Bloomberg Asian stocks rose as gains in a gauge of health-care shares offset declines in energy companies after oil sank. Japan equities fell as as a stronger yen dimmed prospects for exporters. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2% as of 4:40 p.m. in Hong Kong as 7 of 11 industry groups rose. The measure’s advance has been muted ...

  Bloomberg VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co., the Vietnam carrier known for its bikini-clad flight attendants, expects profit to surge 30 percent this year on rising passengers as it prepares for its Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange listing debut in February. A total of 23 overseas investors bought 66.5 million shares — equivalent to about 14 percent of VietJet ...

  Bloomberg British Airways owner IAG SA’s passenger count jumped 14 percent to 100.7 million last year, propelling it past Air France-KLM Group by that measure for the first time. Customer numbers were boosted by a full year of figures from Ireland’s Aer Lingus, which IAG purchased in 2015, together with gains at Spanish arm Iberia and the Vueling discount ...

  AP Frontier Airlines says its chief operating officer (COO) left the company, the second high-level departure in less than a month at the budget airline. A Frontier spokesman confirmed that Bill Meehan stepped down last week and was replaced temporarily by Jim Nides, the company’s vice president of flight operations. Meehan joined Frontier in 2014 after being CEO of ...

  DOHA / Reuters Saudi Arabia appointed a new chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) by royal decree in a management shake-up. Ghassan bin Abdulrahman Al Shabal was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the state-owned airline, said Saudi state news agency (SPA). Shabal will replace Sulaiman Al Hamdan, according to the airline’s website. SPA said representatives of ...

  Bloomberg For those who insist that traveling is all about the journey, we say this: It really depends on which carrier you’re flying. Aside from variations in cabins and service quality, there’s the major concern of how likely you are to get delayed. Fly on the wrong airline and your odds of a delay are as high as 55 ...

  Bloomberg China will face more frequent liquidity shocks this year, according to the manager of the nation’s biggest money-market fund, which plans to hold extra cash to protect against the risk of rising redemptions. The government’s efforts to curb risk in the financial system and support the sliding yuan are likely to ‘over-stretch a rope that’s already tight,’ said ...

  ISTANBUL / AP Turkey’s currency has weakened to an all-time low against the dollar as parliament debates constitutional amendments that would hand the president sweeping executive powers and, critics say, limit checks and balances. The value of the Turkish lira has dropped nearly seven percent against the dollar since the start of the year. On Tuesday, it was trading ...

  RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia has hired HSBC as financial advisor for its plans to privatise construction and management of school buildings, as it seeks to cut state spending in an era of low oil prices, a Saudi executive said on Tuesday. Tatweer Buildings Co, a state-owned firm affiliated with the Ministry of Education, aims to begin offering public-private ...

  Bloomberg The appetite for Australian banks to fund in the local bond market shows little sign of abating, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia selling A$2.65 billion ($1.95 billion) of notes less than two weeks into the new year. The deal is the earliest benchmark-sized local transaction from one of the country’s four largest banks since 2009 and follows a ...