A salute to Hong Kong, Asias currency laboratory

Sun, 07/24/2011 - 21:00 EDT - theglobeandmail.com

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While the powers that be in Beijing drag their feet on revaluation, Hong Kong keeps taking new steps - with the approval of Beijing - to give the renminbi an increasingly normal life as a tradable, convertible currency

How China's Renminbi Went From Overpriced Certificates To A Major International Currency
China is the world's second largest economy, yet it exercises tremendous capital control including restrictions on its currency, the renminbi. Chinese officials have previously said that they want to make the currency fully convertible by 2015.
China's Gold Imports From Hong Kong Double To New Record In 2012
Gold climbed $5.70 or 0.34% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,673.50/oz. Silver inched up to $31.86 in Asia, then it fell back to $31.38, and then rose to a high of $31.91, but eased off in afternoon trade and finished with a loss of 0.35%. Gold rose to a new record nominal high on the TOCOM at 0.156 million yen per ounce. The resignation of Bank of Japan Governor, Shirakawa on March 19 is pressuring the yen as is increased tensions in the Pacific between China and Japan - Japan accused China of targeting a Japanese naval vessel and helicopter.
Global markets soar after US steps back from fiscal cliff
How would Beijing respond to yuan revaluation?
Most of all the Chinese leadership is worried about maintaining jobs (sound familiar?). And so: It will lower real interest rates and force credit expansion
Taking the Ivey School to a new level in China
Canadian executive Janet De Silva moved to Hong Kong expecting a two-year stint as chief executive officer for Sun Life Financial in China. That was more than 10 years ago, and she and her husband are still here. She moved from Sun Life to running her own retail company in the booming Chinese consumer market. She now enters a new phase - as dean in Asia for the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Taking the Ivey School to a new level in China
Canadian executive Janet De Silva moved to Hong Kong expecting a two-year stint as chief executive officer for Sun Life Financial in China. That was more than 10 years ago, and she and her husband are still here. She moved from Sun Life to running her own retail company in the booming Chinese consumer market. She now enters a new phase - as dean in Asia for the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Retail Demand For Gold Is Going Nuclear In Asia And Shops Can't Keep It On Their Shelves [PHOTOS]
The recent drop in gold has created a huge surge in Asian gold demand. It's happening in India, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. From Josh Noble at FT:
The iPhone Isn't Cool Anymore In Asia's Trendiest Cities
Apple Inc's iconic iPhone is losing some of its lustre among Asia's well-heeled consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong, a victim of changing mobile habits and its own runaway success. Driven by a combination of iPhone fatigue, a desire to be different and a plethora of competing devices, users are turning to other brands, notably those from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, eating into Apple's market share.
Rebalancing the Growth in Asia
iMFdirect submits: By Anoop Singh, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department The center of global economic growth is moving from the West to Asia, in particular emerging Asia and China. But, left unattended, the economic imbalances that have emerged with this shift in power could test the sustainability of global growth.
Renminbi revaluation and Latin America: The ugly truth
Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi, Hashem Pesaran, Alessandro Rebucci, Cesar E. Tamayo, TengTeng Xu, 20 May 2010What would a Chinese currency revaluation mean for Latin America? This column argues that a revaluation is no silver bullet. It will not solve Latin America’s problems with excessive capital inflows, exchange-rate appreciation, and loss of competitiveness. In fact it poses serious risks.