It’s time for another peek at our exclusive newsletter for Taipan Publishing Group subscribers, Taipan Insider.

I told you on Monday that the Chinalco-Rio Tinto deal was delayed for another 90 days. I think the deal will eventually go through, and that would mean another bump in share prices in the mining industry.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you an article I wrote for Taipan Insider about China buying up assets and natural resources around the world. From March 5… Enjoy.

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Here’s the hitch…

In January and February, I told you about Rio Tinto’s (RTP:NYSE) search for cold, hard cash. I went into greater detail in the pages of Taipan Insider, our exclusive communique to Taipan Publishing Group’s subscribers.

I thought the most recent deal - the $19.5 billion deal that would give China’s state-owned aluminum company Chinalco, a 50% stake in RTP’s mining assets and $7.2 million in convertible bonds - was done and done.

Not so…

Australia announced it was extending its review of the Rio Tinto/Chinalco deal for a further 90 days.

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Base metals are trending higher today… Copper, Lead, Nickel, Zinc… all green. And each metal is showing signs of bottoming out after nine months of falling prices.

In fact, most base metals have been trading range-bound (meaning practically flat) since the start of 2009. Copper is actually starting to trend higher. Copper is considered an economic canary… When prices fall, economies are in for a slump. When prices rise, economies tend to become stronger.

Why? It all has to do with industrial growth. When economies are strong, they build things like factories, power plants, schools, and other infrastructure. That takes a lot of copper and other base metals.

Which is why, when China announced it could provide another stimulus package - like the $586 billion it issued last year to sustain industrial growth, commodity prices and commodity companies climbed in value.

But just yesterday, China announced it would not boost stimulus spending unless the economy showed it was necessary, and right now, China’s economy seems to be recovering slightly.

Exports are growing again, and China will continue to grow its GDP this year.

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Our Taipan Emerging Market Index is up today by 14.7%. Although this is a decline from last week’s stellar gain of 44.2%, we still managed to beat the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

As of this writing, the Dow was down 32.5% and the S&P 500 dipped 5.8% since Monday. Despite the grim inflation numbers for many emerging markets, our index still managed to outperform the two major U.S. exchanges.

 
Key
ALL ORDINARIES IDX (ASX: ^AORD) Australia
BSE SENSEX (Bombay: ^BSESN) India
IBOVESPA SAO PAULO (^BVSP) Brazil
EGYPT CMA GENL INDX (Cairo: ^CCSI) Egypt
HANG SENG INDEX (HKSE: ^HSI) Hong Kong
COMPOSITE INDEX (Jakarta: ^JKSE) Jakarta
COMPOSITE INDEX (Kuala Lumpur: ^KLSE) Kuala Lumpar
KOSPI Composite Index (KSE: ^KS11) South Korea
MERVAL BUENOS AIRES (Buenos Aires: ^MERV) Argentina
IPC (Mexico: ^MXX) Mexico
NZX 50 INDEX GROSS (NZSE: ^NZ50) New Zealand
IGBM (Madrid: ^SMSI) Spain
TEL-AV TASE-100 IND (^TA100) Israel
TSEC weighted index (Taiwan: ^TWII) Taiwan
SSE Composite Index (Shanghai: 000001.SS) Shanghai
iShares MSCI South Africa Index (EZA) South Africa
RTSI INDEX (RUS: RTS.RS) Russia
ISHARES MSCI THAILAN (NYSEArca: THD) Thailand
iShares MSCI Turkey Invest Mkt Index (TUR) Turkey

Asia continues to dominate our index. Last week Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HKSE: ^HSI) came out the big winner. This week, it’s Australia’s ALL ORDINARIES IDX (ASX: ^AORD).

^AORD enjoyed growth across all major sectors — reflecting the general health of the Australian economy and the government’s successful efforts to control inflation.

Today, Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said that Australia’s economy has been remarkably resilient in the face of financial turmoil, and is well placed to remain in good shape.

Robust growth in emerging economies had boosted Australia’s terms of trade, countering the impact of slower global growth, tighter credit conditions and higher domestic interest rates, he said.

But he also warned inflation would remain a challenge for the economy.

Bloomberg reported last week that Australia’s economy grew twice as fast as economists forecast in Q1. Gross domestic product rose 0.6% from Q4, when it increased a revised 0.7%, according to the Bureau of Statistics in Sydney. Exports of iron ore and wheat, in addition to construction, saw the highest growth.

Overall, it looks like Asia is still the place to put your money, despite inflationary pressures.

Have a great weekend.

–Irwin Greenstein