Bloomberg North Korea conducted an artillery fire drill that could target its rival Korea’s heavily populated capital, after Washington and Seoul kicked off joint military aerial exercises despite Pyongyang’s rebuke. North Korea’s mechanised troops held an “artillery fire competition” to boost the country’s “mobile artillery combat capabilities,” state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Sunday. The country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, ...

Bloomberg PM Jacinda Ardern said there is a “maturity” in New Zealand’s relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, which her government believes enables it to raise issues of concern, amid simmering tensions between Beijing and the West. “New Zealand has always been very consistent in saying regardless of that economic relationship, we do still believe that we have the ...

Bloomberg Thousands of opposition protesters in Georgia rallied outside the prison holding former president Mikheil Saakashvili, on a hunger strike for more than a month. They demanded he be moved to a hospital. The activists set up tents and makeshift huts outside the prison, vowing to continue rallies until their demand for his move, within 24 hours, was met. Saakashvili, ...

Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) struck an upbeat note on the economy, while maintaining that faster wages growth and inflation will take some time and the first interest-rate increase is unlikely before 2024. The economy will expand 3% this year, despite a likely sharp contraction in the third quarter due to virus lockdowns, and then accelerate to 5.5% ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc asked all of its Hong Kong staff to get vaccinated against the Covid virus after city authorities issued a new circular to push for higher inoculation rates. Colleagues who have not received a first dose should either get inoculated by November 30 or submit to a Covid-19 test every 14 days, the London-based bank, which counts ...

Bloomberg China’s fiscal policy will provide the main support to economic growth next year while significant monetary easing is unlikely, according to a former adviser to China’s central bank. “The economy overall really is still okay and we will see average growth this year at around 8%,” Huang Yiping, a former member of the People’s Bank of China’s monetary policy ...

Bloomberg Bank Indonesia expects a stronger rupiah as investors have priced in the US Federal Reserve’s plan to taper asset purchases. “The rupiah is estimated to remain in a strengthening trend in line with strong economic fundamentals and positive investor perception that support inflows to domestic financial assets,” Hariyadi Ramelan, Bank Indonesia’s executive director for monetary management, told Bloomberg. The ...

Bloomberg IndusInd Bank Ltd, backed by the billionaire Hinduja brothers, denied allegations that its unit was providing new loans to customers to keep their existing debt from souring, a practice known as “evergreening.” The bad loan recognition process is fully automated in accordance with the regulatory norms, the bank said in an exchange filing. It was responding to a media ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s peso rises in the spot market for first time in 12 months after central bank ordered financial institutions to maintain their foreign currency holdings steady through to the end of the month, forcing some to sell dollars. The peso strengthened 0.02% to 99.94 to the dollar, even as central bank bought $210 million, the most greenbacks it has ...

Bloomberg Canada’s six biggest banks could raise their dividends by about 18% on average and still be able to buy back almost 2% of their shares now that regulators are allowing them to unleash capital they’d stockpiled during the pandemic. National Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal would have the largest percentage increases in their dividends, assuming they return ...