MSCI Financial News

BEIJING — U.S. investments in around 50 blacklisted Chinese companies have drawn the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

By Lawrence Delevingne and Tom Wilson

(Reuters) — Asset manager BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and index provider MSCI are being investigated by a congressional committee for allegedly facilitating China investments, Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing letters to the companies from the panel.

The world’s largest asset manager and a top stock-market-index compiler are being investigated by a congressional committee for facilitating American investment in Chinese companies the U.S. government has accused of bolstering China’s military and violating human rights. The House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party notified BlackRock and MSCI on Monday of the probes into their activities, according to letters viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

By Patturaja Murugaboopathy and Gaurav Dogra

By Libby George and Marc Jones

“Our outlook favours small-cap stocks over mid- and large-caps. This is because the comparative valuation is compelling and small caps are trading near the long-term averages, while mid & large are substantially above the average,” says Satish Menon, Executive Director at Geojit Financial Services. In an interview with ETMarkets, Menon said: “Small companies generally benefit from a lag effect, hence, demand and operating margin are forecasted to benefit in the next 1 to 2 quarters” Edited excerpts:We have seen a dream run on D-St with Sensex hitting 67000 and Nifty50 heading towards the 20,000 mark. Is this too good to be true and we are running ahead of fundamentals? We find no evidence of over-optimism in the domestic stock market.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Stephen Culp, financial markets columnist.

By Huw Jones

pension fund as part of a reform process. A boost in the valuation of the firms could eventually help the state meet its pension obligations. The new valuation system, says Meng Lei of UBS, a bank, is an attempt to help investors understand the broader implications of this transfer of state-owned capital to pensioners.

The BOJ sets policy later in the session. The Nikkei newspaper reported, without citing sources, that policymakers will discuss tweaking the yield control policy to allow 10-year government bond yields above a 0.5% cap in some circumstances. The yield leapt to 0.505% in early trade.

Read here: US GDP growth accelerates to 2.4% in Q2 despite Fed rate hikes Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%, its highest level since 2001. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%. The Nikkei 225 declined 1.35% and the Topix fell 1%.

Dollar weakness looks to have room to run after the Federal Reserve said further interest rate hikes would be data dependent, bolstering traders’ confidence that the US tightening cycle is near an end. 

Singapore'sUnited Overseas Bank is expecting «some upside» in interest income in the next quarter, after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a fresh rate hike overnight.

By Tom Wilson and Scott Murdoch

By Ankur Banerjee

Asian shares jumped on Tuesday as China's pledge to step up policy support for its stuttering economy soothed sentiment and lifted beaten down Hong Kong and Chinese stocks, while the dollar eased ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting this week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.2% higher and on course to snap a six-day losing streak.

The corporate watchdog has accused fund management giant Vanguard of misleading investors in its $1 billion-plus ethical bond product about the sustainability of its assets.

Nifty and Sensex ended in the negative on Monday, with industry heavyweights ITC, Reliance Industries (RIL), and Kotak Mahindra Bank being the main drags. RIL and Kotak Mahindra Bank's shares declined as their June quarter financial results failed to meet the expectations of Dalal Street, while ITC's shares dipped after the company revealed that its board had given in-principle approval for the demerger of its hotels sector.

SYDNEY (Reuters) — A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Stella Qiu

By Wayne Cole