April, 2019

• 1 April

  Nationalists dealt setback in Slovakia

  

  Bloomberg European voters may be starting to put a damper on nationalists who want to shift the continent’s political direction. Ahead of next month’s European Parliament elections, Slovakia provided one of the last signals of voter sentiment when it elected a socially liberal anti-corruption campaigner as president over populist challengers. Zuzana Caputova’s victory may serve as a warning to euroskeptic ...

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• 1 April

  Indonesia’s opposition cries foul over voter list

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s opposition has warned of street protests if irregularities in the country’s electoral roll are not resolved before the presidential poll later this month. Political parties backing Prabowo Subianto’s bid for presidency will legally challenge the outcome if the former general loses the poll to incumbent Joko Widodo in the April 17 vote, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, communications director for Prabowo’s ...

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• 1 April

  Stocks advance, Treasuries slide on upbeat China data

  

  Bloomberg Stocks strengthened worldwide as strong manufacturing data out of the world’s second largest economy helped ease investor worries about a slowdown in global growth. Treasuries extended losses after as a gauge of US factories topped estimates in March. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq were all in the green. Shares of Lyft dropped below its IPO price as analysts ...

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• 1 April

  India stocks rise over central bank’s ‘rate cut announcement’

  

  Bloomberg India’s benchmark stocks gauge rose for a third day on Monday to close on the verge of a record. Expectations that the central bank will this week announce its second interest-rate cut for 2019, and a national election that will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi reelected helped boost sentiment in a market that capped its best quarter since June ...

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• 1 April

  Bitcoin reaches 2019-high

  Bloomberg Bitcoin advanced to the highest level of 2019, the latest milestone for cryptocurrencies as they claw back from a year that saw three-quarters of their market value wiped out. The biggest digital coin on Monday rose as much as 1.6 percent to $4,135.60, the top intraday level since December 24, according to weekday trading data compiled by Bloomberg. So-called ...

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• 1 April

  Nissan CEO, Ghosn mulled fourth partner for alliance

  

  Bloomberg Last September, two months before his arrest in Tokyo, then Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn and the carmaker’s chief executive officer considered bringing in a new partner for the alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, according to an email. At the time, Ghosn was under pressure to make the three-way automobile alliance “irreversible.” In a message to ...

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• 1 April

  Asia’s factory activity shows signs of stabilising

  Bloomberg Sentiment at Asia’s factories stabilised in March as a rebound in China buoys the region. Japan’s Nikkei and IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for March rose to 49.2 from 48.9 in February, helped by a lift in new orders. South Korea’s PMI rose to 48.8 from 47.2 in the previous month. Still, both readings remain below 50, signalling ...

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• 1 April

  China announces tariff concessions ahead of trade talks

  

  Bloomberg The Chinese government said it will extend a suspension of retaliatory tariffs on US autos and include the opioid fentanyl in a list of controlled substances, two steps that could generate a positive atmosphere for trade negotiations due to resume this week. Beijing temporarily scrapped the 25 percent tariff imposed on vehicles as a tit-for-tat measure on January 1, ...

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• 1 April

  India’s first REIT rises on trading debut

  

  Bloomberg India’s first real estate investment trust, the Blackstone Group LP-backed Embassy Office Parks, rose on its trading debut, in a vote of confidence for a potential new funding avenue for the nation’s cash-strapped developers. The REIT units climbed as much as 8.3 percent before closing 4.7 percent higher at 314.10 rupees in Mumbai. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index ...

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• 1 April

  Singapore luxury home prices drop

  Bloomberg Singapore home prices fell for a second straight quarter, with values of luxury dwellings falling the most in almost a decade as property curbs imposed mid-last year took some heat out of the market. Private residential prices declined 0.6 percent in the three months ended on March 31 from the previous quarter, when they fell 0.1 percent, the Urban ...

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