La croissance du secteur manufacturier chinois a atteint en août son rythme le plus élevé depuis avril 2012, avec un bond des entrées de commandes, selon des données du Bureau national des statistiques. L’indice officiel des directeurs d’achat (PMI) a progressé à 51,0 contre 50,3 en juillet, dépassant le consensus qui était de 50,6. Toutes les composantes témoignent d’une amélioration.

Le gouvernement chinois a annoncé dimanche l’ouverture d’une enquête contre le directeur de la Commission d’administration et de contrôle des biens publics (Sasac), soupçonné de «graves violations à la discipline». Jiang Jiemin, qui a été nommé à la tête de la Sasac en mars dernier, présidait auparavant la China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), dont quatre autres cadres de haut rang font l’objet d’une enquête.

Les gestions consacrent toujours la moitié de leur portefeuille aux actions, mais seulement un tiers (35%) aux obligations

La BCE et la Banque d'Angleterre devraient cependant rester attentistes cette semaine

La BCE et la Banque d'Angleterre devraient cependant rester attentistes cette semaine

Les retraits nets ont atteint 2 milliards de dollars sur l'obligataire et 3,8 milliards sur les actions lors de la semaine achevée le 28 août

D’après un projet de communiqué que s’est procuré l’hebdomadaire allemand, le G20 estime que la reprise économique est plus faible qu’attendu et que des risques baissiers demeurent. Le document évoque notamment l’incertitude liée à la politique budgétaire américaine ou celle relative à l’union bancaire. Le G20 se réunit en fin de semaine à Saint-Pétersbourg.

La consolidation du rally enclenché en juin à 2.500 points avant la montée vers le plus haut atteint en 2011 à 3.075 points est le scénario le plus probable

Le Conseil de stabilité financière souhaite que les régulations s'y réfèrent moins, mais reconnaît que les alternatives sont difficiles à trouver

Les gestions ont légèrement relevé leurs attentes sur le CAC 40 et l’Euro Stoxx 50, attendus en hausse de 9% et 11% sur un an

La Commission européenne veut obliger les fonds monétaires à utiliser des notations internes et à cesser de se reposer sur les agences, selon un projet provisoire de règlement consulté par L’Agefi. Le texte s’inscrit dans la feuille de route de Bruxelles pour réguler la finance de l’ombre.

Le Panel réduit sa part de cash en portefeuille après l'avoir augmentée en juillet. Le marché primaire repart sur les chapeaux de roue

Les risques de liquidité et les techniques liées à la demande croissante de collatéraux sont visés par les projets européens qu'a pu consulter «L'Agefi»

Les dépenses de consommation ont à peine augmenté en juillet aux Etats-Unis et l’inflation est restée modérée, de quoi inciter à la prudence alors que la Réserve fédérale envisage de réduire ses rachats d’obligations. Les dépenses des ménages ont augmenté de 0,1% seulement le mois dernier, avec un chiffre étale pour les services et une baisse des achats de biens durables comme les voitures.

L’Agence France Trésor a annoncé l’adjudication, le lundi 2 septembre, d’un montant global compris entre 6,4 et 7,6 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor (BTF). Cette opération portera sur des montants compris entre 3,6 et 4,0 milliards d’euros de BTF à 13 semaines, entre 1,5 et 1,9 milliard d’euros de bons à 24 semaines et entre 1,3 et 1,7 milliard d’euros de bons à 50 semaines. Le jeudi 5 septembre, elle adjugera un montant compris entre 7,5 et 8,5 milliards d’euros d’obligations assimilables du Trésor (OAT). Cette opération portera sur les lignes 3,25% octobre 2021, 1,75% mai 2023 et 3,25% mai 2045.

L’Inde est en train de préparer avec d’autres pays émergents une intervention concertée sur les marchés des changes non physiques accusés d’avoir accentué la chute de leurs devises depuis trois mois, a déclaré vendredi un haut responsable du ministère indien des Finances à Reuters. «Ce sera une question de jours plutôt que de semaines. Le Brésil et l’Inde peuvent lancer le mouvement», a déclaré à Reuters Dipak Dasgupta, principal conseiller économique du ministère indien des finances, en évoquant la spéculation sur les marchés à terme non livrables. Un porte-parole de la banque centrale du Brésil a toutefois démenti sa participation à une intervention concertée.

Le Trésor italien empruntera 10 milliards d’euros de plus que prévu en 2013 pour régler des arriérés de paiement, rapporte Reuters. L’Italie verra en conséquence le montant total de son programme d'émission porté à 460 milliards d’euros environ contre 450 milliards précédemment.

On the European market, open-ended funds on sale in France in first half have posted outflows of EUR29.11bn, according to statistics from Lipper. However, Italy, Spain and Germany have posted inflows of over EUR7bn, with EUR7.38bn for Italy, EUR7.33bn for Spain and EUR7.12bn for Germany. Sweden follows close behind, with slightly over EUR6bn. Overall, open-ended funds on sale in Europe in first half posted net inflows of EUR109.6bn, after net inflows of EUR83.2bn in first half 2012. Most of these inflows came in first quarter, with a total of EUR109.3bn, In June, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be gradually phasing out its quantitative easing programme, leading to outflows of EUR28bn from bond funds.

The sovereign fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has recruited Suresh Sadasivan as head of Asian equities ex-Japan, who invests directly on equity marktes rather than through external managers, Asian Investor reports.Sadasivan, who had previously worked at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), will be based in Abu Dhabi. He replaced Lars Sorensen, who left earlier this year for personal reasons.Adia, whose assets under management total about USD70bn, in January this year received a USD300bn quota as a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII), which brings its allocation to USD1bn.

Stratton Street Capital, a firm specialised in emerging market debt, will in mid-September launch a UCITS-compliant mutual fund of investment grade Asian bonds denomminated in renminbi, Citywire reports. The fund will be a clone of a fund domiciled in Guernsey, entitled Stratton Street Renminbi Bond USD. It has been managed by Andy Seaman and his team since December 2007. The European version will be launched on the German platform of Universal-Investment.

As announced in advance more than a month ago (see Newsmanagers of 19 July), one-time factors related to the settlement of lawsuits with the US tax authorities, an amortisation of goodwill at swisspartners, the closure of LLB Switzerland and provisions for restructuring reduced net profits at Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) in first half 2013 by 77.7%, to CHF13.6m, compared with CHF60.9m in the corresponding period of last year.As a result, the cost-income ratio has deteriorated to 70.2%, compared with 58.5%. However, excluding one-time factors, operating revenues have increased by 8.2%, while operating expenses have fallen by 6.9%. Excluding one-time factors, net profits total CHF72m.LLB has not ultimately posted net subscriptions of CHF210m, but net outflows of about CHF400m in the first six months of the year. As of 30 June, total assets were nonetheless up by 1.2% due to market appreciation, for a total of CHF50.5bn.

As regulations in effect since December 2011 have been amended, CITIC Securities has been authorised to take over a majority stake in the asset management firm China AMC. As a result, CITIC increases from the previous ceiling of 49% to 59%, with an acquisition of 10% of capital in China AMC from Wuxi Guolian for CNY1.6bn, Z-Ben Advisors states. The second-largest shareholder is South Industry Asset Management, with 11%.

Mirabaud Asset Management has confirmed the departure of Malcolm White, a manager specialised in global equities based in Geneva, Citywire reports. White joined the firm in 2008, and was co-manager of the Mirabaud – Equities Global fund since its launch in December 2010. The fund will be taken over by Anu Narula, who joined Mirabaud AM in June.

The Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI) in first half posted net inflows of CHF2bn, up 5% year on year, according to a statement released by BSI on 29 August. Assets under management rose 3.7% as of 30 June, to a total of CHF89.4bn, comapred with CHF86.4bn as of the end of December 2012. Net profits were down, however, by 15%, to CHF36.2m, largely due to an increase in provisions and an increase in owners’ equity.

In 2012, Swiss private banks added an average of 4% to their assets under management compared with the previous year, through good performance of investments, according to a study by KPMG and the University of Saint-Gall. But more than one quarter of private institutions are expected to disappear in the next three years.The situation remains critical for institutions which have wealth under management of less than CHF5bn. As a consequence of the rising tide of liquidations affecting smaller establishments, the number of private banks last year fell by 13 in Switzerland, to 148. KPMG also predicts that due to constant pressure from abroad, 25% to 30% of these will disappear in the next three years.

Le gérant de hedge funds Michael Karsch a décidé de fermer sa société éponyme, Karsch Capital Management, créée il y a treize ans, rapporte l’agence Reuters."J’ai décidé de restituer leurs capitaux aux investisseurs d’ici à la fin du troisième trimestre», a indiqué Michael Karsch dans une lettre dont Reuters a eu copie. Selon Michael Karsch, 95% des actifs qui s'élèvent à 1,8 milliard de dollars, devraient être rendus aux investisseur’s d’ici à la fin du mois de septembre. Le reliquat devrait être restitué en janvier 2014 après l’audit de la société.

Net sales of UCITS reversed in June to record net outflows of EUR 65 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 34 billion in May, according to statistics released by the European asset management association (Efama). June witnessed the largest net outflows from UCITS since October 2008, Efama reveals. “Rising long-term interest rates and market expectation that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its quantitative easing programme before the end of this year fuelled large withdrawals from bond funds in June, and also negatively impacted equity funds,” says Bernard Delbecque, director of economics and research at Efama. Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered net outflows of EUR 25 billion, against net inflows of EUR 39 billion in May. Net sales of bond funds experienced a turnaround in net sales to register net outflows of EUR 18 billion in June. Money market funds registered increased net outflows of EUR 40 billion, up from EUR 5 billion in May. The large net outflow seen in June reflects the cyclical pattern of flows out of money market funds at the end of each quarter and compares to large net outflows recorded in December 2012 (EUR 33 billion) and June 2012 (EUR 24 billion). Total non-UCITS recorded increased net sales in June of EUR 9 billion, up from EUR 5 billion in May. This increase in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 8 billion, up from EUR 2 billion recorded in the previous month. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,559 billion at end June 2013, representing a 3.7 percent decrease during the month. Due to asset depreciation, total net assets of non-UCITS also decreased in June (by 1.8 percent) to stand at EUR 2,638 billion at month end.

Following the major trading glitch committed by Everbright Securities on 16 August, the Chinese securities commission (CSRC) has decided to require fund management companies (FMCs) to test and strengthen their risk management systems, which will concern both risk management in the strict sense and trading systems, particularly for high frequency trading, quantitative operations, and other automated trading strategies. The deadline had been set as 29 August, Z-Ben Advisors reports.On 20 August, the Chinese Council of State also created a co-ordination agency for regulatory authorities, which will include the People’s Bank of China (PboC), the CBRC (banking sector regulator), CIRC (insurance) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). This new entity will not replace the existing supervision organs, and will not affect their fields of responsibility. It will rather serve in an advisory role.

Deutsche Börse on 28 August announced that with the admission to trading of three Irish-registered bond products launched by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform now lists 1,003 ETFs.The SPDR funds are the following: SPDR Barclays 0-3 Year Euro Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZW19) and SPDR Barclays 0-3 Year US Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZX26), both of which charge 0.20%, and the SPDR Barclays 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZJ81), whose total expense ratio is 0.15%.

The Korean pension fund NPS, or National Pension Service, whose assets under management total about USD360bn, is officially seeking a chief investment officer, Asian Investor reports. The announcement comes at a time when NPS has announced that it intends to increase its assets by 67% ot USD600bn by the end of 2018, through a new and more aggressive allocation plan. The fund estimates that it is already on track to top USD390bn by the end of this year, which would make it one of the largest pension funds on the planet.