Monday 09:35 BST What you need to know ● Equities starting second quarter on the front foot● S&P 500 futures just 1.5 per cent off record and Euro Stoxx up 0.4 per cent ● Investors keeping a watch on national manufacturing surveys● Dollar little changed against peers and South African rand continues to slide● Brent and WTI crude hold above $50 a barrel, while gold soft——————- Hot […]
BEIJING China’s smoggiest cities have pledged to ramp up the battle on pollution after air quality deteriorated in the first few months of this year, the China Daily reported on Monday, as smog blanketed the capital, Beijing, and the surrounding region. Top officials from seven districts in Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei and Shanxi provinces were scolded at the weekend by the environmental watchdog for lax […]
SEOUL South Korea’s Lotte Group will continue to invest in its China business despite diplomatic tensions over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, a Lotte executive said on Monday, denying rumors it wants to scale back there. Chinese authorities closed dozens of Lotte retail stores following inspections, ramping up pressure on Korea’s fifth-largest family-run conglomerate after it agreed to provide land for the U.S. Terminal […]
Abu Dhabi, 2 April 2017: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading financial institution, has been named the Best Islamic Financial Institution in the UAE by Global Finance Magazine, one of the world’s leading finance and banking publications. Now in its 10th edition, the Global Finance Magazine awards are bestowed on banks that provide best in-class Shariah-compliant banking services and solutions, utilize modern and efficient channels to […]
The recently unveiled Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus flagships will not be compatible with Google’s Daydream VR headset. Both phones, sporting gorgeous, near bezel-less displays, is decidedly perfect for virtual reality experiences given the screen’s vibrance and pixel density. A great display is one of the de facto requirements of smooth VR experiences, and it’s a shame that the Galaxy S8’s awe-striking display won’t tandem Google’s own VR […]
TOKYO Asian shares started the week on a steady footing on Monday after a bumper quarter as investors look to the shape of U.S. trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was little changed in early trade while Japan’s Nikkei .N225 rose 0.1 percent. Ex-Japan Asia MSCI had gained 12.3 percent in the last […]
China’s Huishan Dairy raised millions of dollars by selling shadow bank products labelled as “low risk” to the public last year, only months before missed loan payments sent creditors scrambling to protect themselves, according to exchange listings in north-east China. Huishan’s share price plunged 85 per cent in Hong Kong on March 24 amid reports — which the company denies — that chairman and controlling shareholder Yang Kai embezzled Rmb3bn […]
Huaqiangbei electronics market in downtown Shenzhen is a gadget geek’s paradise, selling everything from individual semiconductor chips to roll-up drum kits to hoverboards. For some, it is also the culprit for the declining fortunes of US wearable tech companies such as GoPro and Fitbit. “[Their] problem essentially is Shenzhen,” says Richard Windsor, founder of independent research company Radio Free Mobile. “It makes much cheaper cameras that are […]
By Wa Lone and Simon Lewis | YANGON YANGON Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won nearly half of the seats contested in by-elections on Sunday, the first vote since it swept to power a year ago and an early indication of support for her administration amid increased fighting with ethnic armed groups and slower economic growth. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won nine […]
Seef District, Kingdom of Bahrain – Sunday,02nd of April 2017 As part of the collaboration with the GCC countries, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) Bahrain announces that citizens across the six nations will enjoy further price reductions on roaming rates as of 1 April, 2017. This marks the second year of price reductions, and will continue with further reductions every year, until 2020. The Roaming Regulation began […]
Here are the main questions facing markets as a new trading week and the start of the second quarter beckons. What are the likely drivers?A host of market-moving events confront investors as the calendar flips over to April. These include France’s presidential elections and the opening salvos of the UK’s divorce from the EU. But there is also the prospect of a sustained recovery in global activity, […]
By Aleksandar Vasovic and Ivana Sekularac | BELGRADE BELGRADE Serbians voted for a new president on Sunday with conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic the runaway favourite despite opposition warnings about the extent of his domination over the Balkan country. Most polls see Vucic, 47, winning in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, trailed in the low teens by a former rights advocate […]
By Hasmik Mkrtchyan | YEREVAN YEREVAN Armenians voted for a new parliament on Sunday in a closely fought race between the ruling party and a former coalition partner that heralds the start of a parliamentary system of government. Under constitutional changes critics say were designed to prolong the political life of President Serzh Sarksyan, parliament, not voters, will elect the president for the first time. That role […]
By Jonathan Spicer | NEW YORK NEW YORK The Federal Reserve could begin shrinking its $4.5-trillion balance sheet as soon as this year, earlier than most economists expect, New York Fed President William Dudley said on Friday in the central bank’s most definitive comments on the question that looms over financial markets. The hawkish-sounding assertion temporarily pushed the dollar lower and raised yields on longer-dated bonds, and […]
More than a third of CEOs in the Middle East say they are very confident about their company’s prospects over the next 12 months, despite global challenges, according to a new survey. PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey, which interviewed 50 company chiefs in the Middle East, painted a positive, albeit guarded, picture about growth in the region. Thirty-eight percent of CEOs said they are confident about the […]
SYDNEY Australian authorities on Sunday said they found a third body in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie and accompanying floods that swamped the country’s east coast, as receding waters start revealing the human and economic cost of the storm. The disaster zone stretched 1,000 km (600 miles) from Queensland state’s tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales state. The […]
Samsung Galaxy S8. Photo by Michael Krigsman. Is it a “work of art” as Samsung described it? Of course not. The Galaxy S8 is no Michelangelo. Samsung is also saying it’s the best design in consumer electronics, and although we shouldn’t take the Korean tech giant’s hyperbole too literally, I for one agree. The unveiling and design of the Galaxy S8, in a lot of ways, is […]
Didi Chuxing may have defeated Uber, but China’s dominant ride-hailing platform is no match for the country’s local governments after being forced to gut its urban fleet to comply with regulations. Didi’s core business of cheap ride-hailing now faces a tough fight in the big urban markets, which it built after a bruising battle with local and foreign rivals. Uber ceded the Chinese market — its largest — […]
01 April 2017 Dubai’s trade performance has shown steady and sustainable growth over the last five years, with non-oil trade volumes in metric tonnes registering a compound growth rate of 6.1% according to figures from Dubai Customs. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment which impacted global trade, Dubai’s trade volumes grew a healthy 8.2% in 2016, compared to the previous year, reflecting the resilience of the Emirate’s economy, and […]
By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORK NEW YORK Forget the jobs report. The most interesting bit of U.S. economic data next week is Monday’s auto sales release, which will offer a measure of the middle-class consumer and a sector of the stock market that has had a rough ride so far in 2017. Economists are looking for another solid month of sales north of 17 million new […]
Once upon a time Washington was simple: on one hand you had Republican interests, on the other: Democrats, and inbetween them perhaps, the occasional independent or “green.” Now… it’s less simple. At last check, DC currently boasts at least nine different parties, groups, factions or ideologies. Which is why keeping track of who wants what, and how the various groups allign, in US politics has become quite […]
Paraguay was plunged into a constitutional crisis after congress was stormed and set on fire by protesters, enraged by attempts by President Horacio Cartes to amend the constitution to allow his re-election. Furious protesters, one of whom was killed by police, accused Mr Cartes of engineering a coup, echoing similar cries elsewhere in the region after Venezuela’s government-controlled Supreme Court dissolved congress on Thursday. What is going […]
Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2016, official data has showed. The rate of growth increased compared with 0.9 percent in the third quarter, which was the slowest rate in over three years, according to preliminary data from the country’s Central Department of Statistics showed. They also showed that the Q4 GDP growth […]
Event will gather together CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the region and beyond Riyadh KSA, April 1 2017: For the first time, Saudi Arabia will host the ‘Top CEO Conference and Awards’ – an event which will see CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the Arabian Gulf region and beyond gather together on 10th and 11th April 2017 at Bay La Sun Hotel & […]
