Singapore stocks are still down as investors remain wary of committing amid the growing tension on the Korean peninsula.
“As usual, people are selling first and asking questions later. Markets always tend to over-extend themselves in both good and bad times,” says an analyst from a Singapore bank.
Concerns over tension in Korean peninsula ease, helping Singapore shares recoup part of yesterday’s losses.
Fact that North Korea dropped shells on an island a sign they’re unlikely to expand aggression.
“If they really wanted to start a war, it would have begun at Seoul and not on some island,” says dealing head at foreign brokerage.
STI +0.5% at 3,141.87 midday, not expected to test yesterday’s 3,187 intraday high for rest of session.
Market breadth neutral vs more than 2 decliners for every gainer in early trade.
Overall volume modest at 1.06 billion shares worth $978 million, suggesting investor appetite subdued.
Among STI components, notable gainers include recent big decliners, with Genting Singapore (G13.SG) +2.1% at $1.99, Golden Agri-Resources (E5H.SG) +2.9% at $0.705, CityDev (C09.SG), +1.6% at $12.40.
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Jake Gyllenhaal, who will be seen with Anne Hathaway in an upcoming flick, thinks ‘sex is all about releasing tension’. Gyllenhaal has filmed sex scenes with Hathaway in his latest movie ”Love and Other Drugs”. At the premiere at the Directors Guild Theater when he was asked about how he broke the tension before sex [...]
Director of Humanitarian Law Fund (FHP) NataÅ¡a Kandić says the Srebrenica declaration “would in due time contribute to reduced tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovinaâ€. “A positive side to the adoption of the declaration is that it will in due time influence a reduction of tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and change of opinion of the citizens of Republic of Srpska regarding Srebrenica,†she said.
There has been heightened tension in and around east Jerusalem as the Israeli army stepped up security following clashes in recent weeks after Friday prayers. Only men over fifty with Jerusalem ID cards were allowed in to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, part of the compound that Jews call the Temple Mount but which is also Islam’s third holiest shrine.
A cold wind is blowing over relations between the White House and China. Beijing is furious over a US-proposed six millon dollar arms package to Taiwan, while the Obama administration is vowing to get tough over trade.
Tension is rising between long-time rivals Iraq and Iran over the reported seizure of an Iraqi oil well. Baghdad has condemned the incursion by Iranian troops, but says it is committed to resolving the issue through diplomatic channels.
Penelope Cruz tries to laugh and relieve the tension while filming love scenes.
The actress admitted to being uncomfortable while shooting intimate sequences with Daniel Day-Lewis in movie musical Nine.
“It’’s always a very strange thing. I mean, we had the best director and I was in the best possible company, but it’’s always something strange…†the [...]
Freshly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday begins what could be prickly talks with her new coalition partners over forming a government amid growing tension between the allies.
The talks, between Merkel’s conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), could last weeks as they thrash out the policies and the ministers needed to haul [...]
The internet giant seeks new ways to foster innovation
FEW companies are as creative as Google, which serves up innovations almost as fast as its popular search-engine serves up results. This week the firm unveiled a new version of its Chrome web browser and launched Fast Flip, which lets users scroll through the contents of an online newspaper in much the same way that they leaf through its pages in print. On September 30th the company will roll out another fledgling product, Google Wave, for a test involving some 100,000 people. Billed as a revolutionary way to collaborate online, Wave is also the product of a new, more structured approach to innovation within the company.
For years Google has had a fairly informal product-development system. Ideas percolated upwards from Googlers without any formal process for senior managers to review them. Teams working on innovative stuff were generally kept small. Such a system worked fairly well while Google was in its infancy. But now that it is a giant with 20,000 employees, the firm risks stifling potential money-spinners with a burgeoning bureaucracy. …
Russian forces have been put on a higher state of readiness ahead of this week’s first anniversary of the war with Georgia, Russia says. The foreign ministry accused Georgia of a series of “provocations”.
Six Christians have been killed in religious unrest in Pakistan’s central Punjab, after days of tension sparked by the rumoured desecration of a Koran.
The four women, a man and a child died as Muslim militants set fire to Christian houses in the town of Gojra, officials said.
TV footage showed burning houses and streets strewn with debris as people fired at each other from rooftops.
Officials said the rumours which led to the unrest were false. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Pyongyang seeks to end standoff with US and address foreign tensions over missile launches
North Korea said today it was open to talks about the rising tension over its nuclear weapons programme, a marked shift in tactics after months of ratcheting up foreign anxieties with nuclear test and missile launches.
The statement appeared to be a call for direct talks with the United States, a longstanding goal of the regime. It comes days after the North Korean leadership traded jibes with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, at a regional summit in Thailand. It said she was “by no means intelligent” and looked like a schoolgirl or a pensioner going shopping, after she compared it to a group of “small children”.
In today’s announcement the foreign ministry in Pyongyang made clear its continued opposition to the six-party nuclear talks, which it said sought only to “disarm and incapacitate” the nation.
The statement from a foreign ministry spokesman, carried by state media, said that siding with those who sought their resumption “will not help to ease tension”. But it said: “There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation.”
Analysts say North Korea has used its weapons tests to improve its technology, advertise it to potential customers and bolster support for the regime after the illness of the leader, Kim Jong-il. But they also believe it is attempting to grab the attention of the US and push it into direct negotiations.
The US has said it would hold direct talks with Pyongyang within the six-nation process if it returned to the negotiating table and took irreversible steps towards denuclearisation. North Korea quit the aid-for-disarmament discussions in April.
The talks stalled last winter as North Korea wrangled with the US over how to implement agreed measures and verify its activities.
But Washington will not want to be seen to reward North Korea’s military tests, and Clinton told NBC yesterday the multinational negotiations were the appropriate way to engage with the state.
The other nations involved in the discussions – China, Japan, South Korea and Russia – would be reluctant to see bilateral talks. Beijing is concerned that a direct relationship between Pyongyang and Washington would damage its own long-term interests.
On Friday, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sin Son Ho, said the country was “not against a dialogue”, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the country’s envoy told an Asian security conference last week the nuclear standoff was a matter between Pyongyang and Washington.
In yesterday’s interview, Clinton repeated her warning that North Korea does not have any friends left after the UN security council’s toughening of sanctions last month.
She praised China, the North’s main ally, for being “extremely positive and productive” in pressuring Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme.
“We’ve been extremely gratified by their forward-leaning commitment to sanctions and the private messages that they have conveyed to the North Koreans,” Clinton said.
SION, Switzerland (AP) — The tension with Lance Armstrong is all but gone in the crisp mountain air and the line of authority is clear. Now, Alberto Contador wants to concentrate on those teams intent on seizing his Tour de France lead.
The Spaniard used Monday’s rest day to lay out his plan of attack to [...]
It seems everyday, some controversy about the subway makes it in the papers, whether it’s about good new leadership or bad old leadership; whether it’s…
