World

TAIPEI : Taiwan's export orders unexpectedly fell in July on weakening demand for technology and continued economic troubles in its largest market China, and the government said the outlook for tech demand was mixed though not totally negative. Export orders, a bellwether for global technology demand, last month fell 1.9 per cent from a year earlier to $54.26 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday. Analysts had expected 3.6 per cent growth. July's drop followed a 9.5 per cent annual expansion in June. April logged the first fall since February 2020, when the pandemic had just begun sweeping the world. Orders for telecommunications products in July slipped 0.8 per cent on a year before on weaker end-consumer demand, but also off a high base from last year, the ministry ...

SINGAPORE: Two former directors of a company that sold gold bars in a buyback arrangement which turned out to be a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme were sentenced to jail on Monday (Sep 12). Iseli Rudolf James Maitland, 63, and How Soo Feng, 48, were each given three years and 10 months' jail for fraudulent trading. They were found guilty of a charge each of being a party to a business for the fraudulent purpose of selling gold bars under a scheme promising returns. The company, The Gold Label, ran a gold buyback business between 2009 and 2011. The firm sold gold bars to its customers at a premium of more than 20 per cent above prevailing gold market prices in contracts lasting three or six months. In exchange, customers were promised guaranteed returns as high as 24 per cent per annum...

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Lewis Hamilton took the blame for a first-lap collision of champions with Fernando Alonso that ended the Briton's Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday (Aug 28), and was also given a warning for refusing to go to the medical centre. Alpine's Alonso had called the most successful F1 driver of all time an "idiot" who "only knows how to drive and start in first (place)" after the pair made contact while fighting for second. Hamilton told Sky Sports television he did not care what the Spaniard had said. "Looking back at the footage, he was in my blind spot and I didn't leave him enough space so it was my fault today," he said, apologising to the team. Double world champion Alonso had lined up third on the grid, with seven-times champion Hamilton alongside. Alonso made a...

BEIJING : China's exporters – the last reliable pillar of the world's second-largest economy as it struggled with the pandemic, weak consumption and a property crisis – are warning of hard times ahead as softer overseas markets force them to shed workers, shift to lower-value goods and even rent out their factories. Alarm bells sounded for China's $18 trillion economy when trade data last week showed export growth well short of expectations and slowing for the first time in four months. Those alarms are echoing in workshops across eastern and southern China's manufacturing hubs, in industries from machinery parts and textiles to high-tech home appliances, where businesses are scaling back while export orders dry up. "It is very likely China's exports will slow further or even contract i...

JAKARTA: Zainal Ridho, 41, owns a car rental company in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Previously, the day rate for his Toyota Innova, including the price of subsidised Pertalite fuel, was 800,000 rupiah (US$54). Last week, he raised the price to 900,000 rupiah per day, amid the widespread belief that the government would soon increase the price of subsidised fuel. “I must explain to the customers why I have adjusted the rental price,” he said. While he still has loyal customers, some of them try to negotiate a better deal to get a lower price, he said. Additionally, his 20 employees have also requested a salary increase as their expenses have been going up. Last weekend, the government announced that it will raise subsidised fuel prices by about 30 per cent amid rising global prices....

The U.S. solar market will nearly triple over the next five years, after President Joe Biden signed the largest climate bill in U.S. history into law, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie. The report, released Thursday, projects the U.S. market growing 40% more than prior forecasts through 2027 on the heels of the supportive legislation. "The Inflation Reduction Act has given the solar industry the most long-term certainty it has ever had," Michelle Davis, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said in a statement. "Ten years of investment tax credits stands in stark contrast to the one-, two-, or five-year extensions that the industry has experienced in the last decade. It's not an overstatement to say that the IRA will lead to a new e...

BEIJING : China's consumer prices rose at a slower-than-expected pace in August while the rate of producer inflation hit an 18-month low, reflecting an economy plagued by weak domestic demand and leaving room for further central bank policy easing. The consumer price index (CPI) increased 2.5 per cent from the same month a year earlier, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Friday, slower than 2.7 per cent in July and the 2.8 per cent average forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. The producer price index (PPI) rose 2.3 per cent, the slowest pace since February 2021, and slower than 4.2 per cent a month prior and 3.1 per cent in the poll, due to falling energy and raw materials prices. "Factory gate inflation is set to fall further throughout the rest of the year thanks to...

SINGAPORE: Food retail operator DFI Retail Group is launching a new community initiative to kick start its commitment to provide a million meals to the less fortunate in Singapore across two years. The “Have You Eaten?” project is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts to reduce hunger and increase food security in the regions where it operates, the group said in a news release on Thursday (Aug 18) DFI Retail Group runs more than 10,200 outlets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. These include Giant, Cold Storage, CS Fresh, Guardian and 7-Eleven. The group will contribute a percentage of its revenue from the sale of its exclusive brand rice from any Giant, Cold Storage or CS Fresh stores towards the programme. “The #HaveYouEatenProject will spearhead the compan...

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Japan and the 40th anniversary of the Look East Policy. Under the LEP, about 26,000 Malaysians have so far studied in Japan and are actively pursuing lives and careers in various fields. They have acquired knowledge of Japanese language and values, and have greatly advanced our mutual understanding, further bolstering an unshakable bridge between Japan and Malaysia. This has attracted more investment from Japan, and there are now about 1,600 Japanese firms doing business in Malaysia. The exchanges between Japan and Malaysia are not limited to business. I visited Malaysia on my honeymoon in 1995. We enjoyed the beautiful sea and nature, the historical and modern cityscapes and the delici...

TOKYO : The U.S. dollar edged back from near a two-decade peak against a basket of major currencies on Thursday as investors looked to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell the following day for fresh clues on the path for monetary policy. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six counterparts, eased 0.15 per cent to 108.47, but remained not far from its highest since September 2002 at 109.29, touched in mid-July. Investors have been bracing for the Fed to double down on its commitment to crushing inflation at its annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Money markets have pared back expectations that the U.S. central bank could tilt to a slower pace of rate hikes following a chorus of hawkish Fed commentary in recent weeks, and currently lay 60.5 per cent o...