Like many Hong Kongers with family and business ties in mainland China, Ceci Chong would often carry cash back across the border — until she was stopped last summer by a Chinese customs officer. She was caught bringing Rmb100,000 ($14,500) in family savings to Hong Kong — five times the cash limit imposed by China. Her case was part of a crackdown on “financial ants”, who smuggle […]
Panama has a new tourist attraction: the building hosting the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal. That is why, workers there say, the sign announcing the firm has been taken down from where it used to be outside the dark-tinted edifice in Panama City’s modern banking district. Too many tourists were stopping to take selfies in front of […]
Friday 05.10 BST Overview Asian stocks were mostly positive on Friday as investors prepared to end a solid first quarter of 2017 and Wall Street closed in on record highs. Hot topic 1 South Africa’s rand was 1.2 per cent weaker in Asian trading in the wake of the nation’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, being dismissed on Thursday by President Jacob Zuma. The currency has shed a […]
There ends a third and perhaps final attempt to unite the London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse. Do they remain independent or prizes for rivals? One supposed reason for the deal was that without it both the LSE and Deutsche Börse viewed themselves as takeover targets. Now we are about to see whether that is truly the case. There are only three other global operators with bigger equity […]
Thursday 08:35 BST What you need to know ● Stock markets mixed after Wall Street’s steady display● Shanghai Composite hits 6-week low amid liquidity concerns● Sterling holds above $1.24 as traders ponder Brexit implications● Dollar index above 100 as euro softens on ECB report● Oil prices add to Wednesday’s 2.1 per cent gain and gold dips——————- Hot topic Traders are keeping a wary eye on the action […]
The Tasman Global Access (TGA) submarine cable has been switched on, connecting New Zealand with Australia, thanks to a partnership between telecommunications carriers Telstra, Spark, and Vodafone. The $100 million 2,288km submarine cable, which extends from Ngarunui Beach in Raglan to Narrabeen Beach in Sydney, is made up of two fibre pairs with a total capacity of 20Tbps. Following construction, the cable was laid by Alcatel-Lucent Submarine […]
Born in Sheffield, British chef Jason Atherton ran away from home at 16 to pursue a life in food. Early in his career, he trained with chefs such as Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White. In 2001, he joined the Gordon Ramsay group and opened Ramsay’s restaurant Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek. He returned to the UK in 2005 to open another Ramsay restaurant, but by […]
When Charles Li was asked last week about the recent wild gyrations of some stocks in Hong Kong, the head of the Hong Kong Exchange compared the market to a city that is reasonably well-run but has “a few dark alleys and little corners”. “We all need to relax,” he added. “This is a great market. You don’t want the regulator to solve all your problems.” Investors […]
Wednesday 04:40 GMT Overview Asian markets were mixed, with energy stocks benefiting from a recovery in crude oil prices, while the UK pound dropped after Prime Minister Theresa May dispatched the letter that will trigger Britain’s exit from the EU. Hot topic The pound weakened 0.3 per cent to $1.2409 in Asia trade, bringing its losses over the past two sessions to 1.2 per cent, in response […]
The United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has removed Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE from its trading blacklist following the company pleading guilty to illegally exporting products to Iran. “Upon recommendation by BIS, the company and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd will be removed from the Entity List on 29 March 2017 (United States time),” ZTE said in a statement [PDF] to the […]
Telstra has announced that it will be launching a new suite of managed security services and two new cybersecurity centres in Melbourne and Sydney. According to Neil Campbell, Telstra’s director of Security Solutions, the offerings will be ready for customers by July 19, with the aim to make the cybersecurity challenge easier for organisations to deal with. “We’re taking this opportunity to rethink and reinvent really our […]
Index provider FTSE Russell is to consult with stakeholders about including Snap in its widely followed Russell indices, amid investor worries about lack of shareholder rights at the newly listed messaging app provider. The consultation, to be officially launched in the coming days, is the latest sign of growing interest among “passive” fund managers in the corporate governance of the companies their index-tracking model obliges them to […]
Dawn is the time to see Angkor Wat. Waiting in the dark as the exquisite 11th-century temple is conjured out of the Cambodian jungle feels ridiculously thrilling. As the sun rises above the tall, minutely carved, lotus-like towers, and the ornate magnificence of the buildings is reflected in the great ornamental lakes, you get a sense of how 19th-century French explorer Henri Mouhot must have felt when […]
Tuesday 08:45 GMT What you need to know ● Markets recovering their poise after “Trump trade” wobble● S&P 500 futures higher and helping European to open on the front foot ● Energy stocks underpinning bourses as oil prices gain ground● Dollar steadies after sliding to four-month lows, Treasury yields nudge up● Gold prices ease back as haven flows dwindle——————- Hot topic Investors are rediscovering their risk appetite […]
HONG KONG Acquisitive Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the owner of the publisher of Forbes magazine, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Hong Kong-based investor group Integrated Whale Media Investments (IWM), which holds 95 percent of Forbes Media, is also in talks with another Chinese media firm and is scouting for more potential buyers for most […]
By Alberto Alerigi | SAO PAULO SAO PAULO Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry said on Monday it ordered three more food processing facilities to suspend production amid an investigation into alleged corruption of inspectors and unsanitary conditions in the world’s biggest meat producer. That brings to six the number of food processing plants that have been ordered temporarily closed by Brazilian authorities. A total of 21 plants are included […]
By John O’Donnell | FRANKFURT FRANKFURT London has seen its standing as a financial center slip as Britain prepares to trigger its departure from the European Union, according to a survey released on Monday, although rival European cities still lag far behind. The Z/Yen global financial centers index (GFCI), which ranks 88 financial centers, still puts London in first place, followed by New York and three cities […]
HONG KONG Hong Kong protest leaders said on Monday that police intend to charge at least nine activists, including students and academics, who helped organise or lead Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2014. News of the move to charge the activists comes a day after a new Beijing-backed city leader was chosen to run the Asian financial hub and vowed to unify a divided Hong Kong. The […]
China has eclipsed Singapore as the biggest source of investment in Malaysian real estate, as soaring domestic property prices push mainland investors to hunt for bargains abroad. Chinese groups have invested more than $2.1bn in Malaysian real estate over the past three years, compared with $985m invested by Singaporean companies between 2014 and 2016, according to figures from Real Capital Analytics based on completed transactions of $10m […]
Monday 04:30 GMT Overview Dollar weakness weighed down Asia-Pacific equities while government bonds and gold gained as investors in the region sought havens in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s failure to repeal Obamacare. Hot topic The US dollar was lower against a variety of currencies in Asia as investors tempered expectations of pro-business reforms from the Trump administration after Republicans failed to unify around healthcare […]
GCC expats are miles behind their counterparts in North America, Europe and Asia when it comes to retirement planning, a study by global financial firm Guardian Wealth Management has found. In fact, in the annual pensions survey conducted by GWM, it found that 64.21 percent of GCC expats have no pension at all. This is compared to 14.49 percent in North America, 43.85 percent in Europe and […]
26 March 2017 Rebrand to emphasize unique integrated structure Open D Group reinforces position as a global expert in efficient retail and brand focussed solutions with a shopper approach Open D Group, Retail Access and Sparkle, the award winning retail and branding design agencies, have today announced their rebrand to ODG to implement a simpler, cleaner, agile and integrated organization to deliver its expertise in Intelligence, Branding, […]
A Beijing court has overturned a ruling that Apple’s iPhone 6 violated a Chinese manufacturer’s patent which saw the US tech giant ordered to cease selling the smartphone in China. In May last year the Beijing intellectual property bureau had ruled that Apple violated design patents of Chinese maker Shenzhen Baili with its iPhone6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and would be barred from selling those models. […]
SHANGHAI China Southern Airlines (600029.SS)(1055.HK)(ZNH.N) is negotiating a potential strategic tie-up with American Airlines (AAL.O) that could involve a share issue and other forms of business cooperation, it said on Sunday. A stock exchange filing from China’s largest carrier by passenger numbers said the proposed cooperation is subject to approval by shareholders and government authorities and no binding agreement has yet been made. The company’s U.S.-listed shares […]
