Bloomberg China will carry out a nationwide poll next month to test the public’s acceptance of genetically-modified food, a technology the government says would boost yields and sustainable agriculture in a country that’s seen consumption soar. Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University and two other Chinese colleges will carry out the survey, said Jin Jianbin, a professor at Tsinghua’s School of Journalism ...
Read More »Equity bug bites small town investors in India
Bloomberg India’s stock market boom is fanning out to the country’s hinterland. Flows into mutual funds from towns outside India’s 15 biggest cities surged 41 percent to a record 3.1 trillion rupees ($48 billion) at the end of March, according to the latest data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India. And half of this money flowed into equity ...
Read More »Tax reform to sweep India’s $2trn economy
Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is set to dramatically reshape Asia’s third-largest economy with the biggest tax reform since independence in 1947. After finding common ground among India’s 29 states, the finance ministry released detailed rates for the incoming goods and services tax, slotting more than 1,200 items — from sugar to steel pipes and motorcycles — into five ...
Read More »Japan exports rise for fifth consecutive month in April
Bloomberg Japanese exports expanded for a fifth consecutive month in April, with shipments to China surging as global demand continued to support the nation’s economic recovery. Exports rose 7.5 percent from a year earlier (median estimate +8.0 percent), according to data released by the Ministry of Finance. Imports jumped 15.1 percent (median estimate +14.8 percent). The trade surplus was 481.7 ...
Read More »Indonesia bonds soar over global fund expectation
Bloomberg Indonesia’s 10-year bond climbs as S&P Global Ratings’ upgrade on the nation fans speculation that inflows of global funds will increase. Foreign inflows to Indonesian bonds totaled $6.32 billion this year through, 42 percent more than from January to the end of May 2016. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecast in March that an upgrade could help attract as much ...
Read More »GE faces probe for misleading EU over $1.7 billion deal
Bloomberg General Electric Co. is the latest US company to be investigated by European Union for possibly turning in misleading information during a merger review, according to two people familiar with the GE case. The European Commission is reviewing whether GE misled EU officials examining a deal to buy LM Wind Power, a maker of wind-turbine blades, for 1.5 billion ...
Read More »London home sellers shrug off election, raise asking prices
Bloomberg London house prices rebounded in May, rising to a record as buyers and sellers defied the usual trend of holding off on property transactions before an election. The average asking price in the city rose 2.1 percent from April to 649,864 pounds ($846,000), property website Rightmove Plc said on Monday, even with the upcoming UK general election on June ...
Read More »Clariant to buy Huntsman for $6.4bn as M&A surges
Bloomberg Clariant AG agreed to buy Huntsman Corp. in an all-stock deal valuing the US company at about $6.4 billion, extending a record run in transactions in the global chemicals industry. Huntsman holders will get 1.2196 shares in the new company, to be called HuntsmanClariant, for each share they own, with Clariant emerging with a 52 percent stake, the two ...
Read More »UK gas plunges as cargoes sail to oversupplied Europe
Bloomberg Cargoes from around the world filled with liquefied natural gas are sailing to Europe just when the region doesn’t really need them. Same-day gas in the UK fell the most since October as forecasts for the week showed summer is arriving early, weakening demand for the heating fuel. That comes just as LNG vessels that set sail for Europe ...
Read More »EU finalizes Brexit position as UK threatens to quit talks
Bloomberg European Union ministers finalized their Brexit negotiating position a day after the UK threatened to quit talks on its departure unless the bloc drops its demands for a divorce payment as high as 100 billion euros ($112 billion). Governments of 27 remaining nations approved their mandate for EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier at a two-hour meeting in Brussels. The ...
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