January, 2020

• 26 January

  Telenor’s right to reconnect in Malaysia

  

  This time, it might just work. Telenor ASA and Kuala Lumpur-based Axiata Group Bhd. are back at the negotiating table. Joining forces in South and Southeast Asia still makes sense for both carriers. Options including a mooted minority investment from Norway’s $27 billion telecoms heavyweight could be enough to get them started, with sales and spinoffs to follow. Talks for ...

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• 26 January

  Carmakers must do better just to keep up in China

  

  The world’s largest car market is cratering and there are few signs of a recovery. It was never supposed to get this bad — and even if it got close, a helping hand from Beijing would steer things out of any prolonged trouble. Or so people thought… Instead, passenger car sales in China fell 9.5% last year, more steeply than ...

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• 26 January

  Volatility resurfaces in stocks

  

  Bloomberg On a day rife with reasons for optimism, stock investors absorbed their sharpest blow since October as creeping nervousness around a virus outbreak finally provoked some serious selling. The S&P 500 fell almost 1 percent, its biggest drop in nearly four months. The equity market’s “fear gauge,” the Cboe Volatility Index, climbed for a fourth straight session to the ...

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• 26 January

  Copper sees worst losing streak since 2018 on virus fears

  

  Bloomberg Copper saw its worst streak of losses since mid-2018 as more patients were infected by the deadly coronavirus in the US, spurring a sell-off in riskier assets while boosting gold’s haven appeal. US officials are monitoring more than 60 people as they attempt to catch new cases of coronavirus in travelers from China, the centre of the outbreak. Mounting ...

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• 26 January

  Plunging penny stocks stir mutual fund crisis in Jakarta

  Bloomberg A crisis of confidence is brewing in Indonesia’s mutual-fund industry after some asset managers created products that invested in tiny, illiquid stocks, which have plunged in value. The volatility has triggered a “serious issue” in the nation’s capital markets that’s raised public concerns, said Wimboh Santoso, chairman of Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority. The regulator last year restricted sales of ...

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• 26 January

  Largest twin-engine jet takes to skies

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co’s newest plane, so big that its wings are hinged, finally rumbled into the skies over the Washington factory complex constructed a half century ago for the original jumbo jet. After a delay on January 24 because of high winds, the jet took off from Boeing Field on Saturday and landed successfully almost four hours later. It’s set ...

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• 26 January

  Garuda wins analysts’ praise for its leadership overhaul

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s scandal-ridden flag carrier won praise from analysts for its leadership overhaul, with its new CEO getting support from a lieutenant who was among those criticising the airline’s accounting practices. The appointment of Deputy Chief Executive Officer Dony Oskaria, who will help run PT Garuda Indonesia alongside CEO Irfan Setiaputra, raised the expectation the state-backed company will be able ...

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• 26 January

  Fairway returns to bankruptcy, aims to sell its stores

  

  Bloomberg Fairway Group Holdings Corp has gone bankrupt for the second time since 2016, overwhelmed by its lingering debt load and cutthroat price competition in the grocery business. The New York grocer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with an agreement to sell five stores and a distribution facility to Village Super Market Inc, owner of 30 ShopRite supermarkets. The deal, ...

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• 26 January

  Morrisons cuts 3,000 managerial roles

  Bloomberg Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc is cutting thousands of managerial roles from its grocery stores across the UK in favour of increased shop-floor staff. The British grocer is changing the way stores are staffed in a bid to serve customers better as competition intensifies in the supermarket industry, Morrison said. The changes will result in the removal of about 3,000 ...

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• 25 January

  Abu Dhabi set to host largest global meet on urbanisation

  

  NAIROBI / WAM Policy makers, mayors, academics, business people, community leaders, artists and urban planners are among thousands of participants to attend the world’s leading conference on urbanisation, the World Urban Forum (WUF), in Abu Dhabi from February 8-13. It will be the first time that the World Urban Forum, which is convened by the UN agency focused on sustainable ...

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