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Nikkei jumps as yen slips on BOJ easing expectations

Aug 30  - Japan's Nikkei average rose 3 percent on Monday after the yen slipped as the Bank of Japan began an emergency policy meeting and after revised second quarter U.S. GDP was less gloomy than expected.
Expectations that steps by Japanese authorities aimed at stemming strength in the yen led to short-covering, particularly in shares of exporters, though gains could lose steam if there are no major surprises from the BOJ meeting, market players said.
The benchmark Nikkei .N225 gained 267.25 points to 9,258.31, after rising 1 percent on Friday.
The broader Topix .TOPX added 2.3 percent to 838.50.
The Bank of Japan began an emergency meeting on Monday to ease monetary policy, bowing to strong government pressure to try to curb a rise in the yen that is threatening a fragile economic recovery. [ID:nTOE67T00F] (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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Westpac sells 65 bln yen in Samurai bonds - lead

Aug 27- Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) has sold 65 billion yen ($769.4 million) of five-year Samurai bonds in two tranches, lead manager Daiwa Securities Capital Markets said on Friday.
Westpac sold 50 billion yen in fixed-rate bonds and 15 billion yen in floating-rate bonds.
The coupon for the fixed-rate bonds was set at 50 basis points above yen swaps, while the coupon for the floating-rate bonds is 65 basis points above three-month yen Libor.
Other lead managers are Citigroup Global Markets Japan and Nomura Securities.
Samurai bonds are yen bonds issued in Japan by non-Japanese entities. (Reporting by Naoyuki Katayama and Hiroyasu Hoshi; writing by Rika Otsuka)

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Manulife,ACE among bidders for NY Life Asia assets-sources

Aug 27 - Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) and Switzerland's Ace Ltd (ACE.N) are among bidders for New York Life Insurance Co's [NYLIN.UL] Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korean assets up for sale, sources said, in a deal valued between $800 million and $1 billion.
Unlisted NY Life was pulling out of the three marginal Asian markets and had mandated Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) to run the auction, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
NY Life, Manulife, Deutsche Bank and ACE declined to comment.
The sources declined to be identified as the sale process was not public. (Reporting by Denny Thomas; additional reporting by Michael Flaherty, Cameron French and Steve Eder; Editing by Chris Lewis)

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Japan's Sumitomo Trust

Aug 24- Japan's Sumitomo Trust and Banking (8403.T) said on Tuesday that its shareholders would get 1.49 shares of Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings (8309.T) for each Sumitomo share in their planned merger scheduled for April.
The combined firm, to be named Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, will aim for a net profit of 220 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the year ending in March 2016, up from 125 billion yen estimated for the current financial year.
The banks said they have signed a final agreement to combine their operations in April 2011, creating Japan's largest trust banks with a scale to better compete in a crowded asset management industry. The merger plan was announced in November. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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Westpac Q3 cash profit up 27.3 pct

Aug 23 - Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), Australia's second biggest home loan lender, said on Monday its third-quarter cash profit grew 27.3 percent, just short of expectations, due to rising funding costs.
Westpac, which has the highest mortgage rate among Australia's top four banks, said its April-June cash profit was A$1.4 billion ($1.25 billion), up from A$1.1 billion reported a year ago.
Six analysts on average forecast a A$1.5 billion profit.
Australian banks emerged from the global financial crisis stronger than their overseas peers but now face the challenge of weak loan demand, falling fees and rising funding costs.
They are well capitalised though as bad debts are falling and are sitting on record amounts of capital that should position them well to cope with regulatory changes.
Westpac shares have fallen about 10.5 percent so far this year, compared with a 9 percent fall for the benchmark index .AXJO. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

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Indonesia's Tower Bersama eyes $200 mln in IPO

Aug 19  - Indonesia's PT Tower Bersama, one of the biggest private telecommunication tower providers, plans an initial public offering on October to raise as much as $200 million, said Sandiaga Uno of Saratoga Capital, the company's controlling shareholder, on Thursday. (Reporting by Fathiya Dahrul, Editing by Sara Webb)

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Everbright Bank shares up 8.7 pct in Shanghai debut

Aug 18  - China Everbright Bank 601818.SS opened at 3.37 yuan ($0.50) on its first day of trade in Shanghai on Wednesday, up 8.7 percent from its IPO price of 3.10 yuan.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated Everbright shares would rise up to 5 percent on their first day of trade, as renewed worries over the banking sector's health sap some demand among investors towards China's No. 11 lender. [ID:nTOE67F082]
Everbright Bank could raise as much as 21.7 billion yuan in China's second-biggest IPO this year if it exercises a greenshoe, or over-allotment option.
The mid-sized lender sold 6.1 billion shares in the offering, which could be expanded to 7 billion shares with the over-allotment.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC was up 0.1 percent. ($1=6.77 yuan) (Reporting by Farah Master and Soo Ai Peng; Editing by Jason Subler)

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JX shuts 17,000 bpd reformer after Osaka refinery fire

Aug 18  - JX Holdings (5020.T), Japan's top refiner, said it has shut indefinitely the 17,000 bpd reformer at its Osaka refinery after a fire broke out at the 115,000 barrels-per-day facility earlier on Wednesday.
The fire, which resulted in no injuries, did not affect operations of the 115,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) and other secondary units, a company spokesman said. The fire has been extinguished, he said. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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NZ's Sky City Entertainment year profit down 11.5 pct

Aug 17  - New Zealand's largest casino operator Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd. (SKC.NZ) reported a 11.5 percent decrease in full year net profit on Tuesday, and said earnings would continue to be hit by an uncertain economy.
Sky City made a net profit of NZ$102 million ($71.8 million) in the year ended June 30, compared with a NZ$115.3 million profit the year before.
On June 22 the company said it expected reported net profit to be between NZ$136 million and NZ$140 million, and adjusted profit between NZ$126 million and NZ$130 million, in the wake of tax changes announced in the government's May budget. [ID:nWLF004693]
Sky City said profit before the tax adjustment was NZ$141.7 million, including the NZ$10 million gain on the sale of its cinema chain.
Normalised for all one-off items Sky City said its profit was NZ$129.1 million.
At its profit result in August 2009, Sky City had said it expected double digit earnings growth in the June 2010 year after a refurbishment at its flagship Auckland casino, and strong performance from its Australian operations.
Sky City declared a dividend of 9.5 cents per share, compared with 6.5 cents per share last year.
Shares in Sky City closed on Monday at NZ$2.99 having dropped around 9 percent so far this year, compared with a 6.4 percent fall in the benchmark NZSX-50 index .NZ50.
Sky City owns or has an interest in four casinos in New Zealand, where a ban on new casinos has given it dominance.
It also has casinos in Adelaide and Darwin in Australia, where it competes with Tabcorp (TAH.AX) and Crown Ltd (CWN.AX). (NZ$1=$1.42)

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China stocks down after import data disappoints

Aug 10  - Chinese shares ended the morning session 1.8 percent lower on Tuesday after trade data for July showed imports were weaker than expected.
Imports were up 22.7 percent in July from a year earlier , lower than the market expected, the General Administration of Customs said. [ID:nBJB003900]
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning session at 2,623.8 points, reversing a 0.5 percent rise on Monday. ($1=6.77 Yuan) (Reporting by Chen Yixin and Jason Subler)

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BOJ holds off on easing, unfazed so far by yen riseBOJ holds off on easing, unfazed so far by yen rise

Aug 10 - The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady and held off on new policy steps on Tuesday, saving its limited policy options for when yen rises accelerate enough to damage a fragile economic recovery.
As widely expected, the central bank kept interest rates at 0.1 percent in a unanimous vote.
The BOJ also kept its economic assessment unchanged and said that the central bank needed to watch how fiscal problems in some European countries could, through developments in global financial markets, affect the Japanese and global economies.
Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will hold an embargoed news conference later on Tuesday, with his comments expected to come out sometime after 4:15 p.m. (0715 GMT).
Signs of U.S. economic weakness have pushed the dollar/yen rate within reach of levels not seen in 15 years, clouding the outlook for Japan's export-reliant growth and putting pressure on the BOJ to loosen its already very easy monetary policy.
Analysts had expected the BOJ to hold off on easing policy unless the yen headed for the all-time high of 79.75 per dollar at a pace fast enough to damage business sentiment.
The BOJ has kept interest rates at 0.1 percent since late 2008. In the wake of sharp yen gains, it eased monetary policy last December by setting up a facility offering cheap funds to banks, which was expanded in March. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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