Asian stocks rose, with the regional index heading for a five-month high, as Senate leaders said they’re optimistic they will forge a deal to reopen the U.S. government and avoid a breach of the debt limit this week. James Hardie Industries SE, a maker of building materials that gets about 70 percent of sales from the U.S., increased 1.8 percent in Sydney. Mazda Motor Corp. (7261) jumped 3 percent in Tokyo after Macquarie Group Ltd. and BNP Paribas raised ratings on the carmaker. Hankook Tire Co., South Korea’s No. 1 tiremaker, advance 1.9 percent after announcing plans to build its first factory in the U.S.
Updated 6 Years ago

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corp. (WBC) are among lenders risking losses on $3 billion of loans backing a coal port in Australia that will be twice its required size. Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal Pty, the group comprising the unfinished project’s owners, including Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) and Wesfarmers Ltd. (WES), in 2011 borrowed the debt from 19 banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. When the port in the state of Queensland begins shipping in early 2015, only about half of its 27 million metric tons of initial annual export capacity will be used after a slump in coal demand, forecaster Wood Mackenzie Ltd. estimates.
Updated 6 Years ago

China’s foreign-exchange reserves rose last quarter by the most in more than two years, a sign the government’s efforts to protect growth attracted money even as developing nations from India to Indonesia saw capital exit. Reserves were a record $3.66 trillion at the end of September, the People’s Bank of China said yesterday in Beijing, up from $3.5 trillion in June. The median projection was $3.52 trillion in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, said that Nigerians must accept Naira for dollar transfers. Fielding questions from journalists on the sidelines of the 2013 World Bank/ International Monetary Fund , IMF, annual general meeeting in Washington, he explained that there was nowhere in the world where those sent money from abroad were being paid in foreign currencies, as was the case in Nigeria.
Updated 6 Years ago

Interconnection indebtedness amounting to over N20 billion among operators in Nigeria is threatening the stability of the country’s telecommunications market, industry analysts have said. This development, according to them, is particularly worrisome because some operators have disclosed plans to cut-off debtor networks after mediation and arbitration avenues have been fully explored.
Updated 6 Years ago

FBN Capital Limited has declared that Nigerian banks cannot fund the $8 billion yearly power needs alone and thus called for the support of institutional and foreign investors to fund the huge resources needed to drive various ongoing infrastructure projects, for the next 10 years.
Updated 6 Years ago

Techno Oil Ltd has started inaugurating its 20 new mega filling stations in cities nationwide to make petroleum products readily available to consumers. Mr Ken Abazie, the Head of Strategy/Legal Department of the company, disclosed this at a news conference to announce the unveiling of the stations in Lagos on Friday.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Republic of Ireland is on track to exit its international bailout programme by December, Prime Minister Enda Kenny says. He told the Fine Gael party conference in Limerick that although “fragile times” lay ahead “the economic emergency will be over”.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Central Bank (CBN) Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has bagged the 2013 Central Bank Governor Award for Sub-Saharan Africa. The award is in recognition of Sanusi’s efforts to reduce inflation to a single digit. It was conferred on him by Emerging Market Magazine, an international organisation, on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) taking place in Washington DC.
Updated 6 Years ago

Oando Energy Resources Inc. (OER), a company focused on oil exploration and production in Nigeria, disclosed last week that it has received commitment letters for up to $815 million of bank credit facilities which will be largely applied towards payment of the purchase price in respect of its proposed acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian upstream oil and gas business (COP acquisition). The credit facilities comprise up to $465 million Reserve Based Lending Facility, internationally placed and led by BNP Paribas, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank; and a $350 million Senior Secured Loan, jointly arranged locally in Nigeria, by FBN Capital and FCMB Capital Markets, according to a release on PR Newswire.
Updated 6 Years ago