April, 2016

• 11 April

  Standard Chartered seeks to sell $4.4 billion of Asian assets

  

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is seeking to sell at least $4.4 billion of assets in Asia, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the lender pares its balance sheet after booking record impairments. The London-based bank is speaking with potential buyers for about $1.4 billion of stressed loans made to Indian firms including GMR Infrastructure Ltd., according to the ...

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• 11 April

  RBI chief builds record reserves to strengthen Asia’s worst currency

  

  Bloomberg Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan is going all out to build up the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves as he seeks to augment the rupee’s defenses. The stockpile grew to an unprecedented $359.76 billion in the week to April 1, Reserve Bank of India data showed. The reserves surged as Governor Raghuram Rajan bought dollars to take advantage of ...

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• 11 April

  BOJ’s backfire hangs over central bankers as IMF meetings start

  

  Bloomberg The world’s central bankers, already hitting limits of their effectiveness on growth and inflation, are now contending with another risk: that additional stimulus could produce lackluster results and undercut investor confidence. The Bank of Japan’s decision in January to take interest rates negative has sent bond yields tumbling, while doing little to curb a surging yen that’s squeezing the ...

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• 11 April

  ‘Loan demand rising as developing countries face headwinds’

  Washington / Reuters The World Bank said on Monday it expects its nonmarket rate lending to top $43 billion in the current fiscal year as developing countries face economic headwinds, bringing its total for the past four years to more than $150 billion. The multilateral lender said its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) ...

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• 11 April

  Brokers call for India to probe claims of unfair exchange access

  

  New Delhi / Bloomberg A panel advising India’s markets regulator found evidence that high-frequency traders gained unfair access to the nation’s biggest stock exchange, prompting two of the country’s largest brokerage associations to call for a formal investigation. The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. “violated norms of fair access,” according to a copy of the panel’s internal report seen ...

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• 11 April

  China’s economic slowdown to hit East Asia development

  

  Singapore / AFP China’s economic slowdown will hit growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific from this year until at least 2018, the World Bank said on Monday, warning of volatile global markets and urging caution. Regional growth is forecast to slow from 6.5 percent in 2015 to 6.3 percent this year and 6.2 percent in 2017 and 2018, ...

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• 11 April

  BlackRock joins $46bn Japan pullout

  

  Tokyo / Bloomberg For global equity investors and Shinzo Abe, it’s splitsville. Starting in the first days of 2016, foreign traders have been pulling out of Tokyo’s stock market for 13 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1998. Overseas investors dumped $46 billion of shares as economic reports deteriorated, stimulus from the Bank of Japan backfired and the yen’s surge ...

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• 11 April

  Malaysia suspends Sharia-compliant plane

  

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia’s first Islamic-compliant airline has been suspended for three months after it failed to adhere to aviation regulations, a senior official said on Monday, as the government announced a safety audit of the carrier. “Rayani Air has been suspended for three months,” Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said. “They contravened civil ...

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• 11 April

  Australia-India consortium to ‘restart’ Kolar gold mine

  

  SYDNEY / Reuters An Australian-Indian consortium wants to restart gold mining in a district that helped symbolise former British rule in India and produced some 25 million ounces over 150 years before being abandoned due to low bullion prices. Mining in the Kolar gold field in Karnataka state in Southern India ended in 2001 as gold prices slumped. But a ...

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• 11 April

  Indonesia to cut corporate tax cut by 20 percent

  Jakarta / Bloomberg Indonesia plans to cut corporate tax to 20 percent this year, from 25 percent, as it tries to attract investment to spur the economy. The move will need parliamentary approval, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Monday. A 20 percent rate will be “competitive,” he said. “If possible we will discuss it immediately, this year,” Brodjonegoro said. ...

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