International News

  Bloomberg China’s home prices steadied in January, ending a 16-month decline after the government expanded stimulus policies for the sector. New-home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, remained unchanged, compared with a 0.25% decline in December, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed. In the secondary market, existing-home prices dropped 0.28%, smaller than the 0.41% decline in the previous ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s trade deficit surged to a record in January, as one-off factors including the lunar new year holidays dragged on exports amid a backdrop of a slowing global economy. The trade gap jumped to Â¥3.5 trillion ($26.1 billion) from Â¥1.45 trillion in December, topping Â¥3 trillion for the first time in comparable data going back the late 1970s, ...

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co joined the latest funding round for Swedish fertility tracking app Natural Cycles as lead investor, seeking to introduce the female-health technology to its Galaxy series smartwatches. The Natural Cycles app, which monitors body temperature to gauge fertility, in 2018 became the first contraceptive of its kind to be approved by the US Food and Drug ...

  Bloomberg Keeping the cost of staple foods in check to protect the poor will be a top priority for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he plans for polls in several states this year and the all-important general election in 2024. That means the government will likely extend export curbs for wheat, which is an essential part of the ...

Bloomberg Ford Motor Co is investing $3.5 billion in an electric-vehicle (EV) battery plant in southwest Michigan that it will operate with technology and support from a Chinese battery maker that has stirred political controversy. The factory near Marshall, Michigan, will employ 2,500 workers, Ford said, confirming a Bloomberg report. The facility is set to open in 2026 and will ...

  Bloomberg Aspire Pte, a fintech startup serving businesses, raised $100 million in a round that more than doubled its valuation, defying a market downturn for young tech firms. The Singapore-based company said in a statement it struck a deal for financing led by Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia. Paypal Ventures, Tencent Holdings Ltd, LGT Capital Partners and previous ...

  Bloomberg Embattled tycoon Gautam Adani’s challenges have knocked the confidence of strategic insurance investors seeking to establish partnerships in India, according to Bain & Co’s mergers and acquisitions head for Asia Pacific. Global firms, which typically hold significant stakes in the government-regulated sector, are worried about finding strong local partners who they can trust, said Bain’s Harshveer Singh. “They ...

Bloomberg India is likely to witness more extreme weather events, including intense heat waves, heavy flooding and severe drought that pose challenges to food and energy security for the second-most populous nation. “The extremes are increasing — hot is becoming hotter and cold is becoming colder,” said M Ravichandran, the top bureaucrat at the country’s earth sciences ministry. This trend ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is exploring how to boost wages for Malaysian workers, as gloomy economic prospects pose headwinds to his fledgling administration. Malaysia plans to set a wage growth target for all workers and formulate policies to support this, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli told a press conference. The National Economic Action Council will meet in March to ...

  Bloomberg Dabur India Ltd, a major consumer goods maker controlled by the billionaire Burman family, is scouting for acquisitions at home and in Southeast Asia as it works to establish its presence in a new overseas market amid heated domestic competition. On the back of its $71 million purchase of spice producer Badshah Masala Pvt Ltd in October, the ...