Goldman Sachs earnings surge amid pandemic upheaval

NEW YORK - Goldman Sachs reported another blowout quarter Tuesday to conclude a highly profitable 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, which provided lucrative opportunities to the investment bank while battering much of the US economy.

Goldman's profits soared to $4.4 billion in the final quarter of the year, more than double the earnings from the same period a year ago, as it scored higher revenues in all four operating divisions and easily topped analyst estimates.

The just-ended quarter showed a continuation of the heady trends from Goldman's third quarter: more strength in equity and fixed-income trading amid financial markets volatility and huge growth in financial advising revenues as corporate clients pursued mergers or raised equity against a fast-changing macroeconomic backdrop.

And amid coronavirus-induced restrictions on movement, the financial giant saw lower travel and entertainment costs.

Chief Executive David Solomon praised the company's performance, but cautioned that the outlook for the global economy remains dependent on getting Covid-19 under control with a successful vaccination campaign.

"I urge political leaders at all levels and across all jurisdictions to do everything possible to implement a coordinated and comprehensive distribution plan," Solomon said during an earnings conference call. 

"In its absence, economic recovery will be unnecessarily delayed."

Several key economic sectors remain in deep trouble due to the prolonged downturn, including energy, airlines, hospitality and commercial real estate.

EYEING MAIN STREET GROWTH

Goldman enjoyed especially strong growth in fourth quarter revenues in investment banking, up 27 percent, and global markets, up 23 percent.

Overall revenues rose 18 percent from the year-ago period to $11.7 billion.

For all of 2020, Goldman Sachs reported profits of $8.9 billion, up 13 percent, on a revenue increase of 22 percent to $44.6 billion.

Goldman's results came on the heels of a series of mixed earnings releases Friday from rival financial heavyweights JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

Bank of America on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $5.2 billion, down 23 percent from the year-ago period on a 10.5 percent drop in revenues.

Like JPMorgan and others that reported last week, Bank of America's results were boosted by an $828 million reserve release after earlier provisions for bad loans from coronavirus were not needed. 

However, Bank of America suffered a 16 percent drop in net interest income due to lower interest rates.

Goldman, which has a much smaller consumer-oriented business than those other large banks, ended up with a net increase in provisions for credit losses of $293 million, citing the need for reserves for credit card loan growth.

Goldman Sachs has been building up its consumer-oriented Marcus business since 2016, and Solomon indicated plans to continue to invest in the venture.

Goldman is getting ready to launch a new investment platform on Marcus that will permit individuals to put in as little as $1,000 through Goldman programs on asset allocation and exchange traded funds. 

Goldman is also preparing a new digital checking offering for later this year, Solomon said.

Solomon reiterated that Goldman is intent on building Marcus into a long-term business and will set the bar "extremely high" on acquisition targets.

Solomon said additional investments in the venture could delay the targets for the consumer business to reach profitability, but would not affect firm-wide financial targets.

Goldman shares fell 2.3 percent to $294.20 in early afternoon trading, while Bank of America fell 0.7 percent to $32.77. 

Analysts attributed the sell-off in part to a rise of more than 30 percent in leading bank shares in the prior two and a half months.

Agence France-Presse

Apple, Goldman Sachs start issuing Apple Cards to consumers

Apple Inc rolled out its virtual credit card on Tuesday, working with bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc on the new iPhone add-on that may help Apple diversify from device sales and build out the Wall Street bank's new consumer business.

Apple announced the card in March, aiming to draw in iPhone owners by offering a card with 2 percent cash back on purchases with the Apple Pay service, no fees, an app to manage related finances, and a focus on data privacy.

For Goldman, the issuing bank, the card builds on a foray into its Marcus consumer banking brand, started in 2015.

Apple said a limited number of consumers who expressed interest in the card will start to receive sign-up invitations on Tuesday.

The card is designed to work with the iPhone, where users sign up for the card and can start using it immediately if approved via the Apple Wallet app and Apple Pay system.

Apple offers an option for a physical card made of titanium, but the physical card has no visible number. Instead, the card's number is stored on a secure chip inside the iPhone, which generates virtual numbers for online or over-the-phone purchases requiring a number.

Apple has focused on privacy, saying that purchase information is stored on the user's iPhone and that it cannot see the information. Goldman will not be allowed to use data for marketing purposes, even for selling other Goldman products.

Gene Munster, managing partner with Loup Ventures and a longtime Apple watcher, said Apple Card adoption is likely to be low in the first year, but that Apple Card could generate about $1.4 billion of high-margin revenue by 2023, adding about 1.8% to Apple's overall earnings and complementing the much larger Apple Pay business for total payments revenue of $5.38 billion by 2023. Apple has roughly 50 million U.S. Apple Pay users now.

But at Apple's size - $265.6 billion in sales for fiscal 2018 - the revenue matters less than the effect on keeping Apple customers tied to its brand, analysts said, said Ben Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

"If it works, it's one more thing that causes you to stay deeply loyal and entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, even if something better comes along," he said 

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; editing by Greg Mitchell, Peter Henderson and Sandra Maler)

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All eyes on Fed as stock market pines for rate cut: US stocks outlook

NEW YORK -- The Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week is shaping up as a pivotal one for Wall Street, with stocks primed for a selloff should the Fed fail to take an even more dovish tilt after policymakers raised expectations for a rate cut in recent weeks.

The benchmark S&P 500 has rallied more than 5 percent this month as softening economic data coupled with comments by Fed officials heightened expectations the Fed will cut rates by the end of the year and, at the very least, telegraph it is leaning toward a later rate cut at its June 18-19 meeting.

Those gains came on the heels of a selloff in May of nearly 7 percent in the S&P, largely fueled by investor concerns that trade wars were escalating, slowing the economy and putting it at risk of falling into a recession.

Bets for a rate cut were amplified by comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on June 4, who said the central bank will respond "as appropriate" to the risks from a global trade war and other developments, and after a weak May payrolls report on June 7.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Chief Economist Michelle Meyer expects the Fed's "dot plots" projection of interest rates, which represents the anonymous, individual rate projections of Fed policymakers for the next few years, to shift lower as officials start to factor in cuts. However, "the median dot will signal a Fed on hold," Meyer said in a note.

"The market has somehow convinced themselves that we are in an easing cycle. I am not sure how we got so far ahead of ourselves," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

"So now you’ve got Powell is kind of painted into a corner that he is really going to have to navigate carefully because you have market expectations that he said he would do whatever is appropriate."

In a recent note to clients, Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius said one of the themes from recent Fed commentary is that there is a wide range of views from central bank officials, although most "indicated trade policy increased downside risks by increasing uncertainty" and the result of ongoing trade negotiations was highly uncertain.

Many investors had been looking toward the Group of 20 summit later this month for more definitive signs of the direction of trade talks between the United States and China, giving the Fed a clearer picture on whether to take action on rates at the July meeting. According to CME's FedWatch tool, money market traders are pricing in an 88.4 percent chance of a rate cut of at least a quarter of a percentage point in July.

Any clarity from the G20 may be hard to come by, however. US President Donald Trump said on Friday "it doesn't matter" if Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends the Group of 20 summit later this month, predicting a trade deal with Beijing would occur at some point anyway.

"They've put themselves in a position where they have optionality in both directions so they can respond," said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies in New York said of the Fed.

Economic data this week was a mixed bag, with retail sales topping expectations and halting a tide of weak indicators, including the payrolls report and readings on inflation in the form of May consumer and producer prices with implications for core personal consumption expenditures, the Fed's favorite inflation measure.

"There were some important prints that confirmed some of the Fed’s fears – we didn’t get PCE but in PPI and CPI, you are not seeing inflation pressure bleeding through," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Seattle.

Still, a cut at the June meeting has not been ruled out either, with the probability of a quarter point cut put at 24.2 percent, according to FedWatch. Asset manager Vanguard believes the Fed could implement an "insurance cut" as early as next week, according to the firm’s global chief economist Joe Davis.

And it's no surprise investors are willing to cheer a rate cut. According to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York, of the past 16 rate cut cycles going back to 1946, the S&P 500 has climbed an average of 10.3 percent in the six months after the first rate cut and 14.1 percent in the 12 months after.

However, cuts didn't always precede a market boom, with declines coming five times in the six months following a new rate cut cycle, including the most recent ones in 2007 and 2001.

And to some, any hope for a rate cut is misguided given the current economic and market environment.

"You have first quarter GDP at 3.1 percent, you have almost record low unemployment and a stock market clamoring for a rate cut near all-time highs, it is basically ludicrous," said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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Goldman Sachs CEO apologizes to Malaysia over 1MDB

NEW YORK -- The head of Goldman Sachs on Wednesday apologized to Malaysia for a Goldman partner's role in the 1MDB scandal even as he defended the firm as a whole.

Goldman Chief Executive David Solomon reiterated during an earnings conference call that the investment bank was cooperating with authorities on the probe of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund as he expressed regret over a scandal that has roiled the Asian country.

In November, the Justice Department announced that former Goldman partner Tim Leissner had pleaded guilty to violating US anti-bribery and money laundering laws and agreed to pay $43.7 million in restitution.

"It's very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals including the highest members of the prior government," said. "Per Leissner's role in that fraud, we apologize for the Malaysian people."

But Solomon also defended the bank as a whole, saying it had been misled by Leissner and senior officials in the Malaysian government about the role of a key intermediary in the scandal, Low Taek Jho.

Goldman helped arrange $6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB. Kuala Lampur has filed criminal charges against Goldman and two former employees for alleged theft.

A Justice Department indictment of Low Taek Jho and Ng Chong Hwa, another ex-Goldman banker, that identified Goldman as "Financial Institution #1" said the firm's business culture at times emphasized dealmaking "ahead of the proper operation of its compliance functions."

Solomon said employees at Goldman were "extremely angry" about Leissner's role but that morale was good on the whole due to the bank's strong financial performance. 

Goldman has suffered a "reputation dent" tied to the scandal, Solomon acknowledged, but added that the effect on clients had been "de minimus."

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Malaysia files criminal charges against Goldman Sachs in 1MDB probe

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia said on Monday it has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two of the US bank's former employees in connection with a corruption and money laundering probe at state fund 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise funds through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which is the subject of investigations in at least six countries.

Malaysia's Attorney General Tommy Thomas said criminal charges under the country's securities laws were filed on Monday against Goldman Sachs, its former bankers Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo and financier Jho Low in connection with the bond offerings.

"The charges arise from the commission and abetment of false or misleading statements by all the accused in order to dishonestly misappropriate $2.7 billion from the proceeds of three bonds issued by the subsidiaries of 1MDB, which were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs," Thomas said in a statement. 

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Goldman Sachs bankers 'cheated' Malaysia over 1MDB, Mahathir says

SINGAPORE - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday bankers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc "cheated" the country in dealings with state fund 1MDB and that US authorities have promised to help return the fees the Wall Street bank earned from the fund.

The US investment bank has been under scrutiny for its role in helping raise funds through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which is the subject of corruption and money-laundering investigations in at least 6 countries.

Goldman's stock fell to a near 2-year low on Monday after Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said his country would seek a "full refund" of the around $600 million in fees the bank earned from raising $6.5 billion for the fund. The stock eased 0.5 percent on Tuesday.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman on Monday said in an email to Reuters that the bank denied any wrongdoing.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said about $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB, including some money that Goldman Sachs helped raise, by high-level officials of the fund and their associates from 2009 through 2014.

US prosecutors filed criminal charges against 2 former Goldman Sachs bankers earlier this month. One of them, Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

"There is evidence that Goldman Sachs has done things that are wrong," Mahathir said in an interview with US news channel CNBC aired on Tuesday.

"Obviously we have been cheated through the compliance by Goldman Sachs people," he said, without specifying details.

The bank's compliance controls "don't work very well", he added.

A second Goldman Sachs spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment on Mahathir's comments in the interview.

Asked by reporters later in Singapore if he had officially requested the DOJ to help return money that Goldman earned from 1MDB, Mahathir said: "It takes a little bit of time but they (DOJ) have promised that they will give back the money." He was speaking on the sidelines of a summit in Singapore.

A DOJ spokeswoman said the United States continued to pursue justice with respect to its 1MDB investigations. Whenever possible, recovered assets would be used to "benefit the people" harmed by corruption and abuse of office, she added.

Anwar Ibrahim, appointed successor to 93-year-old Mahathir, told parliament on Tuesday that Malaysia needed to take "more aggressive measures" to reclaim the fees and losses due to the harm the scandal had done to the country's image.

Finance Minister Lim told reporters the country would seek consequential losses as well as the return of fees.

"The Malaysian government will want to reclaim all the fees paid, as well as all the losses including the interest rate differential," Lim told reporters. He said the rate Malaysia had paid was about 100 basis points higher than the market rate.

Critics have said the fees earned by Goldman Sachs were far in excess of the normal 1-2 percent a bank could expect for helping sell bonds.

Goldman has said the outsized fees related to additional risks: it bought the unrated bonds while it sought investors and, in the case of a 2013 bond deal which raised $2.7 billion, 1MDB wanted the funds quickly.

Citing sources, Reuters reported in June that Malaysia was considering asking the DOJ to get Goldman Sachs to return the fees it had earned from the 1MDB deals.

The 1MDB scandal was a major reason for former premier Najib Razak's shock election loss in May. He has been charged with corruption over the scandal and has pleaded not guilty.

Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, described by US and Malaysian authorities as central to the 1MDB fraud, was charged by US prosecutors this month. He remains at large.

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Apple, Goldman Sachs send Wall Street tumbling

NEW YORK -- Wall Street's major indexes tumbled on Monday as shares of Apple Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc dragged down the technology and financial sectors.

With Monday's losses, all 3 indexes erased the gains from their brief rally after the US congressional elections on Nov. 6.

Apple shares fell 5 percent after several suppliers to the company, including Lumentum Holdings Inc, whose components power the iPhone's Face ID technology, cut their forecasts. Apple's decline impeded the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which fell more than 2 percent.

Lumentum shares plunged 33.0 percent. Shares of several chipmakers that sell to Apple, such as Cirrus Logic Inc , Qorvo Inc and Skyworks Solutions Inc, dropped as well. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index dropped 4.4 percent.

"The concerns are all about global economic growth, specifically demands for the products of companies like Apple," said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis. "Investors are becoming more concerned about faster-growing companies and whether they will continue to grow at that pace."

Goldman Sachs shares dropped 7.5 percent after Bloomberg reported that Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the country was seeking a full refund of all the fees it paid to the Wall Street bank for arranging billions of dollars of deals for troubled state fund 1MDB. Goldman Sachs was the biggest drag on the Dow, which fell more than 2 percent.

Among the S&P 500's 11 major sectors, technology and financial stocks weighed most heavily. The S&P 500 technology sector index fell 3.5 percent, and the financial sector index fell 2.0 percent.

Energy stocks also accelerated their decline toward the end of the session as oil prices fell.

"At the moment it seems the path of least resistance is down," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 602.12 points, or 2.32 percent, to 25,387.18, the S&P 500 lost 54.79 points, or 1.97 percent, to 2,726.22 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 206.03 points, or 2.78 percent, to 7,200.87.

A holiday in the US bond markets for Veterans Day kept trading volume muted. Volume on US exchanges was 7.3 billion shares, compared with the 8.41 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

General Electric Co shares fell 6.9 percent after Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said the company was saddled with too much debt and would urgently sell assets to reduce leverage. The shares dropped below $8 for the first time since March 2009.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.80-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.64-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 161 new lows.

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Apple, Goldman Sachs collaborating on credit card: Wall Street Journal

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple is working with financial giant Goldman Sachs on a credit card that would carry the iPhone maker's digital wallet logo, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.

The move comes as Apple puts increasing focus on revenue from online services and content, and as Goldman Sachs seeks to make more money from consumer banking operations.

Apple declined to comment on the report, which cited unnamed people close to the matter.

A joint credit card bearing the Apple Pay brand could launch early next year, and replace a rewards-card partnership Apple has with Barclays, according to the Journal.

Apple, which still gets most revenue from the iPhone, reported a hefty rise in earnings during the first three months of this year, alleviating worries about the iPhone's prospects and a hit from US-China trade tensions.

Analysts praised a big jump in revenues in Apple's services business, which is seen as an important element of diversification away from having revenues tied to gadgets.

A 31 percent rise in services to $9.2 billion was credited to revenue gains from Apple Pay, Apple Music and other programs.

Goldman Sachs Bank USA last month acquired personal finance startup Clarity Money. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Free-to-use Clarity Money is a leading app that uses artificial intelligence to help people manage their finances with personalized, "actionable insights" such as saving money or finding better credit cards, according to Goldman Sachs.

"Consumers want a better way to manage their finances," GS Bank chief executive Stephen Scherr said in a release.

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Global markets: Sterling on a high, shares sidelined as caution rules

SYDNEY - Sterling stole the show in Asia on Wednesday amid speculation Britain's surprise decision to call a snap election could ultimately deliver a more market-friendly outcome in its divorce from the European Union.

Safe-havens stayed in favor as gold and bonds climbed ahead of presidential elections in France and on escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea.

Equities were largely sidelined with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off 0.1 percent to the lowest since mid-March.

Japan's Nikkei eased 0.2 percent, in line with losses across the region.

Sterling surged to a more than six-month top against the dollar after British Prime Minister Theresa May called an early general election for June 8, seeking to strengthen her party's majority ahead of Brexit negotiations.

"We expect that the PM's gamble is likely to buy her more time as well as room for maneuver in the Brexit negotiations as she will depend less on fringe groups in her own party," said Citi's chief global political strategist, Tina Fordham.

"That may reduce the risk of a negotiation failure and thus 'chaotic Brexit', but also of the UK remaining in the Single Market in the long-term or even reversing the decision to leave the EU."

The pound was lording it at $1.2846 on Wednesday having shattered a months' old trading range with a jump of 2.2 percent overnight. It also cleared the 200-day moving average for the first time since June, putting the squeeze on a raft of speculative short positions.

Dollar selling spilled out broadly, sending the euro up to a three-week high at $1.0731. Against the yen, the dollar was stuck at 108.60 and near its lowest since November.

The dollar was also undermined by an eroding interest rate advantage as U.S. bond yields dived to five-month lows. Yields on 10-year Treasury paper sank to 2.17 percent , a world away from the 2.629 peak seen in March.

A run of disappointing US economic data and doubts the Trump administration will progress with tax cuts have quelled expectations of faster inflation and boosted fixed-income debt.

That, in turn, has taken the steam out of Wall Street. The Dow fell 0.55 percent on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.29 percent and the Nasdaq 0.12 percent.

Goldman Sachs lost 4.7 percent in the largest daily drop since June after its earnings missed expectations as trading revenue dropped.

In commodity markets, the urge for safety helped lift gold to $1,287.70 an ounce and back toward Monday's peak of $1,295.42.

Oil prices slipped as US crude stockpiles fell by less than expected and a US government report said shale oil output in May was likely to post the biggest monthly increase in more than two years.

Brent crude was last down 7 cents at $54.82 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 5 cents to $52.36.

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Wall Street ekes out positive finish

NEW YORK -- Wall Street slouched to a positive finish on Friday with all three major stock indices making last-minute moves into positive territory after spending most of the session in the red.

Though it finished essentially flat, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also extended its streak of fresh all-time highs with an 11th consecutive record close.

The Dow gained less than a tenth of a percentage point to close at 20,821.76 but was up one percent for the week on the back of an extraordinary rally.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each added 0.2 percent, rising to 2,367.34 and 5,845.31, respectively. The Nasdaq was up 0.8 percent for the week and the S&P increased 0.7 percent.

A positive finish had been in doubt for much of the day, however, with most indices in the red.

"There's a little profit taking as we had an incredible run over the last week and a half or so," Jack Ablin of BMO Private Bank told AFP.

"Without further impetus from either the economy, policy or earnings, there's probably nothing for investors to grab onto today."

Leading the Dow's losers was financial behemoth Goldman Sachs, which saw its stock slapped with a "sell" rating from Germany's Berenberg investment bank, which cited the risk that earnings may disappoint in 2016 and of possible insider selling at the bank.

Shares in Goldman fell 1.5 percent but were still up nearly 40 percent since November's presidential elections.

Retailers had a better Friday, with Dow component Wal-Mart Stores adding 1.5 percent and Home Depot gaining 0.9 percent.

Oil shares took a minor tumble after crude prices receded in New York on fears of mounting production and inventories. Shares in super-majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil each fell 0.8 percent to give up gains recorded Thursday.

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Dollar profits from yield allure, Nikkei at 1-year peak

SYDNEY - The US dollar was encamped near 14-year peaks on Wednesday as global yield spreads moved inexorably in its favor, while a falling yen lifted Japanese shares to a one-year top.

Japan's Nikkei added 0.4 percent in early trade, while Australia's main index climbed to its highest in almost 17 months after Wall Street racked up more records.

The dollar revelled in its rapidly widening yield premium, with the Federal Reserve set on a tightening course even as its peers in Europe and Japan act to keep their short-term rates deep in negative territory.

The dollar index, which measures it against a basket of currencies, stood at 103.260 having touched 103.65, its highest since December 2002.

The dollar had also edged back up to 117.80 yen, within sight of its recent peak at 118.66, while the euro stayed pinned at $1.0394.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended just 25 points shy of the magical 20,000 barrier helped by a 1.68 percent gain in Goldman Sachs.

Stocks have been on a tear since the Nov. 8 presidential election, with the Dow up 9 percent and the S&P 500 6 percent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending might boost profits and growth.

The Dow rose 0.46 percent on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 gained 0.36 percent and the Nasdaq 0.49 percent. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, led by a 1.23 percent jump in the financial index.

After the bell, Nike rose 3 percent on a strong quarterly report from the sports apparel seller.

NOT THRILLED

European shares scaled 11-month highs on Tuesday as Italy's banking index rose 2.3 percent after the government decided to seek parliamentary approval to borrow 20 billion euros to underwrite the stability of its banks.

Emerging markets have not been nearly as thrilled by Trump's win, as the threat of tariffs has stirred fears of a trade war while rising US yields have attracted funds away.

Benchmark 10-year US yields have climbed almost 80 basis points since early November to reach 2.56 percent.

Data from the Institute for International Finance showed non-resident investors had pulled $23 billion from emerging market portfolios since early October.

The outflows have triggered the longest continuous "reversal alert" since the organization began issuing the notice in 2005.

Chinese markets have also been unsettled by Beijing's move to tighten supervision of shadow banking activities and on liquidity concerns.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.3 percent in early trade, but that followed several days of losses.

In commodity markets, oil prices nudged higher for a fourth session to defy news Libya had reopened pipelines after a two-year blockade that ended earlier this month.

US crude futures were up 24 cents at $52.54 a barrel. Benchmark Brent crude futures had settled 43 cents firmer at $55.35.

Gold held at $1,132.90 an ounce as a firm US dollar kept it pinned near last week's 10-1/2-month low of $1,122.35.

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In buoyant Asia markets, block trade surge delivers Goldman windfall

HONG KONG/MUMBAI - As investors tap into rising Asia Pacific stock markets to sell assets in waves of block trades, Goldman Sachs' dominance of such deals has already brought more in fees in 2015 than in the previous two years combined.

As shares climb, private equity firms and others looking for quick off-market investment exits have lifted Asia block trades to nearly $21 billion so far this year, on track to beat 2012's record $57 billion. Goldman has cornered more than half of Asia Pacific's 2015 block deals, booking $112 million in estimated fees from firms like Japan's Daiichi Sankyo and Chevron , according to Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting data - more than similar-deal fees for 2013 and 2014 combined.

Though fast and clean for sellers, block trades are less lucrative for banks than initial public offerings and carry risks - if the banks can't sell the shares, they're stuck with them. But Goldman, leader in Asia Pacific block transactions in five of the past six years, has clinched sole mandates in record deals in China, Australia and India in 2015, parlaying its scale into profit in a growth business it's set to keep leading.

"To succeed in the blocks business you need strong client relationships and distribution capability, but just as critical is risk management," said Jonathan Penkin, co-head of Financing Group for Goldman Sachs in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan. "Every transaction we do comes only after an enormous amount of consideration by a group of operational, legal and market risk officers around the world."

Market watchers say Goldman's tactic of gunning for sole mandates on big block trade deals may impress clients as a display of commitment to getting transactions done. As global rivals like UBS and Morgan Stanley shy away from block deals, according to Thomson Reuters data, Goldman's gambit may bolster its position as a go-to bank for a range of other Asia transactions.

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