Gold price to rise amidst volatility

Gold prices are expected to rise this year amidst volatile markets and a global economic slowdown, said Standard Chartered Bank.

Its chief investment strategist Steve Brice said gold and gold equities remain the bank’s favoured investments to manage the threat of a loss of purchasing power.

“Within the equity space, we believe gold-related companies will also provide a good hedge against inflation.

We have seen considerable underperformance of gold equities versus the underlying commodity over the past 18 months.

As gold price assumptions are adjusted higher, we expect gold stocks to play catch-up with gold.

Regional markets to stay on growth track

The region’s stock markets are likely to continue last week’s rally this week, buoyed by robust global oil prices, better than expected US employment data for January and positive news flows from Europe which indicate the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is manageable, analysts say.

“Investors are back in the market. In Saudi Arabia, the prevailing high oil prices and talk about the government allowing foreigners to buy and sell shares on its market are acting as catalysts, while in the UAE, the bank results, which were positive in the fourth quarter are the catalyst,” Samer Darwiche, Associate at Dubai-based Gulfmena Investments Ltd, told Gulf News by telephone.

Is Facebook a wise investment?

A report published by the Wall Street Journal Friday has touched off a flurry of speculation that Facebook could file IPO papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as Wednesday.

In an interview with CTV’s Canada AM, IT and finance expert Dave Valliere says the timing of the sale begs the question: why now?

Valliere, who chairs the Ted Rogers School of Management Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Ryerson University in Toronto, says companies will often decide to go public when they need an injection of cash.

“That’s useful if you have some great projects in mind.

Not keen on investing in Indian aviation market

Several major international airlines seem to be wary of picking up stakes in the loss-making Indian carriers at this stage, even as the government plans to take steps to allow them to do so.

Even before the government formally notified changes in the aviation policy that currently bars foreign carriers from investing in Indian airlines, officials and spokespersons of major international airlines have said they were not interested in investing in the Indian aviation market.

While a few airlines like Qatar Airways and Air Asia evinced some interest, carriers like Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and Emirates said they were not interested.

Bank of America Investment Bank Posts Second Loss Under Montag

Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. lender by assets, reported a second consecutive loss at its investment bank as trading chief Thomas K. Montag grappled with the European sovereign-debt crisis.

Montag’s global banking and markets division, which includes trading and underwriting operations, posted a $443 million fourth-quarter loss, following a $302 million loss in the preceding three-month period, the Charlotte, North Carolina- based bank said today in a statement.

The unit had a $669 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Abu Dhabi’s ADIA keen to invest in India

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the Abu Dhabi government, has expressed “keen interest” in investing in India, commerce ministry said on Monday.

The two sides have agreed to speed up the creation of a joint working group to facilitate the fund’s investment into Asia’s third-largest economy, the ministry said in a statement.

ADIA may invest in the country’s infrastructure sector, which will see a total of $1 trillion of investment in the next five years, commerce minister Anand Sharma said, according to the statement.

Kuwait Investment Companies Need Government Support, Union Says

Kuwaiti investment companies need government intervention to overcome the effects of the economic crisis, and failing to deal with their debt may hurt banks in the country, said Asaad al-Banwan, chairman of the Union of Investment Companies.

“The continued weakness of investment companies and their inability to service their debt may cause a significantly negative impact on the performance of local banks,” al-Banwan said in an e-mailed statement today.

“Challenges of the financial crisis can be overcome by government interference, and Kuwait is not an exception,” he said. Given a lack of funding channels for investment companies, the union “sees the necessity for the government to review its stand toward the investment sector,” al-Banwan said.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) invest over Rs 15,000 cr in debt, equities this month

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue to invest in the Indian stock and debt markets for the second week, as the net inflows were over Rs 15,000 crore in this month so far.

FIIs gross purchase of equities and debt securities was at Rs 36,613 crore between January 2-13.

In the same time, foreign funds sold shares and bonds worth Rs 21,235 crore, translating into a net investment of Rs 15,378 crore for the period, according to the Sebi data.

Market experts believe that rupee strengthening and easing concerns over inflation and economic growth have helped foreign investors to step up buying in recent sessions.

10 trading tips to keep you sane and solvent

Extreme market volatility over the past year and the agony of watching the market fall off a cliff while pension managers are out playing golf has driven more and more people into short-term trading.

Trading follows a different methodology from investing: you are looking for short-term movements and speculating on price falls as well as rises. Investing entails looking for value and taking a longer-term view.

Here are 10 trading tips that have stood the test of time.

1. Knowledge is king. Have an economic calendar, and a company reporting and dividend schedule to hand. Devour the business pages and read the odd trading book. Have a financial television channel on, but avoid information overload.

KSE index declines to five-month low

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100 Index fell by another 21 points to five-month low on Thursday, mainly on speculative selling in select energy and banking stocks, as investors remained concerned over the rift among the state institutions, dealers said.

Lacklustre attitude of investors from all walks of lives kept the market ranged-bound with thin turnover, they added. The benchmark KSE-100 Index fell by 21.37 points, or 0.20 percent, to 10,909.12 points. The index remained locked in the red zone throughout the session. At a point, it fell by around 90 points to a low of 10,841 points.