Highest-rated Oscars ever? See the numbers here

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Academy Awards has started broadcasting, and while most of the attention is on the winners and losers and whether the host is funny, another closely watched aspect of Oscar night are the TV ratings for the often laboriously long ceremony.

The Oscars usually do pretty well with viewers, who can’t seem to get enough of the stars on display, whether they’re posing on the red carpet or tripping over steps on their way to collect their awards and thank their agents, third-grade drama coaches, co-stars, directors, producers and physical trainers.

But since we have to wait to see how the 86th Academy Awards turn out, we can take time now to look at Oscars’ past as a sort of prologue for Sunday night. Here are some numbers on telecasts from years gone by.

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The Numbers:

• The most-watched Oscar ceremony was in 1998. The telecast averaged 55.25 million viewers. That was the year “Titanic” took home best picture, and Billy Crystal hosted.

• The only other time an Oscar telecast averaged more than 50 million viewers was in 1983, when “Gandhi” won best picture. The ceremonies were hosted by a foursome of Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau.

• The least-watched telecast since 1974 was in 2008, when “No Country for Old Men” took the best picture award and Jon Stewart was host. The show only averaged 32 million viewers.

• The Oscars averaged 40.4 million total viewers last year. Compare that to this year’s Super Bowl, which averaged 52.6 million females viewers alone.

• Speaking of women, 61.8 percent of viewers for last year’s Oscar’s telecast were female.

• Oscar telecasts are more for the upscale crowd. For 2013, the average household rating was 24, but in homes with incomes more than USD 100,000, the average rating was nearly 35.

• The top five spenders for advertisers over the past five years for Oscar telecasts have been Hyundai at USD 56.5 million, J.C. Penney at USD49.4 million, Coca-Cola USD41.4 million, American Express USD24.4 million and Samsung USD24 million.

• McDonald’s has advertised in every Oscar telecast since 1992; American Express in each since 1993; and Penney since 2002.

• The 2013 Oscar telecast produced a record USD 88.3 million in ad sales.

• The 2013 Oscars saw an increase of almost 200 percent over 2012 in terms of social media comments. There were more than 14 million social media comments, 13 million on the show day alone.

(Sources: TV ratings and demographics from Nielsen: ad figures from Kantar Media.)

—By CNBC’s Mark Koba. Follow him on Twitter @MarkKobaCNBC.

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Hedge funds sit out the emerging market turmoil

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Hedge funds usually thrive on volatility, but many of them are sitting out the emerging market turmoil even as they become more positive on the segment.

Greater differentiation among global emerging markets, leading to less correlation within the asset class, should offer hedge funds more scope for returns as they typically make both long and short bets.

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“Hedge funds are still viewing emerging markets as a great opportunity now that it’s no longer moving in synch with other markets,” said Nicolas Campiche, chief executive officer for alternative investments at Swiss private bank Pictet.

But he added, “We’re very picky,” with most of the exposure through macro managers.

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Many hedge fund managers are keeping their exposure to the segment relatively low. Indeed, they increasingly say they are “under-invested” in emerging markets – or that they believe their risk position should be increased if they were aligned with their sentiment, according to a survey by Societe Generale, which found this described about 42 percent of the hedge-fund clients surveyed.

The problem may be that emerging markets simply aren’t developed enough for hedge funds’ strategies.

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“Most hedge funds in emerging markets tend to be long only. I don’t want to pay 2/20 for that,” Campiche told CNBC, referring to the typical hedge fund fee structure of 2 percent of assets invested and 20 percent of returns. Getting emerging market exposure via equity funds would be cheaper, he said.

Others also cited the limitations affecting hedge funds’ investments in emerging markets.

“Running a true long-short in many emerging markets is difficult,” said Misha Graboi, a portfolio manager for Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co., or Paamco, a fund of hedge fund firm.

“In many emerging markets, either there are outright prohibitions on shorting or getting the liquidity or the shorting costs are prohibitively high,” Graboi said.

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“Sometimes they end up just shorting an index and the problem of shorting the index in emerging markets is that they tend to be dominated by one industry or even one company,” he added. “Long some stocks and short the index would be an explicit sector bet in some emerging markets.”

As an example, he cited Samsung Electronics’ dominance of South Korea’s stock market. Samsung Electronics is the Korean stock market’s biggest capitalization stock and it has an around 25 percent weight in the benchmark Kospi index. Samsung and Hyundai Motor together account for about 21 percent of the benchmark Kospi index’s total market capitalisation.

He noted Paamco has limited exposure to emerging markets, mostly through pan-Asia managers, and it prefers investing in developed markets.

—By CNBC.Com’s Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 

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Cashin: What the market heard when Yellen spoke

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Art Cashin said Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen “did no harm” to the stock market during her testimony Thursday before a Senate committee.

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After Yellen concluded her appearance, Cashin, UBS’ director of floor operations at the NYSE, told CNBC’s Bob Pisani, “She said, ‘Yes, certainly, the weather is evident but none of us know, yet, whether it’s having an impact.’ She said, ‘We will continue to taper,’ but left the door open very slightly saying that if the data continues to deteriorate that they might reconsider and taper the tapering, which gave the bond market a little sigh of relief.”

Cashin added that Yellen didn’t get too much grilling during her appearance, in part because “most of the Senators … are a little wary of looking like they are attacking a friendly, older woman. So she’s got that going for her.”

—By CNBC’s Alex Crippen. Follow him on Twitter @alexcrippen.

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US sales of new homes leap 9.6% in January

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Sales of new single-family homes surged to a five and a half-year high in January, which could ease concerns of a sharp slowdown in the housing market.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales jumped 9.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000 units, the highest level since July 2008.

December’s sales were revised up to a 427,000-unit pace from the previously reported 414,000-unit rate. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which are measured when contracts are signed, falling to a 400,000-unit pace in January.

(Read more: Stocks hover around flatline despite upbeat housing report)

Sales in the Northeast soared 73.7 percent to a seven-month high, while the South recorded a 10.4 percent rise in transactions to a more than five-year high.

These regions have borne the brunt of the unseasonably cold weather that has been blamed for holding back economic activity. Sales, however, tumbled 17.2 percent in the Midwest last month, while rising 11 percent in the West.

Housing lost momentum in the second half of last year following a run-up in mortgage rates and a persistent shortage of properties on the market.

(Read more: Mortgage applications at lowest level in 2 decades)

Declines in residential construction and building permits and sales of previously owned homes last month had raised concerns that the sector, which is key to the economy’s recovery, was slowing down sharply.

New home sales rose 2.2 percent compared with January 2013.

Last month, the supply of new houses on the market was unchanged at 184,000 units. The median price of a new home last month rose 3.4 percent from January 2013. At January’s sales pace it would take 4.7 months to clear the supply of houses on the market. That was down from 5.2 months in December.

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A supply of six months is normally considered a healthy balance between supply and demand.

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Will gold see double digit declines this year?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Gold has been the best performing asset class this year, according to investment firm Coutts, rallying 10 percent year to date, but some analysts have warned investors not to get too comfortable.

Dominic Schnider, head of non-traditional asset classes at UBS, told CNBC Asia’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that the 2014 rally was set to end in tears, and gold and silver would see double-digit declines this year.

“Some of the buying we have seen recently is not really driven by fundamentals, but is more momentum driven. That should run out of steam – so we’ll see double digit declines on the precious metals this year,” said Schnider, who is a long-term gold bear.

(Read More: Gold eyes 4th week of gains on Ukraine default fears)

Gold traded near a four month high, hit the previous day, in Asian trade on Wednesday, opening at over USD1,340 an ounce. Worries over the strength of the US recovery and political turmoil in the Ukraine revived appetite for the safe haven trade.

Silver prices, meanwhile, which are strongly correlated to the gold price, has rallied over 14 percent since the start of February to USD21.79 an ounce.

The precious metals’ performance this year a far cry from the pain of last year, when the Federal Reserve induced tapering panic send the yellow metal plunging 34 percent from April to June. The Fed’s quantitative easing program and ultra-low interest rate policy has been one of the key drivers of gold strength in recent years.

But, despite the precious metal’s apparent turnaround this year, UBS’s Schnider told CNBC gold’s fortunes were set to turn ugly once again, as investors turn more positive on the global economy.

Schnider told CNBC he saw gold prices falling to USD1,050 per ounce on a 12 month view, while silver prices trading at around USD18 by year end.

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“Think about it, we are in a risk on environment probably going into the second quarter of this year, rates [on 10-year Treasurys] are going to rise faster than most people expect and the dollar’s going to strengthen [and] we are looking at an environment where equities continue to do well,” he said.

“So if you consider that there is a good chance that some of the buying which was mostly driven by futures will actually revert, and then you are going to see Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) outflows,” he added.

Last week, hedge funds plowed into gold and crude oil as prices rallied last week. Data released Friday showed the bullish money wagered by commodity speculators was driven to the highest level since 2011, Reuters reported. Gold accounted for USD2.9 billion, or 21 percent, of the weekly increase of USD13.5 billion in managed money net longs.

Gold bulls, however, say there is still a plethora of positive drivers that should help gold’s bullish run continue through the rest of the year.

One bullish factor is growing demand from China, which is set to surpass India as gold’s largest importer. The China Gold Association revealed last week a record level of Chinese gold consumption in 2013, which was estimated to have risen 41 percent to 1,176 metric tons from the previous year.

(Read More: Euro Pacific Capital’s Peter Schiff says gold will jump)

“We do believe the underlying physical market is making adjustments as there has been a moderation in primary production and a collapse in recycling,” said David Lennox, resources analyst at Sydney-based trading firm Fat Prophets, who sees gold ending the year between USD1,350 and USD1,400 an ounce.

“At the same time, there has been an uplift in jewelry demand and demand from sovereign governments, because of the uncertainty in paper assets. Furthermore, investors are more comfortable with the idea of Fed tapering, which will be good for gold,” he added.

According to Lennox, the US government will soon turn its attention back to addressing its budget deficit again, inevitably putting pressure on the US dollar and boosting gold as a result.

(Read More: Gold to tank in 2014:Goldman Sachs)

— By CNBC’s Katie Holliday: Follow her on Twitter @hollidaykatie

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Emerging markets now offer ‘fantastic value’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After months of fund outflows, emerging markets shouldn’t be treated like pariahs as they offer solid value, analysts said.

“Emerging markets have really been beaten up a lot, probably a bit unfairly since most of last year and into this year,” said Julie Dickson, emerging market equity portfolio manager at Ashmore Investment Management, which has around USD75.3 million under group management. “It means fantastic value.”

(Read more: How fragile are emerging markets?)

Emerging markets have seen a brutal sell-off this year after sharp falls in the value of the Argentine peso, Turkish lira, South African rand and Brazilian real triggered panic selling across the asset class, with analysts largely blaming the turbulence on the Federal Reserve’s move to begin tapering its asset purchases.

Funds have flowed out of emerging market equity funds for 13 consecutive weeks, according to data from Jefferies, with a total USD18.76 billion exiting the segment so far this year.
But while concerns about tapering and the potential for higher interest rates have decked emerging market assets, not everyone is certain this will hurt economies.

“These markets and their central banks have so much firepower to deal with it and to step in where needed, that I think the risks are overstated and overdone,” Dickson told CNBC, noting some markets have rebounded since September of last year after stepping up efforts to deal with currency imbalances and fiscal issues.

(Read more: Emerging market opportunity in long term: Blankfein)

She isn’t the only one who isn’t terribly concerned about tapering’s effect on emerging markets.

“I don’t buy the theory that a lot of the money that came out of the US came into the emerging markets during quantitative easing,” said Kelvin Tay, regional chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management. He believes the instead that the Fed’s easy money policy spurred a lot of borrowing by companies in Asia and Latin America.

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“If the rates go up gradually, if the 10-year US Treasury yields go up gradually, I don’t see a risk to the systems here or in Latin America. But if the rates go up very sharply then you have a problem,” he told CNBC.

But both Dickson and Tay are selective on which emerging markets to play, preferring the Asian region and tipping South Korea and China as value plays.

Emerging Asia shares are trading at 10.4 times 12-month forward earnings, below the five-year average of 11.5 times, according to data from Credit Suisse. Emerging Europe is at 6.3 times earnings, compared with a five-year average of 7.0 times, while Latin America is at 11.2 times, compared with a historical average of 11.5 times, the data show.

Both South Korea and China are “deeply undervalued,” Tay said, noting the two markets offer plays on Asia’s tech sector. Tay is also positive on China’s bank and property sectors, despite concerns over a potential real-estate bubble and worries over non-performing loans (NPLs).

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“The market has overreacted,” he said. “We don’t think the NPLs are going to spike up very, very sharply. There might be a rise but, it’s not going to go to a level where it’s going to cause systemic risk to the Chinese economy,” Tay said.

“You’ve got to step backward and remind yourselves that China has USD3.8 trillion in reserves,” he said. “Then they have another 80 trillion yuan in investments that they can actually sell if they need to prop up the system.”

—By CNBC.Com’s Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1

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LinkedIn makes major move into China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has made it clear that the company sees huge potential in China. Now the business network is taking steps to profit from it, even if that means accepting government censorship.

Weiner announced a beta site in simplified Chinese to reach what LinkedIn says are the country’s more than 140 million professionals, one-fifth of whom Weiner calls “the world’s knowledge workers.”

This makes Chinese one of the site’s 22 languages worldwide.

 Weiner acknowledged major challenges.

“As a condition for operating in the country, the government of China imposes censorship requirements on Internet platforms. LinkedIn strongly supports freedom of expression and fundamentally disagrees with government censorship,” Weiner wrote in his blog announcing the news.

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“At the same time, we also believe that LinkedIn’s absence in China would deny Chinese professionals a means to connect with others on our global platform, thereby limiting the ability of individual Chinese citizens to pursue and realize the economic opportunities, rights and dreams most important to them,” he added.

Weiner said LinkedIn is committed to implementing government restrictions on content only when required, to be transparent and to take “extensive” measures to protect the rights and data of its members.

—By CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. Follow her on Twitter @JBoorstin.

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Sugar in coffee: Sweet spot for investors?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A punishing drought in Brazil has sent the prices of sugar and coffee soaring, and some analysts expect the cost of the popular morning stimulant to continue its climb.

May Arabica coffee futures traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have risen 69 percent since hitting a four-year low in November, and on Monday rallied to USD 1.7635 per pound, its highest level since October 2012. Raw sugar contracts traded on the exchange, meanwhile, saw their biggest one day rally of 4.1 percent in nearly five months on Monday, jumping to 17.41 cents a pound.

Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance, told CNBC Asia’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that extreme weather conditions in Brazil and India have dramatically altered the supply/demand dynamic in the global coffee and sugar markets.

“Coffee and sugar – in fact all soft commodities – are looking good. We can expect surpluses to be sucked up and prices to go higher,” said Barratt.

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Brazil, the world’s leading exporter of coffee and sugar, along with soybeans, orange juice and beef, has faced its worst drought in history in recent months, wiping out farmers’ crops and leaving six million people with rationed water supplies across 11 Brazilian states. This January was the country’s driest in six decades.

Extreme weather in India, meanwhile, has also impinged on global sugar production, after five cyclones hit the eastern coast of the country last year shutting down several sugarcane factories. Last week the International Sugar Organization warned that global output could fall for the first time in five years in 2014.

(Read More: Nespresso takes a sip of US coffee market)

Ayers Alliance’s Barratt told CNBC that there was further upside to come.

“If we get no break in the weather, USD 2.20 per pound is the next level in coffee and for sugar, 19.50 cents a pound. I remember in 2011, coffee was trading at USD 3.00 and sugar was at 35 cents, so any major disturbance to supply we expect more gains to come,” added Barratt.

But Luke Chandler, global head of commodities research at Rabobank, told CNBC Asia’s “Cash Flow” on Monday that he believed much of the potential upside in coffee prices to have been largely priced in.

Last week speculators more than doubled their net long positions in Arabica coffee futures for the week ending February 18, the largest gain since May 2011. Meanwhile, investors in raw sugar cut their net short positions by 22 percent over the same period, Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed.

(Read More: What a coffee bull market means for your latte)

“Our expectation is that the damage that’s done to the crop has already been factored in. We think in the short term there’s likely to be some easing in coffee prices. With this rally that we’ve seen 70 percent is a big run up [and] a lot of speculators have jumped on board [with] this weather scare, so we think it’s overdone,” he added.

Chandler was more positive on sugar prices in 2014, however, although he also expects them to ease in the short term, he said they would rally later in the year.

“Sugar is probably one of the markets we’re most bullish on over the course of 2014, we certainly see some upside moving into the second half of the year as prices get back closer to 19 cents a pound. As the global supply and demand comes back into balance, we draw down some of those global stocks and we see some upside for prices,” he added.

Scientists expect the drought in Brazil to worsen, leading to many coffee plantations being forced to close and reducing the country’s coffee crop by 10 percent by 2020, according to media reports.

(Read More: Hotel survey: guests prefer coffee to sex)

Another factor impacting coffee prices is rising demand. China, the world’s second-largest economy is developing a taste for coffee, leading coffee chains Costa and Starbucks to expand rapidly in the country.

— By CNBC’s Katie Holliday: Follow her on Twitter @hollidaykatie

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Gold eyes 4th week of gains on Ukraine default fears

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Gold may post its fourth week of gains as concern of prolonged political unrest in Ukraine raises fears of a sovereign default, fueling demand for safe-haven assets including bullion.

A breakthrough peace deal for the former Soviet state halted days of violence that had turned the center of the capital into a war zone and killed 82 people. It brought sweeping political change that met many demands of the pro-European opposition, Reuters reported.

Still, many believe the country’s political and economic future is far from clear. “Political uncertainty has arguably increased—including the outcome of the presidential election set for May 25—bringing with it a potential increase in the probability of a sovereign default,” wrote Alastair Newton, Nomura International’s senior political analyst in commentary released on Sunday.

In a research report published on Saturday, Jens Nordvig, Nomura’s global head of G10 FX strategy, assigned a 29 percent probability of a default in Ukraine within one year. The country’s hryvnia has plunged almost 8 percent against the dollar this year.

(Read more: Gold logs third straight weekly gain)

Markets must now focus on possible contagion risk to European markets exposed to Ukraine, said David Kotok, chief investment officer at U.S. money managers Cumberland Advisors, with $2.3 billion in assets under management. “Investment implications for Central and Eastern Europe are at stake” as events continue to unfold, Kotok said. “The entire complex structural relationship between old Europe and Russia is again in play.”

The fast-evolving landscape in Ukraine echoes political strains elsewhere in the emerging world, namely Venezuela and Argentina—tail-risks that may help boost the case for gold.

“With the growing international concern over the situation in Ukraine, there could be some additional movement into gold in anticipation of continued flare-ups and unrest,” said Scott Carter, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Lear Capital.

Adding to gold’s appeal are fears that US data releases this week may miss expectations as the recent extreme winter weather stalls economic activity. “Economic fundamentals are weaker in the U.S. than many realize,” said Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president at online precious metals market BullionVault.

Asian demand ‘sponge’

Further evidence of a deepening contraction in China’s economy may provide another boost.

A key indicator of Chinese manufacturing, which dropped to a seven-month low last week, “along with unexpected weakness in the U.S. housing market, and the unstable situation in Ukraine have put the luster back on gold’s safe-haven status for many investors,” said Edmund Moy, chief strategist at Morgan Gold and a former director of the U.S. Mint.

(Read more: Ukraine’s new rulers dismantle power structure)

Almost two-thirds of 16 people polled in a CNBC survey, 63 percent, said gold will gain this week. A quarter maintained gold will correct lower, while 12 percent said prices will be unchanged. The survey results correspond with data from IG Markets, which shows 71 percent of its more than 501 clients with open positions expect gold prices to rise.

In a further bullish signal, hedge funds plowed into gold and crude oil as prices rallied last week. Friday data showed the bullish money wagered by commodity speculators was driven to the highest level since 2011, Reuters reported.

Gold accounted for USD 2.9 billion, or 21 percent, of the weekly increase of USD 13.5 billion in managed money net longs. Open interest in US gold, a measure of market liquidity, rose nearly 7 percent.

Still, market professionals holding bearish views maintain that gold’s safe-haven bid and renewed Asian physical buying will offer limited impetus to prices, and won’t be strong enough to offset investor outflows from gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The world’s largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Shares, last week notched its first weekly outflow in almost a month, of 5.6 tons.

“We believe outflows in physically backed ETFs are likely to resume,” said UBS analysts Dominic Schnider and Giovanni Staunovo. “The focus remains on Asian demand as a sponge to absorb additional ETF selling in 2014. Although we believe Asia has the affinity and the ability to increase purchases, another round of lower prices is likely necessary to balance the market—prices reaching USD 1,050-USD 1,150/oz.”

(Read more: Dollar may suffer from weather-hit data)

Mark O’Byrne, founder and executive director of Dublin-based bullion dealer GoldCore, said gold is “vulnerable” after recent gains. Last Tuesday, the metal hit $1,332.10—its highest since October—lifted by follow-up demand after gold posted a more than 4 percent gain last week, Reuters reported on Friday.

Nevertheless, according to O’Byrne, “Worries about global economic growth are underpinning gold’s safe-haven appeal and the technicals suggest that after a pullback, the precious metal may continue to rise in dollar and other fiat currencies.”

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Volatile Ukraine may now face default risk

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ukraine now faces the risk of debt default as the country tries to get back on its feet following the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych at the weekend, analysts say.

Its parliament on Saturday voted to remove Yanukovych after a week of bloodshed and set an early election for May 25. Ukraine plunged into a crisis in November after Yanukovych rejected a deal to deepen ties with the European Union (EU), triggering protests.

Read more: Ukraine on European course: US warns Putin against grab

“Although the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych is something of a watershed moment, it has not brought clarity and certainty to Ukraine,” Alastair Newton, a senior political analyst at Nomura said in note.

“Indeed, political uncertainty has arguably increased – including around the outcome of the presidential election set for 25 May – bringing with it a potential increase in the probability of a sovereign default,” he added.

Ukraine’s economic woes run deep and the country has been reliant on aid from Russia. A slump in demand for exports of steel and industrial machinery and poor economic policy has taken a toll, analysts say. And while Ukraine’s currency has been kept artificially high to help pay for imports and to keep the servicing of foreign debt down, the country’s exports have suffered as a result.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday lowered Ukraine’s long-term rating from ‘CCC ‘ to ‘CCC’ saying the political crisis has put the country’s ability to service its debt at risk and raised uncertainty over Russia providing promised aid.

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC at the weekend that his country was interested in seeing a ‘normalization’ of the situation in Ukraine and would provide support.

Read more: Russia: We will support Ukraine’s return to normality

 The EU has pledged support to Ukraine and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is expected to travel to Ukraine on Monday to discuss measures to support an ailing economy.

“The ouster of President Yanukovych in Ukraine raises uncertainties about near-term stability and strategic Russia-EU-US relations,” analysts at Mizuho Corporate Bank said in a note. “For now though, nerves about Ukraine’s possible default warned by the S&P on Friday may be overshadowed by the feel good factor about the UK and EU promising support.”

Read more: Gold eyes 4th week of gains on Ukraine default fears

Analysts said that while Ukraine’s economy is relatively small, with gross domestic product (GDP) below USD 200 billion, political developments remained a risk factor for world markets.

In particular, analysts said they would be watching for potential tension between the West and Russia over the future of Ukraine.

The EU has offered to revive a trade deal that Yanukovych spurned under Russian pressure in November, Reuters reported.

“Ukraine is a delicate situation. It is very important to Russia, which will not tolerate any regime that is hostile to them,” Hans Goetti, head of investment Asia at Banque Internationale a Luxembourg, told CNBC Asia’s “Cash Flow.”

“If you’re looking at a pre-Western government that is completely orientated to Europe, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he added.

— Writing by CNBC’s Dhara Ranasinghe. Follow her on Twitter at @DharaCNBC

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow