News

  Bloomberg A merger under discussion between Vodafone Group Plc.’s India unit and Idea Cellular Ltd. would create a new leader in one of the world’s most competitive mobile-phone markets. For rivals, there’s a silver lining: bandwidth on the cheap. That’s because a transaction may compel the carriers to shed some spectrum and subscribers to ensure regulatory approval under India’s ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s economy expanded less than forecast in the fourth quarter as government spending was curbed by a legal cap on the fiscal deficit. Gross domestic product rose 4.94 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in Jakarta on Monday. Median estimate of economists was for 5 percent growth GDP declined 1.77 percent ...

  Bloomberg The wallets of Japan’s workers ended up a bit fatter, with total earnings rising the most since 2010. Total pay rose 0.5 percent from the previous year to an average 3.78 million yen ($33,673), while the number of hours worked dropped. Regular workers saw an increase in pay, while part-timers, who are an increasingly large sector of the ...

  TOKYO / AP Toyota Motor Corp. said on Monday that its profit fell 23 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier as its sales fell and a stronger yen squeezed its overseas earnings. The company, which recently relinquished the crown of world’s biggest automaker to German rival Volkswagen, reported its fiscal third quarter profit was 486.5 billion ...

  Bloomberg Donald Trump and global crude producers are set to take prices on a bumpy ride this year, according to the world’s biggest independent oil trader. As investors are kept on tenterhooks over US policies and whether OPEC and other nations will curb output as pledged, global benchmark Brent crude may vacillate between $52 and $62 a barrel, according ...

  Reuters Turkey has transferred government stakes worth billions of dollars in Turkish Airlines, major banks and fixed-line operator Turk Telekom to a sovereign wealth fund set up last year to help finance big-ticket infrastructure projects. Ankara has ambitious plans for the fund, established last August with initial capital of 50 million lira ($13.6 million). It wants the fund to ...

  TEHRAN/ AP Iran’s nuclear chief says it will have 60 percent more stockpiled uranium than it did prior to the landmark 2015 agreement with world powers after a shipment expected later this week. Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday as saying that Iran will receive a final batch of 149 tons of ...

  CAIRO / AP Egypt’s Central Bank says that the country’s foreign reserves have reached $26.4 billion in January, up from $23 billion in November. The bank announced the increase in a brief statement posted online Monday. The rise comes after the government secured a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. In order to qualify for that loan, ...

  Bloomberg Singapore is considering a range of measures to lure a listing from energy giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., according to people familiar with the matter, as global exchanges compete for a slice of what could be the world’s largest-ever initial public offering. The island nation is studying proposals including inviting one of its state investment companies to become ...

  Bloomberg Chinese dealmaker Fang Fenglei won backing from Global Logistic Properties Ltd.’s chief executive officer as he pursues a take- over of the $9.1 billion warehouse owner, which could become the biggest Asian buyout deal, people with knowledge of the matter said. Fang’s Beijing-based private equity firm, Hopu Investment Management, submitted an offer for the Singapore company together with ...