Guru Focus
Guru Focus "Morgan Stanley Purchases a Russian Mall"
19/01/12 09:21
The largest mall in St. Petersburg, Russia, is the newly opened Galeria. The mall opened in November 2010 and houses 290 stores in 1 million square feet. The mall includes a large selection of Western brands including Adidas (ADDYY), Bebe (BEBE), and the Gap (GPS). The five-story mall cost over $380 million to build according to some sources and a reported $500 million by other Russian sources. The Galeria includes a multi-screen movie theater that includes IMAX, a 27-lane bowling alley, and enough parking for 1,200 vehicles. The top floor boasts a massive arcade.
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Guru Focus "S&P AFE 40 Index"
09/01/12 13:19
Standard & Poor’s has launched the S&P AFE 40 index. This index is designed to measure the performance of 40 leading companies from the Gulf region. The S&P AFE 40 is comprised of the 40 largest stocks listed on AFE member exchanges. These stocks are subject to certain restrictions such as the limitation of ten stocks per country. The index uses a capped market capitalization weighted index scheme. The S&P Index partnered with the Arab Federation of Exchanges (AFE) to create the index. It includes companies from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
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Guru Focus "Investment Potential in Saudi Arabia"
09/01/12 13:17
Saudi Arabia could be hit or miss for emerging market investors. The country’s main strengths can easily be converted into weaknesses. Gaining direct exposure to the potential is a challenge for individual investors. Most investment opportunities come in the form of foreign direct investment. There is currently no ETF available with direct exposure to Saudi Arabia. There are the standard Middle Eastern ETFs such as the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend (GULF) and the Market Vectors Gulf States Index (MES), but even these provide very little exposure to the kingdom. A pegged ETF would go a long way toward providing leverage and exposure to the region for individual investors.
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Guru Focus "Betting on Kazakhstan's Rich Resources"
20/12/11 08:54
Kazakhstan has spent the past few weeks celebrating 20 years of independence. There is much to celebrate. For the past decade, Kazakhstan has performed better than any of the ‘Stans with growth of 8% per year. This growth is twice as much as Turkmenistan and six times more than Uzbekistan. Both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are more densely populated and maintain larger cities than Kazakhstan. The country’s large growth is not what was expected from the last of the soviet era countries to seek independence. Kazakhstan held out as long as they could, resisting the influence of the west. Now that they are an independent nation they have set their minds to exploiting the land’s vast resources.
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Guru Focus "The Dim Sum Bond Opportunity"
19/12/11 08:52
China’s floating currency has long been a source of concern among Westernized nations. The yuan’s floatation is not currently pegged to the to the U.S. dollar, which seems to be the international standard. The sale of the first dim sum bond by China Development Bank Corp in July 2007 was a sign to the world of China’s interest in internationalizing the yuan. Through 2010 only Hong Kong and China banks were allowed to issue bonds in yuan. Now banks throughout the world are able to issue them. That recent policy change is a more solid indicator of China’s intentions with relation to its currency.
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