Hedge funds bet against yuan, paper reports

    SEVERAL major hedge funds are piling into bets that China’s currency will decline against the U.S. dollar, according to The Wall Street Journal.

    Hayman Capital Management has invested about 85 percent of its portfolio in bets against the yuan and the Hong Kong dollar and Greenlight Capital holds options that pay off if the yuan falls. Hedge fund managers Stanley Druckenmiller and David Tepper have also taken positions against the yuan, the newspaper said yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.

    Trading in Goldleaf halted on margin call danger

    GOLDLEAF Jewelry Co.’s Shanghai-listed shares were suspended from trading yesterday as an employee shareholding program faces a margin call.

    Goldleaf’s shares last traded at 15.92 yuan (US$2.41), below a warning level of 16.05 yuan for the employee shareholding program and near the 15.60 yuan level set for position closing. The firm said in a statement that stakeholders in the program would take active measures, including raising fresh funds and propping up margins to reduce the risk of forced liquidation.

    China Galaxy executive asked to assist in probe

    CHINA Galaxy Securities Co. yesterday said its vice president Huo Xiaoyu was asked to help judicial authorities while the company’s business operations remained normal.

    Huo was “directed to cooperate with the judicial authority” due to personal reasons, chairman Chen Youan said in a statement. The company gave no further details. After the stock market slump in mid-June, China began cracking down on insider trading and short-selling, which it said were partly to blame for volatility.

    Ctrip.com’s shares may gain 30% this year

    SHARES of Chinese online travel agency Ctrip.com International could gain as much as 30 percent this year as tail winds from the country’s burgeoning travel industry spur rapid earnings growth, Barron’s said.

    The stock, which trades on NASDAQ, plummeted 20 percent in recent months due to China’s economic turbulence and a recent merger with money-losing peer Qunar. But Ctrip.com’s dominant position in the country’s travel industry is likely to produce “rapid gains in revenues and profit margins for years to come,” the publication said.