as well as the wider society. Plans are afoot to activate the 2014 edition of the competition through which fresh winners will emerge,” the Commission stated.

    It noted that in line with the objective of widening knowledge of the capital markets among journalists and wider audiences, the competition offers only training and non pecuniary rewards to winners. These include two weeks and one week of intensive training on finance,  business and capital markets for first and second prize winners respectively in a major learning centre abroad while the third prize winner is entitled to a week-long training in the subjects in a reputable local institution.

  • Zenith Bank records N58b profit in six months

    Zenith Bank records N58b profit in six months

    Zenith Bank Plc recorded a pre-tax profit of about N58 billion in the first half of this year as the bank sustained modest growths in the top-line and bottom-line.

    Interim report and accounts of Zenith Bank for the six-month period ended June 30, 2014 released yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that profit before tax rose by about seven per cent to N57.85 billion in first half 2014 as against N54.08 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year. Profit after tax also rose to N47.45 billion as against N45.42 billion for the same period in 2013. Gross earnings rose by 7.8 per cent from N171.02 billion in 2013 to N184.43 billion in first half 2014.

    The results also showed that within the period, Zenith, Nigeria’s biggest bank by Tier-1 capital grew its assets by 15.2 per cent from N2.78 trillion to N3.20 trillion. Also noticeable is the 7.43 per cent increase in shareholders’ funds, up from N458.31 billion as at the end of June last year to 492.38 billion.

    The first-half report further strengthened the performance outlook of Zenith Bank, which had increased cash dividend to about N54.94 billion for the 2013 business year as against N50.23 billion distributed for the 2012 business year. The breakdown of the dividend indicated that shareholders received a dividend per share of N1.75 as against N1.60 received in the previous year.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Zenith Bank for the year ended December 31, 2013 had shown that gross earnings rose by 14 per cent while pre-tax profit increased by 8.0 per cent. However, profit after tax dropped by 5.0 per cent.

    Gross earnings closed 2013 at N351.47 billion as against N307.08 billion recorded in 2012. Interest income rose by almost 18 per cent from N221 billion to N260 billion, while net interest income rose by 21 per cent to  N156.8 billion compared with N189.3 billion in 2012.

    Profit before tax stood at N110.6 billion in 2013 as against N102.1 billion in 2012. However, high operating expenses and tax payment led to a drop in profit after tax. The bank paid a tax of N15 billion, indicating a jump of 977 per cent from N1.419 billion in 2012.  Consequently, profit after tax fell by five per cent from N100.68 billion to N95.32 billion.

    Balance sheet of the bank also appeared stronger as customers’ deposits rose by 18 per cent from N1.929 trillion to N2.277 trillion. Return on average equity stood at 19.6 per cent, while return on average asset was 3.3 per cent.

    With network that includes subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Zenith Bank currently has a shareholder base of about one million.

    Aside listing $850 million worth of its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), via a technical Global Depository Receipt (GDR) programme, the Bank, in April 2014, recorded a massive over-subscription of about 200% in her $500m Eurobond issue under a $1bn Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) programme announced on 1 April 2014.

    The bank was also in June, declared the Most Customer Focused Bank 2014 by KPMG; where the bank won in all three categories namely: Corporate, Retail and SME.

    Zenith was also, this year, rated the Biggest Bank in Nigeria by tier-1 capital by the FT of London and Best Nigerian Bank in Corporate Governance by the World Finance.

  • Technical fault disrupts trading at Stock Exchange

    Technical fault disrupts trading at Stock Exchange

    Trading activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) were disrupted yesterday due to a lingered technical fault.

    The NSE and several stockbroking firms confirmed that the technical fault disrupted trading and trading data. As at the press time, the official trading summaries and other reports were still unavailable.

    The NSE, in a statement, said trading was disrupted by “an unexpected technical issue”, which arose as “a result of a network fault which has now been identified”.

    “Our engineers and technical partners are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. The Exchange is taking this situation very seriously and will continue to provide updated information. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused,” the late-night statement stated.

    Stockbrokers stated that their clients were unable to use the online trading portal to trade. Many stockbroking firms have recently launched online trading portal that provides on-line, real time access to investors to personally execute their orders on the NSE.

    The NSE had switched to a new trading platform in 2013. Chief executive officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, said the new trading platform known as NASDAQ OMX S-Stream was a high performance, robust and scalable, multi-asset, multi-market matching trading engine.

    Onyema said the new trading platform was as a strategic move and a significant step in achieving the target of making the NSE the gateway to the African markets.

    “The new trading platform will enable the Nigerian Stock Exchange have the fastest trading engine in Africa and investors, through their stockbrokers, will have real-time access to market prices, their portfolios and be enabled to execute market orders in near real-time from anywhere and on a wide range of devices including smartphones,” Onyema said.

    He added that the new system would also improve transparency and provide efficient price discovery in the market, among other benefits, stressing that investors in the market would benefit significantly from the system upgrade as it would afford them the opportunity to diversify their investment portfolio.

    According to him, with the new system, equities, a fully functional bond market and exchange traded funds ( ETFs)  will be accommodated in phase one of the project while derivatives will be introduced in the second phase. The system will also enable the NSE to host other Exchanges.

  • Global stocks rise on strong earnings

    Global equity markets edged higher on Wednesday as a backdrop of solid corporate earnings buoyed risk appetite, but worries over the Middle East and Ukraine kept demand strong for safe-haven assets such as bonds.

    Shares in Europe and emerging markets, and most of Wall Street, rose, with the benchmark S&P 500 setting a new intraday record for a second day as results continued to beat forecasts.

    Reuters reported that of the 149 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 68.5 percent have beat expectations, a bit better than the past four quarters and five percentage points above the 20-year average of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

    “The bottom line is investors have moved away, for now, from the big political stories and are refocused on earnings, which in general have been good,” said Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

    “There’s just not a lot of bad news out there when it comes to corporate earnings,” he said.

    MSCI’s all-country world index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.17 percent, while the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 rose 0.14 percent to close at 1,375.69.

    The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 31.76 points, or 0.19 percent, to 17,081.78. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.56 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,986.09 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 13.869 points, or 0.31 percent, to 4,469.885.

    The prospect of more sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis and a downed Malaysian airliner kept risk aversion on the table in the bond market, where German 10-year yields nudged down to 1.147 percent, just shy of record lows.

    Bund futures rose 32 ticks to settle at 148.36. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries US10YT=RR were up 3/32 in price to yield 2.4529 percent. The euro was 0.01 percent lower at $1.3463 EUR=, while the dollar was 0.01 percent higher against the Japanese yen JPY= at 101.47.

    Brent crude for September delivery LCOc1 was up 13 cents at $107.46 a barrel. U.S. crude for September delivery CLc1 was 51 cents higher at $102.90 a barrel.