Bank of England intervenes in bond market to halt crash - CNA

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2022-09-28 13:41:23Z
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Explainer: What caused the pound's slump and will British travel, imports stay cheaper for S'poreans? - TODAY

SINGAPORE — The British pound sank to an all-time low of US$1.0327 on Monday (Sept 27), prompting jokes amongst some Singaporeans on social media that this might be a good time to import high-end goods from the United Kingdom.

The sterling has slumped 5 per cent since Thursday and 21 per cent this year against a backdrop of an ever stronger US dollar. It has since bounced back to US$1.0683 at the start of the trading day on Tuesday.

The last time the value of the pound was anywhere near US$1.05 was in February 1985.

So how did the British pound, which was trading close to S$2 against the Singapore dollar just over a year ago, fall so steeply to around S$1.50 on Monday?

TODAY takes a closer look.

WHAT LED TO THE POUND’S POUNDING?

In short, economists told TODAY that it is mainly a result of the market reacting to the new fiscal policies implemented under recently-installed Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Investors began dumping the pound last Friday after Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK's chief finance minister, set out plans to slash taxes and big energy subsidies, among other things, in a bid to kickstart the ailing British economy. The government plans to fund this by borrowing money.

Mr Kwarteng then pledged over the weekend to cut taxes further in the new year, which only served to heighten fears of inflation rising again given that Britons will have more money to spend.

CIMB Private Bank economist Song Seng Wun described this move as a “populist” one since it would, in theory, mean that British citizens would pay less taxes, have lower utility bills, and ultimately, more money in their pocket.

“It sounds sensible, if you have the funds to be able to support that spending and the loss in government revenue,” he said.

But because the British government lacks the funds to do so, Ms Selena Ling, head of treasury and research at OCBC bank, said the plan would require substantial funding through increases gilt issuance, a form of borrowing.

Gilts are used by the UK government to raise money, usually to cover shortfall between public spending and income from taxes.

British daily The Guardian, quoting analysts on Friday, reported that investors were “no longer willing to fund the UK’s external deficit position at the current configuration”, which consequently led to the sell-off.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR SINGAPORE?

OCBC’s Ms Ling said that for Singapore, businesses which import goods and services from the UK may benefit from the cheaper pound.

“Ditto for Singaporeans who are travelling to the UK, buying property, or sending their children to study there,” she added.

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2022-09-27 12:42:00Z
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Tycoon Li Ka-shing loses $2.2 billion in a day as pound slide bites - The Straits Times

HONG KONG - Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-shing lost US$1.5 billion (S$2.2 billion) in a day, with the value of his sprawling business empire tumbling along with the historic decline in the pound.

CK Hutchison Holdings, the flagship conglomerate of Mr Li's group that earned 16 per cent of its revenue from Britain in the first half, saw its shares slump 5.8 per cent on Monday to the lowest since it restructured in 2015. Sister company CK Asset Holdings, a real estate developer that earned almost a third of its revenue from Britain, plunged 8.6 per cent. Both recovered some ground on Tuesday, rising about 3 per cent.

The share slump came amid a global rout as the pound fell to a record low. The US$1.5 billion hit to Mr Li's personal fortune was the fifth-biggest decline among the world's 500 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 94-year-old is still worth about US$26.7 billion, keeping him high in the ranks of Asia's wealthiest people, with his stake in CK Asset accounting for most of his net worth.

After decades of diversification, Mr Li's businesses now span property, telecommunications, ports, retail and utilities, with Europe, Hong Kong and mainland China contributing the bulk of revenue. The CK group's operations in Britain include mobile carrier Three UK, health and beauty chain Savers, the Harwich International port, and utilities firms including Northumbrian Water and Wales & West Gas Networks.

It is one of the few Hong Kong groups with extensive overseas exposure, a strategy that has typically helped it weather risks ranging from protests in Hong Kong in 2019 to the ups and downs of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But currency fluctuations have always been a challenge, with the company reporting results in Hong Kong dollars, which are pegged to the strengthening greenback.

That portends a big hit for the company. CK Hutchison has likely seen HK$15.7 billion (S$2.9 billion), or 11.5 per cent, of the net value of British assets wiped out since June 30 due to the pound's slump, according to Bloomberg News calculations. BLOOMBERG

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2022-09-27 08:57:26Z
CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvY29tcGFuaWVzLW1hcmtldHMvdHljb29uLWxpLWthLXNoaW5ncy11ay1iZXRzLXNvdXItYXMtcG91bmQtc2xpZGUtYml0ZXPSAQA

Australia's No. 2 telco Optus, government clash over massive data breach - CNA

SYDNEY: Australia's No. 2 telecoms firm Optus, hit by a massive data breach, on Tuesday (Sep 27) said its cyber defences were strong, contradicting the government's analysis as reports emerged that hackers had released data for tens of thousands of customers.

The Australian federal government has blamed Optus for the breach, flagged an overhaul of privacy rules and more fines, and suggested the company had "effectively left the window open" for hackers to steal data.

Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said there was lot of "misinformation out there".

"Given we're not allowed to say much because the police have asked us not to, what I can say ... is that our data was encrypted and we had multiple players of protection," Rosmarin told ABC Radio.

"So it is not the case of having some sort of completely exposed API (application programming interface) sitting out there," Rosmarin added. An API allows two or more computer programs to communicate with each other.

Rosmarin said Optus had briefed authorities after the government's initial review of the incident. She said most customers understand that "we are not the villains" and that the company had not done anything deliberate to put data at risk.

Singapore Telecoms-owned Optus revealed last week that home addresses, drivers' licenses and passport numbers of up to 10 million customers had been compromised in one of Australia's biggest data breaches.

Australian media reported that hackers released the information of about 10,000 customers in an online forum and threatened to release more unless Optus paid $1 million in cryptocurrency.

Rosmarin said "the Australian Federal Police (AFP) is all over that".

The AFP said it has been working closely with overseas law enforcement agencies to find the perpetrators.

Australia's Council Of Financial Regulators, which includes the central bank, on Tuesday said its members have been working together in response to the cyber attack.

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2022-09-27 01:38:00Z
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'A new era': NASA strikes asteroid in key test of planetary defence - CNA

ASTRONOMY COMMUNITY ABUZZ

Minutes after impact, a toaster-sized satellite called LICIACube, which already separated from DART a few weeks ago, was expected to make a close pass of the site to capture images of the collision and the ejecta - the pulverised rock thrown off by the strike.

LICIACube's pictures will be sent back in the next weeks and months.

Also watching the event: an array of telescopes, both on Earth and in space - including the recently operational James Webb - which might be able to see a brightening cloud of dust.

The mission has set the global astronomy community abuzz, with more than three dozen ground telescopes participating, including optical, radio and radar.

"There's a lot of them, and it's incredibly exciting to have lost count," said DART mission planetary astronomer Christina Thomas.

Finally, a full picture of what the system looks like will be revealed when a European Space Agency mission four years down the line called Hera arrives to survey Dimorphos' surface and measure its mass, which scientists can currently only guess at.

"EARTHLINGS CAN SLEEP BETTER"

Very few of the billions of asteroids and comets in our solar system are considered potentially hazardous to our planet, and none are expected in the next hundred years or so.

But wait long enough, and it will happen.

We know that from the geological record - for example, the roughly 10km wide Chicxulub asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the world into a long winter that led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs along with 75 per cent of all species.

An asteroid the size of Dimorphos, by contrast, would only cause a regional impact, such as devastating a city, albeit with greater force than any nuclear bomb in history.

How much momentum DART imparts on Dimorphos will depend on whether the asteroid is solid rock, or more like a "rubbish pile" of boulders bound by mutual gravity - a property that's not yet known.

But its success marks the first step towards a world capable of defending itself from a future existential threat.

"I think Earthlings can sleep better, definitely I will," said DART mission systems engineer Elena Adams.

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2022-09-26 23:26:00Z
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Understanding the British pound's sudden crash - CNA

WHAT'S THE GOVERNMENT'S PLAN? 

The aim is that the tax cuts will create a more dynamic economy, which should eventually generate higher tax revenue and keep borrowing in check.

The new Conservative government's plans have drawn comparisons, even among its supporters, with the ill-fated 1972 budget drawn up by Kwarteng’s Tory predecessor Anthony Barber, who also delivered a massive package of unfunded tax cuts. In his case, inflation soared and the economy overheated before collapsing into recession. Barber’s boss, Edward Heath, was defeated by the Labour opposition two years later, and the UK had to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 1976.

There are also parallels with policies followed in the 1980s by another of Kwarteng’s predecessors, Nigel Lawson, under then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. 

WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE THE UK'S PROSPECTS?  

An export powerhouse like Japan is better able to manage a bout of currency weakness thanks to its huge current-account surplus.

The UK is in a similar position to some emerging markets, with one of the largest current-account deficits in the world and an already sizable budget deficit - set to get larger after Kwarteng’s announcement. Inward investment into UK property and other assets tend to prop up the pound in normal years.

But with growth weak and the economy increasingly volatile, there are mounting reasons not to invest in the UK. Lawmakers from Truss’s party have said the Bank of England may need to step in with an emergency rate rise to calm market nerves. 

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Truss' Conservative Party, which has held power under four prime ministers since 2010, will face a general election by January 2025 at the latest. That gives her little more than two years to convince voters that her policies will work and the country’s cost-of-living crisis will abate.

While she retains a comfortable majority in the House of Commons for now, the party is trailing the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls. A continued decline in the pound would pile further pressure on the government.

Option-market pricing in late September suggested a real chance that the currency will hit parity with the dollar before the end of 2022. 

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2022-09-26 13:51:18Z
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Wall Street Banks Reassess China Over Taiwan After Russia Losses - Bloomberg

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1. Wall Street Banks Reassess China Over Taiwan After Russia Losses  Bloomberg
2. Wall Street Banks Prep For Grim China Scenarios Over Taiwan  NDTV Profit
3. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-09-26 09:37:56Z
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