Hurricane Igor strengthens to category four (AFP)

(AFP)

MIAMI — Igor, swirling in the central Atlantic and not a threat to land, strengthened to a powerful category four hurricane Sunday, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane Igor "rapidly intensifies into a category four hurricane," on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, the NHC said in a special advisory.

The storm had maximum sustained winds near 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, with higher gusts at 1830 GMT. "Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours," the NHC said.

The center of Igor was 1,565 miles (2,520 kilometers) east of Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, traveling towards the west at nearly 14 miles (22 kilometers) an hour at 1830 GMT.

Forecasters said the storm could turn west-northwest on Tuesday and track the northern Caribbean, possibly heading toward Bermuda.

Meanwhile, a tropical depression formed off the coast of Africa, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the southern Cape Verde Islands.

Tropical Depression Twelve was expected to become a tropical storm later Sunday or Monday, according to the Miami-based NHC.

At 1800 GMT the storm was dumping rain on the islands, located off western tip of the African continent.

Early this week, powerful Tropical Storm Hermine slammed into far northeastern Mexico and then barreled into US territory, sparking flash floods on both sides of the border.

Hermine came on the heels of Hurricane Earl, which gained category four status at its height in the Atlantic Ocean, whipping up heavy winds along the east coast of the United States and Canada.

Basel iii

Breaking News

We will have the finalised Basel iii package before the 15th of September, 2010.

We believe that banks will have to hold Tier 1 capital of 9 percent (in Basel 2 we have 4%), including a 3 "conservation buffer".

At least 5 percent of Tier 1 will be pure equity or retained earnings.

If Tier 1 capital is less than 9%, banks will not be allowed to pay out dividends to shareholders.

In good times, banks have to allocate another 3%, the "anti-cyclical buffer". It simply means that in good times banks need Tier 1 capital of 12% in order to be able to pay dividends.

If we add 4% Tier 2 capital, we reach an interesting number: 16% (6 percent Tier 1, plus 4 percent Tier 2, plus 3 percent conservation buffer, plus 3percent anticyclical buffer).

Hedge funds are already shorting certain banks. Investors try to understand how much capital banks may need to raise in order to be able to pay dividends.

Next step: The G20 summit of leaders in November, where they will give their seal of approval

MTV Video Music Awards (VMA 2010) nominees are?

Sunday night could be the night of Lady Gaga, because the 24-year-old has 13 nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. This is the record in the history of the music awards. Also, rapper Eminem sits well in the pools, and he is one of the favorite nominees with eight nominations. According to the announcement, he will inaugurate the show, which also expects appearances from other stars such as Kanye West, Mary J Blige. Lady Gaga is nominated, among others, in the categories for pop video, video of the year and best video of an artist, while Eminem with “Not Afraid” could get the award for best video of the year and best hip-hop Video.

Among the Best new talents nominated are Justin Bieber, Kesha, Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj, and the group Broken Bells. And in the category of best dance video is also included along with reggaeton star Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias. Their single “I Like It” will face “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. It is the twenty-seventh time that these awards are given at a ceremony, and on this occasion, it will be moderated by comic Chelsea Handler. Last year, the R & B diva Beyoncé took the video of the year award with her song “Single Ladies”, while Janet Jackson paid an emotional tribute to her brother Michael Jackson, who died a few months earlier. The story of the night, which made first pages, had the rapper Kanye West as leading man, when he blurted out to Taylor Swift that Beyonce deserved, more than her, the prize for best female video, which had been given to the country singer. When Beyoncé finally won the prize for best video of the year, she called on stage Taylor Swift and she gave her the word.

For Indian Stock market crash is inevitable…

For Indian Stock market crash is inevitable…

Indian equity has outperformed the global peers and became best performing market for the year by giving 6% return till august 2010 and this performance came up due to the consistent pumping of money by foreign funds .Global investment managers were in search of growth pockets to invest the money after the financial crisis to find best geography for the growth. The obvious choice was emerging markets however in emerging markets India was certainly the winner due to its growing GDP and consumption story so Indian market have received 60,329 crores of fund till September 2010.

Month	FII	DII
Jan	-302.9	-1,311.10
Feb	2,113.50	-697.4
Mar	18,833.60	3,806.40
Apr	9,764.50	1,616.50
May	-8,629.90	98.7
Jun	10,244.60	-1,092.50
Jul	17,120.60	-4,404.80
Aug	11,185.30	-3,169.60

The domestic mutual funds were the net seller in same tome by taking out 5151 crore between Januarys to September in the same period may was the only month when domestic funds were buyer by putting mere 98 crore in market however FII investment was positive in every month except January and may

Significant amount of money finds their way in developed market economy however those markets are flat or negative at this point of time.

FIG: FII and DII investment

Festive seasons are around the corner and funds have habit to reward their investors near Christmas so the FII profit booking is bound to come .Fundamentally Indian market is standing on the one leg because domestic funds and retail investors are sitting sideline while FII are consistent in the buying side when they turn negative the scenario will be bearish .Foreign funds don’t have option because only in emerging market they are in profit so they will sell some of their holdings in coming month precisely by October 2010.

Global perspective:

Following big losses for developed world equities in August, the rally was to be expected, because global markets were technically oversold. We are now entering what are normally the worst two months for markets and we will see new lows hit in October, at which point the market will discount the prospect of the mid-term elections in US ,in euro zone credit problem is still persisting Ireland is looking to spread their problem soon .

The indication has been coming from the bond market, which last month began to tell us there is really bad news out there. Following substantial buying in August, we have seen some selling but this will not last long enough.

Global market statistics in august.

US INDEX	JULY CLOSE	AUG HIGH	AUG CLOSE	%GAIN /LOSS
Dow Jones	10466	10698	10014	-4.30
NASQAQ	2254	2305	2104	-6.21
S&P 500	1101	1127	1049	-4.72

American markets were worst performing market in august, series of bad economic news propel the selloff at the wall street and the august emerged as the worst month for equity market in USA. Dowjone industrial average lost 4.30% of their value, NASDAQ composite lost 6.21% due to selloff in the technology sector, and S&P 500 lost 4.72% .There was only seven trading session when market went up.

EURO ZONE	JULY CLOSE	AUG HIGH	AUG CLOSE	%GAIN /LOSS
FTSE 100	5258	5410	5225	-0.62
CAC	3643	3777	3490	-4.19
DAX	6147	6351	5925	-3.61

Euro zone contributed similar manner as American indices here FTSE 100 was the best performer in the pack who lost slightly more than half percent while CAC of France lost -4.19% and DAX of Germany lost -3.61% in august only.

ASIA	JULY CLOSE	AUG HIGH	AUG CLOSE	% GAIN /LOSS
NIKKI	9537	9694	8824	-7.47
STRAIT TIMES	2987	3014	2950	-1.23
HANG SANG	21029	21294	20536	-2.34
SHANGHAI	2637	2687	2638	0.03

Asian market performance in august were better than developed world although NIKKI of japan tumble 7.47% while Hansang LOST 2.43% and strait times lost -1.23% however Shanghai composite closed flat in august.

INDIAN MARKET	JULY CLOSE	AUG HIGH	AUG CLOSE
SENSEX	17868	18401	17971	0.57
C&X NIFTY	5367	5543	5402	0.65

Indian market emerged as the winner in the September where all the market were crumbling in the august the Indian indices kisses their 31 month high although due profit booking lost their most of the gain in spite of this market able to close in green for the month where most of the market closed deep in red.

Amida research desk