Funds raise suggested equity allocations

    DOMESTIC fund managers have raised the proportion of their portfolios to be invested in stocks over the next three months as cash injections by the central bank buoy investor confidence in equities, a poll shows.

    Fund managers increased their suggested equity allocation for the next three months to 80.6 percent from 77.5 percent a month earlier, according to a poll of eight China-based fund managers conducted last week. Funds also upped their suggested bond allocation to 9.5 percent from 8.3 percent a month ago, while lowering cash weightings to 9.9 percent from 14.3 percent in September.

    Lenovo completes Motorola Mobility deal

    LENOVO Group, the world’s biggest personal computer maker, has fully acquired Motorola’s mobile business, making Lenovo the world’s third-largest smartphone maker.

    In the US$2.9 billion deal, Lenovo took over the Motorola brand and Motorola’s portfolio of innovative smartphones like Moto X, Moto G and Moto E series, as well as the future Motorola product roadmap. Lenovo will run Motorola as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Motorola’s headquarters will remain in Chicago.

    Shares end at fresh 20-month high

    CHINA’S shares closed at a fresh 20-month high Friday, as big firms played catch-up after underperforming for months.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.22 percent at 2,420.18, marking the highest close since Feb. 18, 2013, when it finished at 2,421.56. Its volume rose to a nearly four-year high of 249.9 billion yuan (US$40.9 billion), which is the biggest since Nov. 12, 2010, when it was 298.4 billion yuan. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.07 percent to 1,350.50.

    Zhangzidao net loss hits US$140.79m

    MAJOR domestic seafood provider Zhangzidao Group Co. reported Friday a sharp drop in third-quarter net profit, blaming a natural disaster for its heavy loss.

    The Shenzhen-listed firm posted a net loss of 860.8 million yuan (US$140.79 million) in the quarter, reversing from a net profit of 48.45 million yuan for the first six months of the year. Zhangzidao said that the firm’s scallops died in large quantities due to abnormally cold waters in the norther Yellow Sea, where the firm’s seafood products such as scallops, flounders, squids, tilapia, and pollocks are grown, resulting in a heavy loss.