Bloomberg The Thai baht’s reign as Asia’s best-performing currency is coming under threat from an unlikely source: South Korea’s won. The baht has slumped into the bottom half of the regional rankings this quarter after heading the table for three consecutive three-month periods. The won meanwhile has shrugged off its chronic underperformance and rocketed to the top. The main reason ...

Bloomberg A combination of easing trade tensions and easier monetary policy will lift global growth from the first quarter of 2020, according to economists at Morgan Stanley. Emerging markets will drive the recovery, given the late-cycle stage that US growth is in, they argue. “A 1Q20 recovery is on the cards,” the US bank’s economists led by Chetan Ahya wrote ...

Bloomberg UK lawmaker Peter Hain accused international banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc of aiding and abetting graft in South Africa during former President Jacob Zuma’s rule and earning considerable fees in the process. The lenders enabled members of the Gupta family, who were Zuma’s allies and in business with his son, to launder stolen funds and ...

Bloomberg Soon after taking over as India’s central bank governor almost a year ago, Shaktikanta Das decorated his 18th floor office overlooking the Arabian Sea with two statues of Lord Jagannath, a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Revered in Das’s native Odisha state, Jagannath is depicted with round, lidless eyes that are always watching over the welfare of devotees. ...

Bloomberg Two decades ago, when coal ruled US power generation, a Florida utility plowed some of its extra cash into a wind farm atop a desolate Oregon plateau. It was the start of an unimaginably successful bet. This year, that company — now named NextEra Energy Inc — became the world’s first utility with a market capitalisation of more than ...

Bloomberg South Africa appointed Andre de Ruyter as chief executive officer of Eskom Holdings SOC, the debt-strapped utility that provides about 95% of the nation’s electricity and poses the biggest threat to its economy. De Ruyter, who is currently the CEO of Nampak Ltd, will take up the post on January 15, the Department of Public Enterprises said in a ...

Bloomberg After at least a decade of preparations, coal-reliant Poland may be one step away from embarking on its biggest power project ever, with talks on securing the $60 billion in financing entering the final stretch. The country is seeking a foreign investor for a 49% stake in the company that will be responsible for building and operating six reactors, ...

Bloomberg A Hong Kong court has found that the local government’s controversial mask ban unconstitutional, delivering a fresh legal blow to an administration struggling to contain increasingly violent protests. The High Court ruling came on Monday in response to a challenge filed by the city’s opposition lawmakers. Chief Executive Carrie Lam imposed the ban last month by invoking colonial-era emergency ...

Bloomberg The bonhomie between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is nearing a key deadline showing new signs of strain. Trump urged Kim to “act quickly” to get a nuclear deal done, suggesting the two leaders could meet again “soon.” His comments came hours after North Korea ruled out nuclear talks without a policy change by the ...

Bloomberg After weeks of Republican complaints that the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry relied on secondhand information, the centerpiece of the public hearings is testimony from a man with a direct line to President Donald Trump. The political peril for Trump, who was dealt a series of setbacks, will be heightened as the House investigation accelerates with three days of public hearings ...