Hong Kong launches 4th Asian Financial Forum

Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Hong Kong | Mon, 01/17/2011 9:51 AM | Business

On Monday, Hong Kong officially opened one of the biggest financial forums in Asia, with the main agenda to discuss the region’s growing role in the global economy.

Taking “Asia: Reshaping the Global Agenda” as its theme, the two-day 2011 Asian Financial Forum will feature dozens of influential business, finance and government leaders as the event’s speakers, including United Kingdom Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress Cheng Siwei, and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics Robert Mundell.

In his opening remarks, Hong Kong 's chief executive Donald Tsang said he hoped the forum to be an ideal platform for businesspeople and policy makers in the region to learn about the world’s economic changes and its effects on Asian countries.

Held annually since 2007 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the forum has continuously attracted the world’s influential leaders in business, finance and government. 

This year, the event has successfully attracted more than 1,500 participants from 31 countries and regions.

Asian shares mixed after China central bank move

The Associated Press, Tokyo, Japan | Mon, 01/17/2011 9:58 AM | Business

Asian shares were mixed Monday as investors digested the latest move by China to control interest rates.

China's central bank on Friday raised the amount of money banks must keep on reserve for the seventh time in a year. It ordered state-owned banks to set asde an additional 0.5 percent of deposits as reserves, effective Jan. 20.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.3 percent to 24,214.97, the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3 percent to 2,753.79, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to 4,779.20.

Benchmarks in New Zealand and Taiwan also retreated Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.4 percent to 10,536.74 as banks benefited from a strong showing by U.S. financials before the weekend. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest bank, rose 0.7 percent.

The optimism was triggered by JPMorgan Chase & Co., which reported that its income soared 47 percent in the fourth quarter. The bank set aside less money to cover bad loans and said it expected to get permission from the Federal Reserve to raise its dividend.

South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 perent to 2,111.27 on strength in high-tech shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 55.48 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,787.38. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.48, or 0.7 percent, to 1,293.24.

The Nasdaq rose 20.01, or 0.7 percent, to 2,755.30. U.S. financial markets will be cosed Monday to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. In currencies, the dollar rose to 82.90 yen from 82.80 yen late Friday.

The euro stood at $1.3344 from $1.3385. Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 9 cents $91.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 14 cents to settle at $91.54 a barrel Friday.