April, 2016

• 6 April

  China restricts trade with N Korea over nuclear tests

  

  BEIJING / AP China has banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country’s main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under UN sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests. China buys an estimated two-thirds of impoverished North Korea’s exports, making Beijing’s cooperation essential for trade penalties approved by the UN Security Council ...

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• 6 April

  Japan eyes $77mn to develop genome editing technology

  

  Tokyo / DPA Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry is set to strengthen its efforts to develop its own technology for genome editing, by allocating 8.6 billion yen (US$77 million) over five years from fiscal 2016 to 2020. The technology enables cut-and-paste work in gene modifications as desired. The government intends to efficiently mass-produce medicinal products or fragrance elements by ...

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• 6 April

  Malaysia Airlines posts first monthly profit

  

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP The chief executive of Malaysia Airlines said on Wednesday that the carrier recorded a profit in February, its first positive monthly result in years, and is on track to return to the black by 2018. In an interview, CEO Christoph Mueller described the airline as a “ship that has many leaks,” but said the monthly profit ...

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• 6 April

  Chevron gets new setback for giant Oz gas project

  

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s largest resources project will stop production for up to 60 days owing to mechanical issues, US energy giant Chevron said on Wednesday, in the latest setback to hit the US$54 billion plant. Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia’s northwest coast — one of the world’s biggest — started production in early March and ...

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• 6 April

  Samsung regains smartphone share with new phones

  

  MUMBAI / Reuters Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is regaining smartphone share in India with a revamped line-up packed with special features including a safety mode for motorcyclists, as rival Apple Inc readies a renewed push into the world’s fastest-growing market. Long the leader in price-conscious India, the South Korean giant had been losing ground to local rivals such as Micromax ...

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• 6 April

  Poland holds rates at record amid deflation

  

  Bloomberg Poland’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a 13th month as its revamped policy council defies expectations for deeper monetary easing in the face of the longest bout of deflation in 60 years. The 10-member panel on Wednesday left the seven-day reference rate at a record-low 1.5 percent, matching the predictions of all 34 economists surveyed ...

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• 6 April

  Germany’s auction of negative-yielding securities highlights gloomly outlook

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s two-year note sale on Wednesday provided more evidence that an increasingly gloomy economic outlook in the euro zone keeps driving investors to buy negative-yielding securities in return for their safety — and potential capital gains. The country’s bonds, which have returned 4.4 percent percent this year, were mostly little changed as Europe’s largest economy allotted €3.24 billion of ...

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• 6 April

  Turkish lira drops on calls for lending rate cut

  

  Bloomberg The lira fell the most in emerging markets after Turkey’s Economy Minister became the latest official to call for interest rate cuts, stoking concern that politicians are interfering in monetary policy. Speculation that global growth is faltering also contributed to the drop. The currency lost 0.6 percent to 2.8488 per dollar, the weakest level in more than a week, ...

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• 6 April

  SNB to issue new 50-franc banknote on April 12

  

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank unveiled its new 50-franc ($52) note on Wednesday, the first in a series that features nature rather than portraits of famous men and women. The 50-franc bill, which will begin to be issued on April 12, was designed with the theme of wind and depicts a dandelion, mountains and a para-glider. Other notes in the ...

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• 6 April

  ‘Brexit’ no barrier to UK stock values at premium

  

  Bloomberg Doubts are mounting about the future of the U.K.’s membership in the European Union, but you wouldn’t know it from the country’s stocks. Rather than being punished for a lack of certainty, they’ve become the most expensive ever relative to others in the region. The valuation of companies in the FTSE 350 Index climbed to 15.5 times estimated earnings ...

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