Bloomberg Toshiba Corp., already reeling from a crisis at its nuclear business that sent its market value down by almost half, is seeking help from one of the world’s biggest buyers of LNG to avoid billions of dollars in potential losses if it can’t sell American gas. Toshiba is working with Japan’s Jera Co. to help it find buyers ...
Read More »Saudi Aramco shelves plans for Malaysia venture
Reuters Saudi Aramco has shelved plans for a multi-billion-dollar refining and petrochemical joint venture with Petronas in Malaysia, industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) at Pengerang in the state of Johor in southern Malaysia was to have had a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery and petrochemical complex with a chemical output ...
Read More »Oil pares gain after US crude, fuel supplies data rise
Bloomberg Oil gains eased in New York after an industry report that US crude and fuel stockpiles climbed last week. Crude supplies rose 2.93 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. Futures lost about 27 cents per barrel from the close after the release of the data. Iraq has trimmed supply by 180,000 barrels a day ...
Read More »China brands taking over Indian smartphone sector
Bloomberg Chinese smartphone brands led by Vivo have muscled out local rivals in India with increasingly stylish yet affordable devices, challenging Samsung Electronics Co. for supremacy in the world’s fastest-growing major phone market. Chinese labels occupied four of the top five spots in 2016’s final quarter, shoving aside Micromax and Intex, according to a Counterpoint Research report released. Samsung ...
Read More »Taiwan expansion picks up as exports counter slower spending
Bloomberg Taiwan’s economy, which began 2016 in contraction, concluded it on the strongest footing in almost two years as stronger trade activity helped offset weakness in consumption. Gross domestic product rose 2.58 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, preliminary data from the statistics bureau showed on Wednesday. That compared with a median estimate of 2.85 percent ...
Read More »S Korea’s growth slows amid political turmoil
Bloomberg South Korea’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in more than a year in the fourth quarter as a political scandal engulfing impeached President Park Geun-hye and conglomerates including Samsung Group hurt consumer confidence and spending. Construction investment fell as the government took steps to curb household debt and property market overheating in some areas. Gross domestic product ...
Read More »Year of the Rooster waking up China’s palm oil demand
Bloomberg As China welcomes the Year of the Rooster this week, bets that a recovery in Asian palm oil production will drive prices lower may be something for consumers to crow about. While high prices may keep Chinese buyers on the sidelines in the first part of the new year, an expected surge in supply later in 2017 in ...
Read More »Vietnam factories optimistic despite Trump snub
Bloomberg Vietnamese clothing maker NhaBe Garment Corp. had a lot riding on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The supplier to brands such as Calvin Klein, Michael Kors and Kenneth Cole has seen its exports more than doubled since 2011 to $729 million last year — and it increased its factories two-fold to 35, betting on a big drop in tariffs from ...
Read More »China’s metals curb plan risks shortages in alumina
Bloomberg China’s proposal to halt some metals production to fight air pollution over the winter would create shortages of alumina but have a more limited impact on aluminum supply, according to China’s top industry body, which has been consulted on the plan. The proposal involves an alumina suspension in three provinces that would affect about a fifth of the ...
Read More »SUV demand shields Maruti Suzuki from worst of cash crunch
Bloomberg Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. reported third-quarter profit climbed 47 percent as India’s biggest automaker increased its share of sales of sport utility vehicles, a more affluent market segment that better weathered the cash crunch affecting predominantly the country’s poor. Net income climbed to 17.4 billion rupees ($255 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, in line with analysts’ ...
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