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Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. paid 1.81 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for a stake in Fortis, Belgium's biggest financial-services company, in the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese insurer.

Ping An, the nation's second-biggest insurance company, purchased 4.18 percent of Fortis, based in Brussels and the Dutch city of Utrecht, the Chinese firm said in a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange today. Fortis said it invited Ping An President Louis Cheung to join its board.

Chinese companies including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Citic Securities Co. have announced overseas purchases in the past six weeks, taking advantage of tumbling financial stocks. Fortis, part of a group that bought ABN Amro Holding NV, has fallen 33 percent this year as the credit-market slump hurt earnings at its insurance division.

Fortis, in a statement to Hugin wire, said Ping An's investment ``allows it to gain access to high-growth markets, in particular China.''

Ping An bought 95.01 million Fortis shares on the Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam as of Nov. 27, it said in the release.

ICBC, paying $5.6 billion for 20 percent of South Africa's Standard Bank Group Ltd.; and Citic Securities, injecting $1 billion into Bear Stearns Cos., also promised access to the world's fastest growing economy as part of their investments.

Spreading Risks

Insurance premiums in China increased 24 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier, driven by an economy that expanded 11.5 percent, according to data from the industry regulator.

China's insurance regulator has urged firms to spread risk on their more than $300 billion of assets. In July, China allowed them to invest 15 percent of assets in overseas stocks and bonds, up from 5 percent. Ping An said its acquisition was part of its strategy of ``applying its insurance funds and matching its assets to its liabilities.''

Ping An, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, quadrupled third-quarter profit to 3.6 billion yuan ($487.1 million), powered by gains on investments in Chinese stocks, the world's best performers this year. The company oversaw $45 billion of investments as of June 30.

Ping An's bigger rival, China Life Insurance Co., is also on the prowl for possible acquisitions. The world's largest insurer by market value is ``very interested'' in buying foreign banks, Board Secretary Liu Ting said yesterday.

Citigroup Infusion

``Overseas banks are looking very attractive after the subprime crisis brought their share prices down,'' said Liu at a briefing in Beijing. ``This provides great opportunities for China Life and is a very worthwhile option for us to consider.''

The MSCI World Finance Index has fallen 7.9 percent this year, the worst performance among 10 industry groups on the MSCI World Index. Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. bank by assets, has tumbled 42 percent in New York amid mounting credit market losses, leading to the departure of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince.

Citigroup, which until July was the world's biggest bank by market value, this week said it's receiving a $7.5 billion cash infusion from Abu Dhabi to shore up its capital.

Fortis tumbled 7.2 percent in Amsterdam on Nov. 8, the biggest drop in four years, after reporting an unexpected decline in third-quarter profit. The stock has jumped 11 percent in the past week, closing at 18.15 euros last week and giving Fortis a market value of 40 billion euros.

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures rose in New York, reaching a record closing price above $98 a barrel, on concern fuel stockpiles will drop as the heating season gets under way.

Futures have surged 21 percent in the past two months as the dollar fell and U.S. inventories declined. Supplies of crude oil and distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell last week, according to an Energy Department report on Nov. 21. Transactions were lighter than usual today as some traders took a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

``Most of the issues that brought us here are still around so I think at some point, maybe next week, we will hit $100,'' said Tom Bentz, a broker at BNP Paribas in New York.

Crude oil for January delivery rose 89 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $98.18 a barrel at 1:53 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was a record closing price. Futures climbed to $99.29 on Nov. 21, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 66 percent from a year ago.

Floor trading ended an hour early today because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Volume as of 1:30 p.m. was about 100,000 contracts, compared with 468,546 for the session on Nov. 21.

Brent crude oil for January settlement rose $1.26, or 1.3 percent, to $95.76 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent reached $96.53 a barrel on Nov. 21, the highest since trading began in 1988.

``I don't think you can read much into the moves today because volume is light,'' said Eric Wittenauer, an analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis.

Inventory Gain

Prices fell 0.8 percent on Nov. 21, after the Energy Department reported that crude-oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York futures, rose 1.14 million barrels to 14.6 million last week.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will load 24.5 million barrels a day onto tankers in the four weeks to Dec. 8, compared with 23.8 million barrels in the month ended Nov. 10, Oil Movements said. It will be OPEC's 14th consecutive increase and the biggest this year, according to the company, which tracks shipments.

OPEC, which produces more than 40 percent of the world's oil, is scheduled to discuss crude-oil production for the first quarter of 2008 at a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 5.

``It looks like we will need some strong political news or a significant inventory drop to send us above $100'' a barrel, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. ``We've tested $100 twice and haven't achieved it, which raises questions about whether we can actually do it.''

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks advanced for the first time in seven days, trimming a regional index's worst weekly loss in three months. Hong Kong shares rebounded from a two-month low as investors judged that recent declines were excessive.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Cnooc Ltd. led gains in Hong Kong after billionaire Lee Shau-kee said he invested more than HK$1 billion ($129 million) in the city's shares yesterday. Benchmarks across the region have retreated this week, except for Pakistan. Japan's markets are closed today for a holiday.

The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index added 0.6 percent to 508.92 at 11:01 a.m. in Hong Kong, halting a six-day, 8.3 percent drop. The regional benchmark has dropped 4.4 percent this week, its fourth straight loss and the worst weekly performance since the five days ended Aug. 17.

``It's a dead cat bounce,'' said Jason Lee, who helps oversee $1.4 billion at JMF Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur. ``The outlook is still hazy.''

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest liquid-crystal display maker, climbed to a one-week high in Seoul after saying it will invest 2.06 trillion won ($2.2 billion) to expand a factory to meet rising demand for LCDs.

Benchmarks advanced in the region except for South Korea, Taiwan, China and Australia. Westpac Banking Group led a fourth straight decline in bank stocks on concern U.S. subprime mortgage losses will weigh on their earnings.

Japan's Topix index slid 0.1 percent yesterday, after having dropped 21 percent from its February peak, making the country the first of the world's 10 biggest stock markets to enter a bear market this year. U.S. markets were shut yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bet on Hong Kong

ICBC, the world's largest lender by market value, added 3.5 percent to HK$5.96 in Hong Kong, after dropping yesterday to the lowest since Oct. 4. Cnooc, China's biggest offshore oil producer, jumped 4.9 percent to HK$13.36. China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest wireless operator, climbed 2.6 percent to HK$129.80.

Lee, chairman of Henderson Land Development Co. and the second-richest man in Hong Kong, said he invested more than HK$1 billion in stocks yesterday, when the Hang Seng Index fell 2.3 percent to the lowest since Sept. 21. The benchmark may reach 33,000 by spring, he added.

By yesterday, the Hang Seng was down 18 percent from a record on Oct. 30.

Samsung gained 2.6 percent to 553,000 won, set for its highest close since Nov. 16. Demand for LCD TV panels measuring 50 inches or more will increase 65 percent annually until 2010, Samsung said yesterday, citing estimates by research firm DisplaySearch.

`Ongoing Concern'

Westpac, Australia's fourth-largest lender, slid 1.5 percent to A$26.86. National Australia Bank Ltd., the country's biggest, fell 0.9 percent to A$40.11. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the second biggest, dropped 1.1 percent to A$57.28.

The S&P/ASX 200 Finance Index fell 0.3 percent today in Sydney, taking its weekly decline to 2.4 percent. Losses from U.S. subprime mortgage foreclosures, coupled with slowing economic growth and falling house prices, could reach as much as $300 billion, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

``Ongoing concern about the subprime issue is continuing to weigh on the banks as obviously funding issues are still a worry,'' said Shane Oliver, who helps manage the equivalent of $103 billion at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney.

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- If Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan and Li Ka-shing are right about China's stock market, China Finance Online Co. may lose its rank as the best-performing foreign company listed in the U.S.

American depositary receipts for the Beijing-based company, China's biggest provider of online financial data, have dropped 32 percent this month, as the nation's benchmark CSI 300 Index fell 12 percent. The ADRs lost 20 percent today alone, to $23.74.

China's world-beating rally may be a ``bubble'' ready to burst, say the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman and Li, Asia's richest man. Billionaire Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., last month urged investors to be ``cautious.''

``If there is a slump in China, the risk of investing in some companies whose earnings are closely linked to the market will increase,'' said Tim Leung, who helps manage $1.7 billion at IG Investment Ltd. in Hong Kong. ``When there is a slump in the market, retail investors do much less trading.'' Leung said he doesn't own China Finance shares.

China Finance's ADRs have climbed more than fivefold this year on the Bank of New York ADR index, outperforming U.S.-listed PetroChina Co., BHP Billiton Ltd. and Baidu.com Ltd. The number of customers who pay for the company's stock-picking software and financial data rose 61 percent to 45,500 in the first nine months.

The ADRs, certificates that represent shares of foreign companies, are also the best performer in the Nasdaq Computer Index and the USX China Index in the past six months.

More Investors

China's CSI 300 index has surged 148 percent this year, the world's best return. The benchmark tracks the 300 biggest companies on the yuan-denominated A-share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Domestic investors opened about 33 million accounts for trading stocks and mutual funds in the first eight months of this year, six times the number opened in all of 2006, according to China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp.

China Finance's profit in the third quarter more than tripled to $1.9 million from a year earlier, it said in a statement today. The company forecast 2007 sales of as much as $60 million, compared with a previous projection of at least $45 million.

``Right or wrong, China Finance's stock moves with Chinese A-share and Hong Kong market sentiment,'' said Alex Xu, an analyst with Brean Murray Carret & Co. in New York.

Xu, who has a ``buy'' rating, is one of two analysts covering the company, according to Bloomberg data. Dick Wei, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Inc. in Hong Kong, has an ``overweight'' recommendation on China Finance.

`Irrational Exuberance'

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Chairman Li said in May that the Chinese stock market ``must be a bubble.'' The CSI 300 trades at about 39 times estimated earnings, compared with about six times for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which tracks more than 1,000 companies in the region.

Asked if China was in a state of ``irrational exuberance,'' Greenspan told a conference of insurance executives in Boston on Oct. 30: ``I think so.''

``When you don't expect it, it breaks,'' Greenspan said, echoing Buffett, who said on Oct. 24 that ``it's easy to be carried away in the stock market when things are going well.''

Investors may be starting to listen. As of Nov. 20, the CSI 300 has risen in just three trading days this month.

``The biggest risk for China Finance is if there is a long- term pullback in the Chinese stock market,'' said JPMorgan's Wei.

Shorts Multiply

Short positions against China Finance Online surged ninefold to 2.1 million shares as of Oct. 15, from 226,714 a month earlier. ``Shorts'' are shares borrowed and sold by investors who bet they will fall so they can be repurchased at a lower price. The investor pockets the difference.

``China's retail investors have driven the rally, and when we have a correction, retail investors will emphasize it,'' said Gabriel Gondard, who manages about $10 billion at Societe Generale SA venture Fortune SGAM Fund Management Co. in Shanghai.

The CSI 300 index hit a record low in June 2005. In the same month, China Finance's ADRs had fallen by 50 percent from the initial offering price of $13. The online financial data provider, founded in 1998, listed on the Nasdaq in October 2004.

``If there is a correction in the market, investors will have greater need for information and data about the market,'' China Finance Chief Executive Officer Zhao Zhiwei said by e-mail. ``To a certain degree, that may result in a greater demand for our services.''

China's economy, which has grown more than 11 percent for three consecutive quarters, may continue to fuel increases in the nation's equity markets. Disposable incomes for urban households, after adjusting for inflation, rose 13.2 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier. Earnings in rural areas increased 14.8 percent, according to government data.

``As people in China have more money, more and more of them will begin to put their money in the stock market seeking higher returns,'' said JPMorgan's Wei. ``I'm optimistic on the outlook for China Finance.''