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Australia Unemployment Rate Eases To 5.1%

February 10, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

– The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday – topping forecasts for 5.3 percent and down from December’s reading of 5.2 percent.

Australia added 46,300 jobs in January, the data showed – blowing past expectations for an addition of 10,000 following the surprising loss of a downwardly revised 35,600 jobs in December.

Full-time employment was up 12,300, beating forecasts for a flat reading following the downwardly revised addition of 24,000 in the previous month. Part-time employment jumped 34,000 versus expectations for a gain of 7,500 following the downwardly revised loss of 59,600 jobs a month earlier.

The participation rate was 65.3 percent, matching forecasts and up marginally from 65.2 percent in December.

The male unemployment rate eased 0.1 percentage points to 4.9 percent, while the female unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage points to 5.3 percent.

Aggregate monthly hours worked decreased 23.1 million hours to 1.593 billion hours.

Upon the release of the data, the Australian dollar edged up sharply against major rivals, trading near 1.2917 against the NZ dollar, 84.22 versus the yen, 1.2160 against the euro and 1.0741 versus the U.S.

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Filed under Financial Reviews · Tagged with Rate, Unemployment Rate

Telenor phones in profit tumble for 2011 following difficulties in India

February 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

Net profit in 2011 fell 44.6 percent from the level a year earlier to 7.9 billion kroner in large part due to complications from its majority stake in Indian company Uninor.

India’s Supreme Court last week cancelled second-generation mobile licenses issued in 2008 to a host of companies with foreign partners on the grounds the sale was rigged, costing the government some US$40 billion in lost revenues.

Telenor entered what is now the world’s second biggest telecom market in 2009, taking a 67.25-percent stake in Uninor which holds 22 of the 122 licenses cancelled by the India Supreme Court.

Filed under Financial Reviews · Tagged with Difficulties India, India

A collector’s guide to converting junk silver into bullion

January 21, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

By Kayla McBrideJunk Silver is a name given to any piece of silver based on its condition. The particular condition of the coin must be deemed fair or rough. Junk silver usually offers no real value to a collector of silver coins exceeding the bullion value. This is what makes old silver coins collectors convert the silver into bullion. Commonly collected forms of junk silver include mercury dimes and Roosevelt dimes. In general collectors and investors sell the silver coins via a coin dealer, through a site such as Craigslist or eBay, or through classifieds as this allows for them to reap the benefits from the silver coins.

To successful convert junk silver coins into bullion, one has to use a calculator first so they can know how much bullion they will receive once the silver is converted at a refinery. The calculator usually has specific types of junk silver such as a Kennedy half-dollar or a Washington Quarter where it assesses the value of the silver coin.

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Filed under Financial Reviews · Tagged with Junk Silver, Silver

Collateral shifts in the eurozone

January 14, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

We all know the story in the public repo market. The European Central Bank has provided three years worth of funding against the widest range of collateral it has ever dared to accept, and is preparing to do it all again in February. We know the type of collateral it accepted, and how much funding it provided.

But what, pray tell, is the story in the private interbank repo market?

According to the European Repo Council, which has just released its bi-annual repo market survey, there have been a number of interesting developments.

Among the most intriguing, according to Richard Comotto, the report’s author, is the shift in the type of collateral being used in the market, specifically the decrease of the use of both German and Italian bonds.

As the ERC’s press release notes :

Heightened risk-aversion among investors was evident in changes in the collateral composition of the market. Overall, the share of government bonds within the pool of EU originated collateral rebounded in this most recent survey to 79.1% of the market from 74.3% in the previous survey.

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Filed under Financial Reviews · Tagged with Collateral, Collateral Shifts

Dutch 3-year Bond Auction Raises EUR3.105 Bln

January 9, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

– The Netherlands sold a new line of its 3-year bonds on Tuesday.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency placed EUR 3.105 billion of 0.75 percent bonds maturing in April 2015, at an average yield of 0.853 percent. The agency was planning to raise between EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 3.5 billion.

On November 11, the DSTA sold 3-year debt maturing in January 2014 at an average yield of 0.853 percent. The auction raised EUR 2.095 billion. Meanwhile, the agency placed 3.25 percent July 2015 bonds at a yield of 1.404 percent on October 25, raising EUR 1.02 billion from the sale.

The Dutch government on January 4 increased the country’s borrowing requirement for this year to EUR 101.5 billion from EUR 99.6 billion forecast in December. About EUR 60 billion of the borrowing requirement will be covered by debt issuance, the DSTA said. The country’s total capital market issuance in 2011 was EUR 52.9 billion.

The agency plans to raise the total outstanding amount of the new 3-year benchmark bond via reopenings to at least EUR 15 billion before the end of the year.

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Filed under Financial Reviews · Tagged with Bond, Bond Auction

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