World

Oil rises on stimulus optimism, demand recovery hopes
12Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, Market, World

Oil rises on stimulus optimism, demand recovery hopes

The silhouette of an oil pump is seen at sunset. Oil rose on Wednesday on expectations that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will deliver massive stimulus spending that will lift fuel demand and enact policies that will tighten crude supply. Brent crude was up 40 cents at $56.30 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled 26 cents, or 0.5%, higher at $53.24 per barrel. U.S. President Joe Biden, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, is expected to take measures to curb the U.S. oil industry, including re-entering the Paris climate accord, cancelling a permit for the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline and pausing arctic drilling. "I think the Biden administration on day one is making it clear that there's a new sheriff in town and we're going to go back to policies that a...
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US calls India important partner in Indo-Pacific, welcomes emergence as leading global power
11Feb mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, World

US calls India important partner in Indo-Pacific, welcomes emergence as leading global power

India is one of the most important partners in the Indo-Pacific region to us. We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and its role as a net security provider in the region, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.He also welcomed India’s tenure at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member, adding that the US remains India’s largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade increasing to USD 146 billion in 2019.“We cooperate on a wide range of diplomatic and security issues, including defense, non-proliferation, regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, environment, health, education, technology, agriculture, space and oceans and that list is not exhaustive,” he added.The State Department spokesp...
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South Korea needs more babies and immigrants
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

South Korea greeted the new year by recording its first annual population decline. Unfortunately, the go-to solutions are meeting some practical challenges in the COVID-19 era. Headcount dwindled slightly to 51.8 million last year, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Sunday. The retreat was the product of a 10.6% slide in births, coupled with a 3.1% increase in deaths. South Korea now joins neighboring Japan in suffering an actual fall in population, as opposed to the diminishing rates of growth that characterized past years. The ministry called for “fundamental changes,” national news agency Yonhap reported, without offering details. South Korea’s demographic challenges partly stem from family-planning measures imposed by military-backed administrations in the 1960s, which aimed to...
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Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, World

Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai

DUBAI: As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape - despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business. Images of sports stars and television personalities enjoying life at beach clubs and cocktail bars have flooded social media - sometimes to disapproval back home. Emirates, which restored its network to about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, is again operating A380 super-jumbos - the world's largest commercial airliner - ferrying in visitors from Britain and Russia. Russian tourist, Dmitriy Melnikov, said he cam...
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U.S. sends two carriers to disputed South China Sea
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

U.S. sends two carriers to disputed South China Sea

The U.S. sent two aircraft carrier strike groups for joint operations in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, the Navy said, as new President Joe Biden shows no signs of backing down from Beijing’s growing maritime assertiveness in the area. The dual carrier operations in the flash point waterway were the first there since last July and come just under three weeks since Biden was sworn into office on Jan. 20. The new administration has called China the United States’ “most critical challenge” and “most serious competitor.” Tuesday’s exercises saw the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Nimitz strike groups conduct “a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities,” the U.S. Navy said. Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, comman...
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Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars

Tencent looks set to grow to a US$1 trillion market capitalisation given its diversified revenue sources, its strong growth strategy premised on e-sports and live-streaming, says IMD Business School’s Mark Greeven. SINGAPORE: Tencent is poised to join the trillion dollar club. After a whopping 11 per cent rally in stock price and an equally whopping tumble of about 5 per cent last week, the question is whether we are seeing the global tech bubble expanding to Asia. Certainly, the Hong Kong market generally was in a positive mood on the day of the 115 per cent jump. And over this past year, Tencent’s stock price has risen by 85 per cent in value. Nevertheless, a trillion dollars is a lot of money. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are all well into their first trillion-dollar market cap...
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Public transport satisfaction dips in 2020, MRT safety scores largest improvement: Survey
9Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Market, Singapore, World

Public transport satisfaction dips in 2020, MRT safety scores largest improvement: Survey

SINGAPORE: Overall satisfaction with public transport dipped in 2020, with MRT safety and security scoring the largest increase, the Public Transport Council (PTC) said on Friday (Feb 7). The percentage of people who said they were satisfied with public transport was 97.6 per cent, lower than the high of 99.4 per cent in 2019. According to PTC, percentage satisfaction levels are measured based on the proportion of respondents whose overall satisfaction rating for public transport services was 6 and above on a 10-point scale. Satisfaction with public transport, bus, and MRT services over the past 5 years. (Graphic: Public Transport Council While the proportion of satisfied commuters dropped in 2020, the mean satisfaction score remained at 7.8 for the second consecutive year, due to ...
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Myanmar police file charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after coup
9Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, USA, World

Myanmar police file charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after coup

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the Leaders Plenary Session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -Australia Special Summit in Sydney on March 18, 2018. Mark Metcalfe | AFP | Getty Images Myanmar police have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and she will be detained until Feb. 15 for investigations, according to a police document. The move followed a military coup on Monday and the detention of Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and other civilian politicians. The takeover cut short Myanmar's long transition to democracy and drew condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. A police request to a court detailing the accusations against Suu Kyi, 75, said six walkie-talkie radios had b...
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Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts
9Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, World

Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts

Asian share markets retreated from highs on Monday as disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending tempered risk sentiment ahead of a closely-watched reading on the health of the Chinese economy. SYDNEY: Asian share markets pared early losses on Monday as data confirmed China's economy had bounced back last quarter as factory output jumped, helping offset recent disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending. Chinese blue chips edged up 0.4per cent after the economy was reported to have grown 6.5per cent in the fourth quarter, on a year earlier, topping forecasts of 6.1per cent. Industrial production for December also beat estimates, though retail sales missed the mark. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trimmed losses and were off 0.2per cent, having hit a st...
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Market is at ‘speculative peak’ as Reddit traders fuel GameStop, money manager says
9Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Market, World

Market is at ‘speculative peak’ as Reddit traders fuel GameStop, money manager says

Speculation in the stock market is soaring. Retail investors have been piling into equities at a rapid rate in the new year, building on 2020's rush and squeezing short sellers in stocks such as GameStop, up a staggering 685% for the month as of Tuesday's closing bell. The GameStop frenzy even caught the attention of billionaires CEOs Chamath Palihapitiya and Elon Musk. Both referenced the action Tuesday on Twitter, with Palihapitiya saying he made an options bet on the stock and Musk sharing a link to r/wallstreetbets, a Reddit page popular with traders. Also Tuesday, the hedge fund Melvin Capital closed out its short position after taking a huge loss, the manager of the fund told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. Shares of other popular names including Apple have also been seesawing this we...
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