Tokyo: HSBC Holdings Plc raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for Asia, excluding Japan, to 7.6% from 6.9%, led by faster expansions in China, South Korea and Singapore.

Growth has roared back in Asia, with domestic demand firing on all cylinders and exports accelerating too, the bank wrote in a report published on Tuesday.

China will expand 9.5%, faster than an earlier forecast for 8.5%, HSBC said. Hong Kong’s growth estimate was raised to 3.8% from 2.4%. South Korea will grow 4.6% versus the 3.6% estimated previously, and Singapore will expand 6.5% compared with 5.3%.

“Besides continued strength in consumption and investment, we expect exports to rebound over the coming quarter, driven by restocking in the West and inter-emerging markets trade,” HSBC economists Robert Prior-Wandesforde and Frederic Neumann wrote in the report. The region’s central banks will begin to raise interest rates, they said.

— Bloomberg

Essar to raise up to $1 bn through bonds

Mumbai: Essar Group, the Indian partner of Vodafone Group Plc, plans to raise as much as $1 billion (Rs4,720 crore) by selling bonds, according to an email.

ETHL Communications Holdings, an Essar unit, is selling notes maturing in July and December 2011 backed by a right to sell its stake in India’s third largest mobile phone company to Vodafone. The group is selling zero coupon bonds to raise Rs2,250 crore with an option to double the sale amount. The email didn’t give details on how the proceeds will be utilized.

The debt sale is scheduled to end on 21 October, according to the email.

— Bloomberg