Bloomberg Stocks in Hong Kong and China led gains in Asian equity markets as rising money market rates on the mainland boosted sentiment on lenders. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.1 percent to 160.62 as of 4:19 p.m. in Hong Kong, after posting its biggest weekly gain in five weeks. The Philippines market is closed for a holiday. The …

Bloomberg Thomas Jordan might have had the quietest August since he became Swiss National Bank president five years ago. Considered the haven of all havens by foreign exchange traders, the franc typically shoots up against other currencies whenever investors get anxious. This year, with no Greek debt crisis and the prospect that euro-area bond purchases might soon be wound down, …

Bloomberg Foreigners looking to buy Asia’s best bonds will probably have to wait. Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Urjit Patel is unlikely to raise the quota on debt after inflows surged and muddied policy choices. He can’t allow runaway currency gains because exports are only just recovering from a slump, so he’s buying up the dollars pouring in. This injects …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. spent its first day as the owner of a brick-and-mortar grocery chain cutting prices at Whole Foods Market. At the Whole Foods on 57th Street in Manhattan, organic fuji apples were marked down to $1.99 a pound from $3.49 a pound; organic avocados went to $1.99 each from $2.79; organic rotisserie chicken fell to $9.99 each from …

Bloomberg Patrick Shanahan, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian, has set up an alert system to insulate himself from decisions affecting Boeing Co., where he rose to senior vice president during a 30-year career. The new deputy defense secretary has signed a “screening arrangement” that will notify Defense Secretary James Mattis and Shanahan’s staff to issues involving Boeing—the No. 2 US …

Bloomberg For years, China’s three state-owned airlines kept adding flights on international routes to chase after a rising middle class that can afford to fly overseas. Now, they are slowing that down in favour of the local market. In the first half of 2017, Air China Ltd., China Eastern Airlines Corp. and China Southern Airlines Co. increased international seats at …

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV rejected allegations of dishonesty made in a Manager-Magazin report that Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste is among employees being investigated by German prosecutors in a 2015 case linked to possible accounting fraud. Substantial information in the article is “wrong or misleading,” the South African furniture and clothing retailer said. Referring to the start of the …

Abu Dhabi / WAM The celebration of Emirati Women’s Day reflects the UAE leadership’s profound belief in the contributions of women and their role in the country’s development, said HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Al Dhafra Region. In a statement to mark the day, Sheikh Hamdan said that since the establishment of the UAE …

Bloomberg Two more oil fields in Libya are being closed after an armed group took over pipelines to both deposits, further disrupting the OPEC nation’s plan to boost crude production. El Feel, or Elephant, stopped production, Wessam Al-Messmari, an office manager for the Petroleum Facilities Guard that is protecting the field, said Sunday by phone. State-run National Oil Corp. declared …

DUBAI / WAM Exporters from Malaysia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of Halal food products, are going to showcase the country’s multi-billion dollar Halal industry, that last year recorded $9.79 billion worth of Halal exports worldwide, at the 9th edition of the Halal Expo Dubai to be held on September 18 and 19 at the Roda Al Bustan Hotel …