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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rolla Coasta who wrote (31706)	3/28/2008 3:57:49 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218879

i will be relaxing at home, but understand this is on for the weekend and so will stay away from town Hong Kong's Rugby Sold Out as World Markets Slide By Aaron Pan March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's annual rugby sevens tournament, a lure for bankers in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, sold out in record time this year and needs a new stadium to cope with demand, tournament officials said. The festival of running rugby and dashes to the bar begins today amid a backdrop of gloom that's halted a four-year boom in Asian markets and seen thousands of job losses on Wall Street. The three-day event -- co-sponsored by Credit Suisse Group, which holds an Asian investors' conference after the rugby ¡V is attracting record interest even as the financial industry braces for bad news. Asian markets have been roiled following more than $200 billion of writedowns and credit losses stemming from the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. ``It's harder to get tickets this year than ever before and the attendance at our conference is at a record,'' said Hong- Kong-based Credit Suisse spokesman Sheel Kohli. ``Do we see any evidence of a slowdown? Absolutely not.'' Every rugby ticket was snapped up for the eighth time in nine years -- the exception being during the 2003 SARS crisis -- even after a 20 percent price hike. A three-day pass for the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium, with a face value of HK$1,080 ($129), cost $775 two weeks ago on resale Web site euroteam.info. Yesterday, the price was $1,250. ``We could probably do with a bigger stadium,'' said tournament spokesman Sean Moore, who said more than 3,000 fans queued at 5 a.m. on the day public tickets went on sale. The 5,000 seats available to the public -- most go through sponsors and local rugby clubs -- sold out in four hours. Challenges Ahead? Trevor Gregory, chairman of Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, said many fans had planned their trips before the markets turned. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index opened today at 22,664, down 28 percent from its Oct. 10 high. Gregory said there was ``inordinate demand'' for tickets this year, higher even than in 2007 when organizers said interest was ``unprecedented.'' The sevens injected HK$213.4 million into the economy in 2006, according to the latest figures available from the Hong Kong Tourism Board. ``If there is a depression out there, it's not reflected here,'' Gregory said in an interview. ``Maybe we'll face bigger challenges next year.'' Diageo Plc's Guinness and Swedish carmaker Volvo Car Corp. became tournament sponsors this year, and the waiting list for new sponsors is ``several years,'' according to Moore. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is the other main sponsor. Clive Woodward Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has flown in Clive Woodward, coach of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team, as a guest in its sevens corporate box, while HSBC Holdings Plc has lined up former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings and ex-Wales scrum-half Gareth Edwards. The tournament takes place amid heightened uncertainty in financial markets. While Wall Street banks have cut more than 34,000 jobs in the past nine months -- the most since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001 -- Asian banks are still hiring, albeit with more caution, according to recruitment companies. Australian banks are ``weathering the storm'' caused by the slump in global credit markets, central bank Governor Glenn Stevens said yesterday. Still, Hong Kong's initial public offering market is off to its worst start in eight years. ``Banks are not recruiting at the same momentum as they were before, but Asia and Hong Kong are still very much growth markets,'' said Mark Enticott, manager of banking and financial services at Michael Page Hong Kong.