The former minister of mines and geology for the African Republic of Guinea was arrested on Tuesday in New York and charged with taking $8.5m in bribes in exchange for assigning lucrative investment rights to a Chinese-owned conglomerate. Mahmoud Thiam, an American citizen, was arrested at his home in Manhattan and was expected to appear in court later in the day. Mr Thiam, a former UBS banker, […]
By Ayesha Rascoe and Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The White House on Monday insisted that Washington’s “one China” policy should not be used as a “bargaining chip” with Beijing after President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to be bound by its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of China. Signaling further resistance Trump will face in Washington if he tries to […]
Tuesday 02:10 GMT Overview Stocks around Asia were on the back foot after Wall Street fell back from record highs while the dollar softened and oil prices struggled to extend gains. Hot topic China has popped back on to investor radars, with mainland stocks falling on Monday by the most in months in the wake of authorities ramping up efforts to crack down on risky equities investments. […]
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator John McCain said on Monday that he personally backs Washington’s decades-old “one China” policy and that no one should “leap to conclusions” that President-elect Donald Trump would abandon it. “I do not respond to every comment by the president-elect because it may be reversed the next day,” McCain told Reuters when asked about Trump’s statement over the weekend that the United States did not […]
The Chinese government has warned Donald Trump that the two countries will have “nothing to discuss” if the US president-elect’s incoming administration decides to discard the four-decade old “One China” policy. “Adherence to the One China policy is the political bedrock for development of [bilateral] relations,” Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday. “If compromised, there will be nothing to discuss on co-operation in major fields.” […]
HONG KONG, December 12 Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary John Tsang has resigned his post pending an announcement he will run for the city’s top job next March, Cable TV news reported on Monday. The resignation ends months of speculation on whether 65-year-old Tsang, currently topping popularity polls, wanted to run for Chief Executive of Hong Kong. It comes after unpopular incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced last […]
Monday 02.15 GMT Overview Markets around Asia were mostly higher, buoyed by a surge in oil prices and following on from another set of records for Wall Street on Friday. Hot topic Ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday, government bond yields are hovering at their highest levels in months. Of note, the yield (which moves inversely to price) on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury […]
Friday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia were mostly higher as investors reflected on record highs for Wall Street and the European Central Bank’s decision to tweak its asset purchase programme. European bourses are expected to open little changed, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will be flat at 6,932 and Germany’s Dax to add 7 points to 11,186. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 […]
Shares in casino operators took a tumble on Friday before recovering some poise, following a response from China’s UnionPay to a report that its daily withdrawal limit from ATMs in the gambling haven of Macau was to be halved as part of Beijing’s battle against capital flight from the mainland. China has moved in recent weeks to staunch capital gushing from the mainland, including tightening scrutiny of cross-border […]
Thursday 21:00 GMT Overview The European Central Bank’s latest policy surprise fuelled a volatile session for the euro and government bonds as participants appeared, initially at least, to struggle to assess its implications. But European stocks rose to 11-month highs while Wall Street overcame an early bout of fatigue to set yet more record peaks. Oil prices resumed their upward path, even as a stronger dollar unsettled […]
By Pak Yiu and Lisa Jucca | HONG KONG HONG KONG Cardinal Joseph Zen, the most senior Chinese Catholic cleric, says the participation of an excommunicated prelate at two bishop ordinations in China was a “slap in the face” for Pope Francis just as Rome seeks a historic deal with Beijing. Bishop Lei Shiyin, who was excommunicated by the Vatican in 2011 for accepting his appointment without […]
The UK’s National Grid has agreed to sell a 61 per cent stake in its gas distribution network to a consortium of global investors, a deal that will plug the 11m homes the network serves into investors such as China’s sovereign wealth fund and Australian investment bank Macquarie. The terms of the transaction imply an enterprise value for the division of around £13.8bn including debt. The investment […]
The Singapore Exchange was hit by its second disruption this year with the start of trading in some derivatives contracts delayed by over two hours on Thursday morning. It is the latest in a series of technical failures that have become an increasing source of embarrassment in one of Asia’s main financial centres. Most recently, SGX in July halted trading on its securities market for five hours […]
Thursday 02.10 GMT Overview Major bourses across Asia latched on to record closes for key Wall Street indices as US stock markets continued to rally one month on from the presidential election. But investors were also turning their attention to the European Central Bank and whether it will at its policy meeting later on Thursday extend the deadline for its asset stimulus programme. Hot topic On Wednesday […]
By Coco Liu HONG KONG (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Philippines is not doing enough to tackle soaring HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men by offering greater access to HIV testing and condoms, an international rights group said on Thursday. The prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men in the Southeast Asian country has increased tenfold over the last five years, […]
The UK investigation into October’s “flash crash” in sterling has focused heavily on the Japanese trading operations of Citigroup, which fired off repeated sell orders that exacerbated the pound’s fall, according to bankers and officials involved in the inquiry. Citi’s traders are not believed to have started the slide in the currency in thin Asia trading but its Tokyo desk played a key role in sending the […]
General assembly meetings of FGB and NBAD held on December 7th Combined bank has total assets of approximately AED655 billion (US$178 billion), representing a 27% market share of UAE banking sector[1] Shareholders approve combined bank’s board of directors from effective merger date Effective date of merger towards the end of Q1 2017 as initially planned. Abu Dhabi, 7 December 2016 Shareholders in First Gulf Bank PJSC (FGB) […]
Submitted by Daniel Cloud “Donald Trump is either too incompetent to understand that his foolish phone call threatens our national security, or he’s doing it deliberately because he reportedly wants to build hotels in Taiwan to pad his own pockets.” – (Democratic National Committee Spokesperson) Is that true? Did “incompetent” President-Elect Donald Trump’s “foolish” telephone conversation with Taiwan’s President Cai Yingwen actually “threaten American’s […]
Wednesday 06:00 GMT Overview Bourses across Asia were higher, taking their cue from Wall Street’s return to near record highs and rally in Europe led by Italian banks. European bourses are expected to open firmer, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 30 points to 6,810 and Germany’s Dax to gain 60 points to 10,835. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will shed 1 […]
By Phil Stewart and Amy Tennery | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urged the government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co (BA.N) for a revamped Air Force One – a prominent symbol of the U.S. presidency – complaining that costs were out of control. It was the latest example of Trump using his podium, often via brief Twitter messages, to rattle […]
HONG KONGThe corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping is reliant on a secret system of detentions and torture beyond the reach of the formal Chinese criminal justice system, a U.S.-based human rights group said in a report on Tuesday. Human Rights Watch, which released its study in Hong Kong, called for the abolition of the system known as shuanggui, through which it alleges that confessions […]
Tuesday 02.00 GMT Overview Stocks across Asia were higher, taking their lead from US and European bourses that shrugged off the result of a No vote in Sunday’s Italian referendum on constitutional reform. Hot topic China’s renminbi has become a talking point after a handful of web sites, including Google, generated apparently erroneous quotes for the currency around Rmb7.48 per US dollar — a rate that would […]
Dubai property giants are heading to Mumbai, India, for the second edition of Dubai Property Show as they seek to attract growing numbers of Indian investors. Organised by Sumansa Exhibitions in partnership with Dubai Land Department, the real estate exhibition will kick off on Friday and runs until Sunday. After a successful run in London and Hong Kong, the 5th edition of the show will present an […]
HONG KONG Asian stocks opened higher on the back of a strong Wall Street with markets discounting the potential impact of Italy’s referendum vote, while U.S. Treasury yields firmed as robust economic data pointed to an interest rate hike next week. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.4 percent in early trade with Antiopodean markets leading gains. Korea .KS11 climbed 1 percent in […]
