Tuesday, April 23 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG - China's economic slowdown is influencing five key business conditions (the five Cs) in Asia-Pacific: commodity prices, currencies, capital flows, business and consumer confidence, says ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
HONG KONG - China’s recessionary trade surplus and a widening trade surplus resulting from a mix of weak exports and even weaker imports, continued in August, as reflected in today’s announced August trade data. In particular, on-year growth in exports fell short of expectations despite its low base in the same period of last year, indicating that the August 11 3% currency devaluation has failed to boost exports immediately.
TAIPEI - Taiwan’s foreign trade fell by 15.66% on-year to US$43.9 billion in August amid challenging conditions at home and abroad, according to the Ministry of Finance. Exports fell by 14.8% to US$23.93 billion, while imports dropped 16.7% to US$19.97 billion. The trade surplus was down 3.6% to US$3.96 billion.
BEIJING - China’s Ministry of Finance announced yesterday that Chinese investors holding a stock for more than one year will now be exempted from a 5% dividend tax; additionally, those who have held a stock for one month or less will have to pay 20% of the dividend they receive as income tax when they sell.
MANILA - The Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) in the Port of Manila has started implementing a vehicle appointment system called Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) for selected user groups.
PARIS - Despite repeated pledges to enable trade as a driver of growth and job creation, G20 economies are failing to demonstrate global leadership on trade openness according to the ICC Open Markets Index 2015 (OMI) published today.
The report - commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) - shows that G20 nations rank below the global standard in terms of openness to trade, with only Germany placing among the world's top 20 open markets.
GENEVA - IATA data for global air freight markets shows a fall in air cargo demand in July compared to the same month last year, down in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) by 0.6%, in line with weaker global economic growth.
HONG KONG - Those countries whose currencies are appreciating against most others (the US and the UK in particular) will be forced to react to prevent an excessive overvaluation of their currencies, according to a research note from Nataxis.
“We are therefore arriving at a global non-co-operative equilibrium where all monetary policies are too expansionary, because each country wants to weaken its exchange rate and the other countries are reacting by weakening theirs,” BBVA says.
SEOUL - Korea’s exports contracted sharply by 14.7% y/y in August, falling short of market expectations (-5.9%) by a large margin. Imports also tumbled by 18.3%, and the trade balance dropped from US$7.72 billion in July to USS4.35 billion.
ANZ Bank says that while the product breakdown has not yet been released, there are signs that the decline in exports was broad-based.
BEIJING – Chinese State media is reportingthat the standing committee of China’s National People’s Congress has approved ae ceiling of RMB16 trillion (USD 2.5 trillion) in local debt for this year. The total for 2015 is made up of the RMB15.4 trillion in local government debt outstanding as of the end of 2014 and RMB 600 billion deemed the limit localities can take on in additional borrowing this year.
NEW YORK Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group estimates that about US$9.9 trillion in rated corporate debt is scheduled to mature from July 1, 2015, through the end of 2020, reaching its highest annual level in 2017, when US$1.9 trillion is set to mature - a 9% increase from the US$1.76 trillion set to mature in 2016.
HONG KONG – Global asset manager Nataxis is tipping that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates by 0.25% to 1.7% at its meeting on Tuesday (September 1). In a research report, it says China’s fast slowdown and a round of depreciations across Asian currencies constitute a new additional factor for consideration.
BEIJING - Amid falling global commodity prices, Chile is aiming to shift the dynamics of its trade relations with China to focus more on partnering with e-commerce sites to sell its fresh food and wine to Chinese consumers.
BEIJING - JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD), China's largest online direct sales company, today announced partnerships with Australian brands Blackmores, a leading Australian natural health company, and Sanger Australia, the Australian meat sales and marketing business of the Bindaree Beef Group. Both brands will be available through JD.com's direct sales channel.
HONG KONG - Standard & Poor's has affirmed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term issuer credit ratings on Hong Kong, and says the rating outlook remains stable, reflect the economy's above-average economic growth prospects for a high-income economy, healthy fiscal performance, sizable fiscal reserves, and strong external position.
MANILA- Second quarter GDP growth in the Philippines has come in at 5.6%, just short of market expectations. An acceleration in household spending to 6.2% y/y (from 6.0% in Q1) offset a slowdown in investment growth due to delays in public spending.