Business

Australia holds rates steady ahead of budget

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s central bank held interest rates at a record low 1.50 percent Tuesday after annual inflation moved back into its target range, as it treads water ahead of the federal budget next week. The Reserve Bank of Australia slashed 300 basis points from borrowing costs between November 2011 and August last year to support non-resources industries as the economy transitions out of a mining investment boom. It has remained on […]

Tokyo stocks up by break on weaker yen

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo stocks rose Tuesday morning ahead of a string of holidays in Japan, with a weak yen boosting exporters while Donald Trump looked to ease tensions with North Korea by saying he would be “honored” to meet Kim Jong-Un. Trump said he would be hold talks with Kim under the right conditions, dialling back earlier threats of military action against the regime in Pyongyang. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up […]

First direct London-China train completes 12,000 km run

by Joanna CHIU Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Laden with whisky and baby milk, the first freight train linking China directly to the UK arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu Saturday after a 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) trip, becoming the world’s second-longest rail route. The journey is the latest effort in China’s drive to strengthen trade links with western Europe along a modern-day “Silk Road” route. “The train arrived at around 9:30am (0130 […]

Stock markets soft as growth data disappoint

by John BIERS Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Global stocks dipped Friday following lackluster American, British and French economic growth data, as worries about North Korea and other geopolitical hotspots weighed on investor sentiment. Analysts said traders were edgy about North Korea after President Donald Trump was quoted as saying there was “a chance” of “a major, major conflict” with the country. Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said […]

First ASEAN RoRo service to reduce shipping time from 3-5 weeks to 1-1/2 day in BIMP-EAGA

  The 30th ASEAN Summit, which includes the sub-regional meetings of Brunei Darussalam Indonesia Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) aims to enhance transport connectivity, generate more private investments, enhance trade, and increase local government engagement. Under this initiative, a Roll-on Roll-Off (RoRo) ferry service will start plying the Davao City-General Santos-Bitung, Indonesia route on April 30, 2017, will provide a faster and cheaper channel of trading goods among EAGA’s key cities. “This is the […]

Sony sets sights on two-decade profit high

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Sony said Friday it is on track to report its highest annual operating profit in 20 years owing to strong sales in its smartphone component business and PlayStation console division. The once all-conquering company, which has been emerging from a painful restructuring, said it expects its operating profit to hit 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in the year to March 2018. That would be its best figures since a 525.7 billion […]

ASEAN BAC

ASEAN turns spotlight on MSMEs, builds ‘ecosystem of enablers’ for prosperity

CONRAD MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News Service) – As the Chair of the 30th ASEAN Summit, President Rodrigo Duterte’s goal is to help fully realize the promises of ASEAN integration. The ASEAN would be the seventh largest economy in the world if it were a single nation. Currently an economic powerhouse, the ASEAN has a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion.  According to the Asia Report of The Straits Times, the ASEAN is “predicted by some to overtake […]

Nokia reports another loss as networks sag

HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Finland’s telecoms giant Nokia reported Thursday that it remained deep in the red at the start of the year, with sales in its main business, networks, on the decline. The company posted a loss of 488 million euros ($532 million) in the first quarter, an improvement from the 609 million euros a year earlier, prompting chief executive Rajeev Suri to say he believed in an “improving business momentum, even if some […]

Asian markets go into reverse with questions over Trump tax plan

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets took a step back Thursday after a four-day rally, tracking a weak lead from Wall Street, as traders assess the chances of Congress passing Donald Trump’s massive tax cuts. As expected, the administration unveiled plans to slash corporate and individual rates but there were few details and there are questions over how the measures will be paid for. The proposals are part of a wide-ranging plan to fire […]

Samsung reports biggest quarterly net profit since 2013

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean tech giant Samsung posted Wednesday its biggest quarterly net profit for more than three years on strong demand for its memory chips. Net profit for the first quarter of the year amounted to 7.68 trillion won ($6.7 billion), up 46 percent from a year ago, the firm said in a statement. It was the biggest quarterly net profit since the third quarter of 2013. Operating profit jumped 48 […]

Hyundai Motor posts 21% drop in Q1 profit

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s biggest automaker Hyundai Motor posted a 21 percent drop in first-quarter profits on Wednesday, hammered by the fallout from a diplomatic spat between Seoul and Beijing over a US missile defense system. In a statement, Hyundai said it posted 1.46 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in net profits during the January to March period, its 13th consecutive quarter of profit downturn. “Partial suspensions at factories increased cost burdens while […]

In Mexico City, water a rare commodity

by Yussel GONZALEZ Agence France-Presse In a teeming, hardscrabble neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City, Virginia Solis spends a big part of her day hauling sloshing buckets to her home — one of tens of thousands in the capital without running water. Solis lives in the shadow of a ruddy mountain on the sprawling city’s far east side, in an impoverished district called Iztapalapa. There are no water pipes in her neighborhood. Instead, tanker […]