phuongwifults-blog

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Investor confidence in hedge funds holds

The GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator - a monthly snapshot of clients giving notice they want their money back as a percentage of GlobeOp's assets under adminstration - rose 40 basis points to 3.11 percent in September but the rate of growth in demand to pull out cash is slowing, the index showed."September 2011 was the lowest September since the Index began," said Hans Hufschmid, chief executive officer at London-listed GlobeOp Financial Services. "Investor sentiment continues to be positive," he said.Investors representing 2.71 percent of GlobeOp's assets under administration requested their money back in August, reflecting a rise in redemption demand of 63 basis points against July's data.Redemption notices hit a high of 19.27 percent in November 2008 shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers but since have trended lower as investors back hedge funds to help them ride out some of the most volatile stock and bond markets since 2008.Hedge fund returns have proved a mixed bag in recent months.While several long/short equity strategies were hit hard by sharp share price falls in August, some macro and computer-driven "black box" funds, like Man Group's (EMG.L) AHL, have made money even as volatility spread to the safest of asset classes.The average fund was down 1.2 percent for the year to the end of August, according to Hedge Fund Research's HFRI index, though this still beats a 3.1 percent fall in the S&P 500 index.Earlier this month, GlobeOp's Capital Movement Index, which tracks flows to and from its clients' products, showed gross outflows had dropped to 0.57 percent -- their lowest level since GlobeOp started to keep records in January 2006.GlobeOp President Vernon Barback suggested hedge fund investors spooked by the instability of traditional safe havens like gold or the Swiss franc appeared "to be quite comfortable staying put".GlobeOp is an independent financial administrator specializing in middle and back office services and integrated risk reporting to hedge funds and asset management firms.Established in 2000, the company serves more than 200 clients representing $170 billion in assets under administration and approximately eight to 10 percent of the estimated assets currently invested in the hedge fund sector.

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WRAPUP 1-Thai PM confident Bangkok will escape worst of floods

* Industry in the centre has suffered; GDP forecast cutBy Panarat ThepgumpanatBANGKOK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra tried to reassure residents of Bangkok on Friday that the capital should largely escape the flooding that has covered a third of the country since July and caused damage of at least $3 billion.The north, northeast and centre of Thailand have been worst hit and Bangkok -- much of it only two metres (6.5 ft) above sea level -- is threatened at the weekend as water overflows from reservoirs in the north, swelling the Chao Phraya river."Bangkok may face some problems in areas that are on the outer sides of the irrigation dikes but water levels will not be too high. But inner Bangkok has extremely high defences," Yingluck told reporters."In conclusion, Bangkok should still be considered safe," she said.At least 289 people have been killed around the country by heavy monsoon rain, floods and mudslides since late July."We didn't think the flooding would be this severe," Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters."This time the industrial sector has also been affected and the damage is probably about 100 billion baht," he added.Kittirat Na Ranong, deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, came up with the same provisional estimate on Thursday, equivalent to $3.2 billion and more than 1 percent of gross domestic product.The Finance Ministry has cut its growth forecast for this year to 3.7 percent from 4.0 percent.Run-off water from the north will arrive in the Bangkok area at the weekend at the same time as high estuary tides hamper the river's flow into the sea. This may also coincide with storms and heavy rain."During October 15 to 18, it may be a dangerous time because water from the north will be coming in ... But I confirm it has not reached a crisis stage as of this moment," Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra told reporters.Chalit Damrongsak, director general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said the flows from the north into the Chao Phraya river were lower than expected."The water levels that are going to enter Bangkok on October 15-16 will most likely be only at 2.3-2.4 metres. Therefore, it will not surpass Bangkok's irrigation dike levels of 2.5 metres," he said. "I can confirm that Bangkok is going to be spared from the flood."STOCKING UPDespite such assurances, Bangkok residents have stocked up on bottled water and foodstuffs such as instant noodles.Late on Thursday, residents in an area covering a northern Bangkok suburb received a warning to evacuate from the government's crisis control centre after a sluice gate had supposedly burst, but it turned out to be a false alarm.The central bank has advised the finance sector to take precautions and told commercial banks to make sure they have enough cash. It said 104 bank branches had closed because of flooding, mainly in the central region.Bangkok accounts for 41 percent of the economy and contains some heavy industry, as well as extensive service, banking and tourist sectors.In comparison, the central region, which has been badly flooded, accounts for 8 percent of GDP.At least three big industrial estates in the central province of Ayutthaya have shut temporarily. Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Friday its plant there, accounting for 4.7 percent of its global output, would stay closed until Oct. 21.Thailand is a major regional hub for international car firms. They tend to be located in the east, which has been little affected by the flooding, although their operations could still suffer because car parts firms have been hit.The Federation of Thai Industries said its forecast of 1.8 million units for 2011 vehicle production looked unreachable."Operators have been broadly hit one way or another. Honda, for instance, no one knows how long they will have to halt their operations and how soon those parts hit by the flood will recover and they can start production again," said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, a Federation spokesman."Production should still be higher than last year," he said. Last year output reached 1.65 million units.

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Jackson's mother wept when told of singer's death

Katherine Jackson wept again in the courtroom as the manslaughter trial of "Thriller" singer's physician, Dr Conrad Murray, entered its third week.Jurors heard Murray tell police in a taped interview about the dramatic hours at the hospital on June 25, 2009, where Jackson was officially pronounced dead.Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death, said he went with an emergency room doctor on that day to tell Katherine Jackson that her son had died."She broke down and began weeping. We stayed there, held her hand," Murray told police in the interview, recorded two days after Jackson's sudden death at age 50.Jackson's sister Rebbie put her arm around her mother as Murray said on the tape that he had recommended an autopsy be conducted on Jackson to determine how he died.Authorities later determined Jackson died from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol combined with sedatives.Murray has admitted to police that he gave propofol to Jackson as a sleep aid, but his attorneys have said that Jackson gave himself an extra, fatal dose of propofol that caused his death.Murray told police he went into a room at the hospital with Jackson's manager, his personal assistant and a social worker, and found the singer's three children having a bite to eat.The doctor said he did not remember who specifically informed the children their father had died, but that they began weeping."I stayed there, I hugged them all, gave them all comfort," Murray said on the tape. Paris Jackson, then age 11, said she did not "want to be an orphan," he recalled.Murray sat in court looking at a blank projector screen as the tape was played for jurors. He could face up to four years in prison if convicted.In other testimony on Tuesday, Los Angeles police detective Scott Smith admitted under cross-examination by the defense that his notes indicated a vial of the sedative lorazepam was found in an IV bag stashed in a closet at Jackson's mansion.A coroner's investigator previously testified that it was a bottle of propofol that was found inside the IV bag.Prosecutors say the evidence at trial will show that Murray placed Jackson on an IV drip of propofol after injecting him with the drug.But defense attorneys argue that Murray only gave Jackson a relatively small dose of 25 milligrams of propofol, with no IV drip afterward.