DUBAI / Reuters Gulf stock markets appear to have few fresh positives on Wednesday and may consolidate in sluggish trade, with Dubai dampened by earnings and dividend news from several companies. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is up 0.7 percent but trading is tentative ahead of US inflation news later in the day, while Brent oil is ...

Bloomberg The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit that executes share buybacks for clients just had its busiest week ever, but even that couldn’t keep stocks from flopping into a correction. Last week, the firm’s corporate-trading desk saw 4.5 times its average daily volume from 2017, according to data seen by Bloomberg. Even as companies scooped up their own shares, the ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG’s trading revenue rebounded at the start of the year along with market volatility, in what Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam said was evidence that the investment bank was alive and well after two years of cost reductions. The first six weeks of 2018 showed a “strong start” in the market-dependent businesses, with revenue gains of ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allowed India’s subsidy bill to balloon in the lead up to crucial elections, at the risk of breaching his budget deficit goals. Although Modi has a reputation for reducing India’s huge subsidy expenditure, data shows he’s missed the chance to rein it in. And as he prepares for state and national elections, subsidy reforms ...

Bloomberg Hillhouse Capital Management, the Chinese investment firm that last year helped lead Asia’s biggest-ever buyout deal, is targeting to raise about $6 billion in a new private equity fund, people with knowledge of the matter said. Hillhouse has started gauging interest from potential investors, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s economic growth is set to moderate this year from a three-year high in 2017, but still post a solid performance on the back of strong domestic demand. Gross domestic product rose 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the central bank said on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, slightly above the median estimate of 5.8 percent ...

Bloomberg Toshiba Corp. is bringing in an outsider to lead the Japanese electronics maker battered by accounting scandals, record losses and divestment of businesses. Nobuaki Kurumatani, 60, representative director of CVC Capital Partners Ltd. in Japan and former vice president at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., will become chief executive officer and chairman of Toshiba Corp., the Tokyo-based manufacturer said in ...

Bloomberg The surprise jailing of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin on bribery charges has thrown one of South Korea’s biggest chaebols into further disarray. Now up in the air: a planned initial public offering for Lotte’s hotel unit; its hope of selling its network of stores in China; a restructuring plan for the group; and the family feud between Shin ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s economy lost some of its momentum in the fourth quarter and the government sees growth moderating slightly this year as an export boom in 2017 eases. Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 2.1 percent from prior three months, trade ministry said on Wednesday; Bloomberg survey median was 2 percent, while government’s previous projection ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration is signaling progress on Nafta talks, particularly with Mexico, as Republican lawmakers voice support for a trade deal President Donald Trump has threatened repeatedly to abandon. The US is making “headway” in its efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade agreement, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said at a meeting with the president and a bipartisan ...