May, 2018

• 28 May

  Russia loses its edge as oil drop spurs low ETF flows

  Bloomberg Sliding oil prices are eroding the buffers that helped Russia withstand the emerging-market retreat. Investors are pulling cash from the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking Russian assets at the fastest pace in almost a year. Redemptions from the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF, which invests in oil and gas companies including Gazprom PJSC, Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, reached $88.9 million ...

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• 28 May

  Mahathir vows to scrap $28 billion high-speed railway link to S’pore

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he will cancel a proposed multibillion-dollar high-speed railway link to Singapore, as the new leader who returned to power in a surprise election upset this month seeks to rein in expenditure. The scrapping of the plan will take time as it requires negotiation with Singapore, Mahathir told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. ...

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• 28 May

  Indonesian minister says ready to trade growth for stability

  

  Bloomberg Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government is willing to accept slower economic growth as a trade-off for stability. “All of us are ready to implement any policies needed to protect Indonesia’s economy,” Indrawati told reporters on Monday in Jakarta. “So, if we have to make adjustments in the short run that will result in slightly lower ...

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• 28 May

  China to ‘clear’ $43bn Qualcomm-NXP deal

  

  Bloomberg China is ready to approve Qualcomm Inc.’s $43 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors NV if it gets assurances that the US will lift a seven-year ban on homegrown telecoms giant ZTE Corp., people familiar with the matter said. The antitrust regulator has cleared all factual investigations, is satisfied with the remedies Qualcomm’s offering and only procedural issues remain, said ...

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• 28 May

  India’s correlation with global markets hits 10-year low

  

  Bloomberg A shrinking correlation between financial markets in India and those in the rest of the world is one reason to buy its assets. The weighted average correlation of India’s currency, bonds and stocks with those in other global economies fell to 0.32 last month, approaching a more than 10-year low of 0.29 set in November. The reading was as ...

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• 28 May

  Alibaba, Tencent join big names betting on Hon Hai arm’s IPO

  Bloomberg China’s largest initial public offering (IPO) since 2015 has gotten the attention of the country’s top internet companies. Affiliates of Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., known collectively as BAT, are becoming strategic investors in Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. The companies are buying 21.8 million shares each in FII’s listing at 13.77 yuan apiece, the firm ...

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• 28 May

  Airtel chairman to invest $1bn in son-in-law’s hotel business

  

  Bloomberg The billionaire who controls India’s biggest telecom operator is looking to pump more than $1 billion into a hotel chain founded by his son-in-law in London, people with knowledge of the matter said. The money from Bharti Airtel Ltd chairman Sunil Mittal would fund acquisitions by Sharan Pasricha’s Ennismore, a developer that owns the Gleneagles resort and Hoxton hotel ...

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• 28 May

  EU seeks last-minute tariff reprieve to avoid trade crisis

  

  Bloomberg The European Union is seeking a last-minute deal with the US to avoid inflaming global trade tensions as President Donald Trump prepares to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports at the end of the month. “We’re at the beginning of a decisive week,” German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told reporters in Brussels on Monday. “We have to try ...

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• 28 May

  Sharp exchanges highlight BP fears of climate legal risks

  

  Bloomberg After paying more than $65 billion in legal costs for the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, BP Plc is wary of the risk of lawsuits related to climate change. CEO Bob Dudley raised the topic of class-action lawsuits twice during the company’s annual general meeting in Manchester, England, saying he wouldn’t disclose certain climate targets, or even answer some questions from ...

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• 28 May

  Swiss factories get a franc warning

  

  Bloomberg Just as Switzerland’s factories come roaring back, the rallying franc is a reminder of how the currency has the potential to pull the rug from under them. Industrial production is rising at the fastest pace since before the financial crisis and companies such as Schurter, a maker of electrical components, are seeing sales surge. Gross domestic product figures this ...

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