Thai financial markets uncertain after historic stock market fall
Bangkok: Uncertainty continued to plague Thailand's financial markets on Wednesday after a historic stock market crash which nearly sparked concerns about another Asian financial crisis.

The uncertainty continued despite the military backed Thai government Tuesday night lifting controls imposed 24 hours earlier on foreign investment in stocks after the market fell nearly 15 percent.

The Thai government however plans to retain control on foreign investments in bonds and commercial paper as part of central bank's measures to stem the surge in the Thai baht, which had risen to a nine-year high versus the dollar on Monday.

Analysts said the rollback would not instill confidence in the country's new, military-backed regime and could damage longer-term prospects of the equity market.

Investors sold stocks in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines amid contagion concerns that the plunge might to spread through the region and trigger the kind of slump that enveloped Asia in 1997.
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Agnelli family acquires Cushman stake for $563mn
Italy's Turin based richest family, the Agnellis, have bought a majority stake in Cushman & Wakefield Inc., the world's second-largest commercial real estate brokerage, for $563 million. The Agnelli's will buy a 67.5 percent stake from Rockefeller Group International Inc., a unit of Tokyo- based Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd., Cushman and Ifil said today. Employees of New York-based Cushman will retain up to 32.5 per cent, with the option of selling another 8.1 percent to Ifil.

Cushman had $69.3 billion of sales and leasing transactions worldwide last year, placing it second behind Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis, which had $150.4 billion. With 197 offices and 11,500 employees, Cushman reported a 21 percent increase in revenue last year.
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China lists seven key priority economic sectors
Beijing: China has listed seven sectors as being critical to the national economy and in which public ownership is considered 'essential'. The seven sectors are armaments, electrical power and distribution, oil and chemicals, telecommunications, coal, aviation, and shipping, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said on Tuesday.

It was the first time an explicit list was released of 'strategically important sectors,' whose definition has been vague since the late 1990s.

The Chinese government said it will inject more capital into large state-owned companies (SOEs) in these priority sectors, optimise their structure and make them more competitive.

More than 40 of the 161 large SOEs supervised by the SASAC are engaged in these sectors. Their total assets account for three quarters of all central SOEs, and they rake in 79 per cent of the profits.
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