Financial Review Review

I thought I'd include a segment about once a week based on my reactions to the day's publication of the Australian Financial Review. Today, the articles which caught my attention were:

* China heading for a tight spot in iron ore game. This article discusses the possibility of China being unable to secure fixed-price iron ore supply. While many of China's competitors have secured fixed prices, the market remains open to manipulation. Secured fixed prices are at a discount of around 35% to the current 'spot' or market prices. Impacts for major suppliers are obvious.

* Netting sales. This article discusses the potentially undervalued company Clean Seas Tuna. They have established a fishery and are experiencing a strong demand for their stock. The new agriculture?

* ASX backflip on index sparks a fear of foreigners. This article is talking down the benefits of listing more foreign companies on the ASX, but that would seem to me to be a positive step. The downside is said to be that the competition for capital would harm capital raising by Australian companies. However, such protectionist attitudes seem to be a bit 1950s. I would have thought that having a more diverse market could only advantage the buyer, and having global competition would allow the market to more strongly direct specialisation.

Cheers,
-MP
(This is not financial advice. I'm just this guy, you know?)