Source: AFP India’s industrial output grew just 3.3 per cent year-on-year in July, its slowest in nearly two years, official data showed Monday, indicating a wider slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy. The lower-than-expected figure ‒ the worst since October 2009 and following an 8.8-per cent growth in June ‒ will provide another headache for the...

Source: AFP Asian stock markets slumped while the euro dived to a 10-year low against the yen on Monday as concerns grew that Greece would default on its debt repayments. Big losses in Europe and on Wall Street on Friday fuelled the selling pressure, while the resignation of a key European Central Bank committee member...

Source: Reuters Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are each in talks to buy an Indonesian brokerage firm to expand their reach into the hot capital market of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, sources with direct knowledge of the deals said on Monday. Goldman is in talks to buy Tiga Pilar Sekuritas and expects to complete the...

Source: AFP Japan’s economy shrank by more than previously thought in the April-June quarter, with corporate capital spending suffering a worse impact from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami than first expected. Japan’s revised gross domestic product shrank at an annualised 2.1 per cent in the quarter, the Cabinet Office said, as firms were forced...

by Ernie B. Calucag The number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) living in Asia is set to grow to 2.8 million by 2015, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said on Thursday, adding that appreciating Asian currencies will boost their spending power going forward. In a report, the brokerage and investment group noted that as at 2010,...

Source: Bloomberg South Korea and Indonesia held off from raising borrowing costs Thursday amid mounting risks that the global recovery will stall even as inflation may accelerate. The Bank of Korea held the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate at 3.25 per cent, while Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent,...

Source: Reuters The Bank of Japan kept its policy settings unchanged on Wednesday, saving up its scant ammunition for later, while the yen stabilised in the wake of Switzerland’s radical action to curb its soaring currency. But growing uncertainty over the global outlook and the Swiss move to set a ceiling for its currency against...

Source: AFP A Hong Kong land sale Tuesday failed to meet expectations, suggesting a continuing cool-down of the territory’s red-hot real estate market, with analysts saying equities volatility played a key role. The city has been struggling to control rising housing prices, the government’s major headache, stirring growing disquiet among a seven million-strong population over...

Source: AFP Japan’s Honda Motor is recalling 936,000 cars worldwide, mostly its popular Fit subcompact, called Jazz overseas, due to defective power window switches, the company said Monday. In the worst-case scenario, the switch could partially melt and its cover could catch fire, although no one has been injured because of the defect, a company...

Source: AFP Asian markets slipped in nervous trade on Friday ahead of the release of key jobs data from the United States, with profit-taking adding to downward pressure after a four-day rally. Tokyo ended 1.21 per cent, or 110.06 points, lower at 8,950.74 and Seoul shed 0.69 per cent, or 12.95 points, to 1,867.75 while...

Source: AFP Macau’s gambling revenue soared 57 per cent in August to a record high, official data show, thanks to wealthy mainland Chinese gamblers who continue to flood into the world’s biggest gaming hub. The former Portuguese colony ‒ which has six licensed casino operators ‒ has seen a sharp increase in revenue since mid-2009,...

Source: AFP Australian retailing staged an unexpected recovery in July, figures showed Thursday, but the limping manufacturing industry slumped for another month due to the surging local dollar. Retail trade increased 0.5 per cent to A$20.65 billion (US$22.10 billion) according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with besieged department stores up 1.2 per cent and...