Monday, February 17 2020 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
SYDNEY - In a comment on latest Australian GDP figures, an HSBC global research report says growth is still sluggish, but past the trough. The bank expects a further cut in the cash rate to 0.50% in Q1 2020.
SYDNEY - A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) examines how Pacific island countries (PICs) and Indian Ocean island states (IO island states) are managing and prioritising their maritime security challenges.The report, which refers to these islands as the 'Indo-Pacific island states', says they face an intricate offshore tapestry.
HONG KONG - Addressing close to 300 business leaders from 35 countries and regions at ,the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong Forum yesterday, Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, , said that while Hong Kong was undoubtedly going through a challenging time, the city was characterised by adaptability and resilience.
HONG KONG - Both manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs in China jumped significantly in November, indicating a high possibility of China reaching 6.2% annual GDP growth in 2019. Manufacturing PMI returned to above the 50- threshold after contracting for six months. Non-manufacturing PMI also registered an eight-month high in November.
SEOUL - South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Indonesian President Joko Widodo have announced the official conclusion of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) at a Summit on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Busan. Both leaders agreed to co-operate to achieve US$30 billion in bilateral trade volume by 2020.
BEIJING -- Guidelines that require Chinese telecom carriers to use facial recognition technology on buyers of SIM cards kicked in on Sunday as the country cracks down on fraud, according to a report in Caixin.
HONG KONG -- 5G is getting a good reception in Asia-Pacific, with quick uptake in the few markets that have already launched, according to a new report by S&P Global Ratings. It says higher data consumption on advanced networks points to 5G as a potential source of faster revenue growth for telecommunications companies. However, in some countries, 5G-related costs and spending could hit margins hard.
SHANGHAI - China's 0.5% cut in its medium-term lending facility (MLF) today will likely lead to similar adjustments in the targetted medium-term lending facility (TMLF) rate, the reverse repo rate and the loan prime rate (LPR), according to ANZ Bank, which in a research note says it believes the People's Bank of China (PBoC) will maintain the same spreads as it did in the past two years.
BEIJING -- Alibaba has reported a 40% increase in sales in the third quarter as the Chinese e-commerce giant reached its 20th anniversary and continued to add users to its online marketplace.
BEIJING China's Ministry of Education has called for a three-year revamp of the higher education system, aiming to devote vast resources to undergraduate studies, including the expertise of those who are part of the Thousand Talents Programme, a Government-backed project which seeks to recruit scientific talent from foreign countries to work in China.
HONG KONG - Trade is not the only reason for China's GDP growth to remain sluggish. Retail sales eased again in Q3, dragged down still by the slump in car sales. Fixed asset investment also fell sequentially from June to September, particularly for the industrial sector.
HANOI - For the first nine months of 2019, Vietnam Airlines Group has reported a total consolidated revenue exceeding VND 76.7 trillion (US$3.3 billion), with consolidated profit before tax (PBT) reaching nearly VND 3.3 trillion (US$142 million), accounting for 97.9% of the full-year target.
SEOUL - Responding to IMF forecasts that global economic growth this year will be the lowest since the 2008-09 world financial crisis, South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, has emphasised building "a country where everyone is prosperous" and "an absolutely unshakable economy" in a speech to the National Assemblyon the Government's budget for 2020.
SEOUL - South Korea's headline inflation returned to zero in October, after slipping into negative territory in September. Slowing food price deflation led the rise, but core inflation also rose to 0.8% y/y.
ANZ Bank says it expects headline inflation to approach 1% in the coming quarters, as high base effects fade.
"Coupled with signs that economic growth is starting to stabilise, we believe that the Bank of Korea (BoK) will hold its policy rate at 1.25% for a prolonged period," ANZ says. www.live.anz.com (ATI).
HONG KONG -- S&P Global Ratings said today that political risks brought about by the social unrest in Hong Kong are likely to be manageable for the banking sector. S&P says its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) for Hong Kong is therefore unaffected.
SHANGHAI - China's leading online travel operator, Ctrip, is to officially change its name from "Ctrip.com International, Ltd." to "Trip.com Group Ltd."
Caixin reports that Ctrip first proposed the new name in its second-quarter results announcement, released last month.