Asia

On Wednesday, the Chinese semiconductor industry gained almost 2.5% on speculation that Huawei's recently released Mate 60 Pro smartphone may have a 5G ready processor. If confirmed, the announcement of a domestically produced 5G chip would be good news for China's domestic semiconductor industry, which has enjoyed stock market gains of almost 8% so far this week. Without any fanfare or publicity, Huawei quietly started selling the Mate 60 Pro at lunchtime today for 6,999 yuan ($960).Huawei employees and shop clerks in Beijing and Shenzhen also reported being taken aback. The Mate 60 was touted as having the capability of making satellite calls, however the specs gave no indication of the strength of the chipset within. However, customers who were able to get their hands on th...

Shanghai fell more on Wednesday as the country's massive property sector slump dragged it down, although Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, and Mumbai all rose. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan share index climbed 0.7% from its nine-month low reached only two trading days earlier. Utility and steel company companies helped push Japan's Nikkei index up by 0.48 points. While stubbornly bleak manufacturing data from Japan kept mood fragile, some investors were waiting for reports from tech favorite Nvidia to see whether the sector's stratospheric valuations can survive a surge in bond rates. Factory activity in Japan fell for a third consecutive month in August, according to data released on Wednesday, providing an early indicator of the state of the global manufacturing sector. On Wednesday, the Unit...

In spite of its current economic woes, Sri Lanka has paid back $50 million of the $200 million it borrowed from Bangladesh via a currency exchange system two years ago. Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesman Md Mezbaul Haque confirmed the deposit of the first installment by Sri Lankan authorities on August 17, 2023. He also said that the increase in the country's foreign currency reserves was due to the sum. "We're expecting a second instalment within this month inshallah," Mr. Haque, an executive director of the central bank, said. In September of 2021, Bangladesh lent Sri Lanka $200 million from its foreign reserve to assist the struggling South Asian economy recover from an economic catastrophe. The loan's original period of a year ended in September of last year. Two separate t...

As of today, August 21 (IANS), a special court has been established in Islamabad by Pakistan's caretaker government to hear the crucial Cipher case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and his associates, as well as any other cases in which charges are framed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and the Army Act of 1952.All cases filed under the two Acts would be tried at the Judicial Complex in Islamabad, presided over by Judge Abdul Hasnat of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Court Number 1. In a statement, President Arif Alvi explained that the Prime Minister's Office staff had undermined his demand and gone against his directive to return the bill to Parliament, so he had to veto two amendment bills (the Army Act Amendment Bill 2023 and t...

In the not-too-distant future, India's economy will rise to the position of third biggest worldwide. India's electricity industry is undergoing radical change as a result of the country's rapidly increasing economic activity and population. Energy is the lifeblood of this expansion project, keeping the machine chugging forward. While India is now ranked third in overall world power consumption, it lags far behind in per capita consumption. As the new growth has brought about a steady demand of power, and as more and more Indians have begun getting access to more reliable power and continue to demand this in all spheres of life, it stands to reason that this will drive substantial growth of power consumption. The new domestic consumer sector, such as the new Indian consumer, has a re...

STATING that it projected India's economic growth to surpass all other G20 nations for at least the next two years and affirming its 'Baa3' sovereign rating with a stable outlook, Moody's Investors Service. Friday, however, noted that "the curtailment of civil society and political dissent, compounded by rising sectarian tensions" backed a lower rating of political risk and the strength of institutions. A downgrade is possible, according to New York-based ratings agency Moody's, which cites "an escalation of political tensions and/or a further weakening of checks and balances that would undermine India's long-term growth potential" as reasons. In general, if growth is lower than expected, the debt load will continue to climb, putting negative pressure on the sovereign's fiscal soundnes...

On Saturday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized the need of reevaluating Sri Lanka's national security policy in order to avoid being entangled in rising global rivalries and to preserve the country's neutrality in the Indian Ocean. Wickremesinghe, speaking to a Naval gathering in the southern district of Galle, stated that the study would consider a wide variety of issues, developing economic patterns, and the implications of climate change.The President has already created a committee to formulate modern security strategies, headed by a former Major General who would report to the National Security Council. According to him, the current landscape's dynamics show the expansion of international power battles into the Indian Ocean."Across the vast Pacific Ocean, the United Sta...

It has become a common trope in the commentariat to liken the collapse of China's real estate market to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. However, financial equities in the United States lost 50% of their value while Chinese financial stocks gained 20% in the 10 months from November 2008 to August 2009. The following figure compares the performance of the financials sub-index of the Shenzhen 300 Index over the same months in 2022 and 2023 with that of the S&P 500 in the run-up to the GFC (October 31, 2007, through August 15, 2008).

AUGUST 17 (REUTERS) - TOKYO Concerns of a global recession as demand in important countries like China weakens have contributed to a decline in Japan's exports in July for the first time in over 2 and a half years. Ministry of Finance (MOF) statistics released on Thursday showed a 0.3% year-over-year decline in Japanese exports in July, compared to the 0.8% drop predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll. It came after a month of growth of 1.5%. An important indicator of capital spending increased in June, according to separate figures from the Cabinet Office. However, producers anticipate a drop in core orders for the current quarter, in part because to sluggish offshore demand. Overall, the data set highlighted the fragility in Japan's export engine, which underpinned better-than-...