The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

  Bloomberg Not even the cheapest shares in 13 years can lure investors to China’s banks. On a price versus book value basis, Chinese financial firms are trading at the biggest discount since 2004 to both the MSCI China Index and their Asian peers. The stocks have underperformed all but two other industry groups this year. While that’s spurred bullish ...

  Bloomberg China’s producer prices surged again at close to the quickest pace since 2008 last month, though pulled back slightly from February, suggesting the reflationary boon to industrial profits is set to moderate. Producer price index rose 7.6 percent from a year earlier, versus median estimate of 7.5 percent in Bloomberg survey and 7.8 percent increase in February. Consumer ...

  Bloomberg The previous two times BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie ran his ruler over the company’s $29 billion oil unit he decided it was still a good fit for the world’s biggest miner. A fresh review following the urging of billionaire activist Paul Singer came up with the same answer. “I’ve asked the question about the fit of petroleum ...

  Bloomberg Qualcomm Inc.’s countersuit against Apple Inc. threatens a relationship that helped both companies rake in billions of dollars as leaders of the smartphone revolution. The acrimony in Apple’s suit and Qualcomm’s response late on Monday raises the prospect of Qualcomm losing a big portion of the revenue it gets from one of its biggest customers. For Apple, it ...

  Bloomberg The US auto market has peaked and will shrink this year, with manufacturers using unprecedented incentives to support passenger cars through slumping demand, a Toyota Motor Corp. executive said. Industrywide deliveries may decline to as low as 17 million vehicles from last year’s record of about 17.5 million, according to Bob Carter, president of Toyota’s US sales unit. ...

  Bloomberg An influential group of investors is pressing Tesla Inc. to add two board directors who don’t have ties to Elon Musk, a sign that concerns over the electric-car maker’s corporate governance remain as its shares soar. Five of Musk’s six fellow board members have personal or professional connections to the Tesla chief executive officer, which could jeopardize their ...

  Bloomberg ValueAct Capital Management, the activist fund run by Jeffrey Ubben, plans to return $1.25 billion to investors in May because of concerns that company valuations are expensive. San Francisco-based ValueAct, which manages more than $16 billion, explained its decision to return capital in a letter last week to investors that was viewed by Bloomberg News. It said that ...

  One of the most common debates I hear about India is whether British colonialism has been good or bad for the country’s economic prospects. Defenders of British rule often cite the construction of the railroads, or the spread of the English language, but as time passes the evidence mounts that India would have been much better off on its ...

  Another one bites the dust. German-listed Dialog Semiconductor Plc lost one-third of its market value at one point after analysts at Bankhaus Lampe KG claimed there was “strong evidence” that Apple Inc. was working on making its own power management chips for the iPhone. Dialog replied that it knew of “no business reason” for the share price movement. But ...

  A pro-Brexit argument that always makes me giggle a little is that leaving the European Union will allow the UK to become the new Singapore. That’s right — the land of hope and glory, home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, wants to emulate its steamy little former colony, population 5.4 million. When you look at the per-capita income data, ...