Tuesday, April 23 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG - China’s fourth quarter GDP growth has come in at 7.3% y/y, flat with that of the previous quarter and broadly in line with market expectations (consensus: 7.2% y/y). In sequential terms, Q4 GDP expanded at a pace of 1.5% q/q sa, decreasing from 1.9% q/q sa in Q3. As a consequence, 2014 GDP increased by 7.4%, the lowest growth rate since 1991.
SINGAPORE - The Asia-Pacific region is facing an emerging risk that a widely-expected boost to exports from the improving US economy will fail to materialise and galvanise GDP growth, according to a new report from ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
The report says the benefits of rejuvenated consumer demand in the US have so far been limited within its own borders. Emerging Asia's export numbers continue to disappoint two years into the recovery of the US private sector.
BEIJING - In the wake of two breakthrough pilot projects announced in 2014 – the HK-Shanghai stock connection and an additional pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in Guangdong province – regulators are considering a stock trading link programme that would allow investors from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to buy and sell shares on each city’s bourse.
BEIJING - In line with a World Trade Organisation panel ruling last March, China has officially abolished a quota system previously designed to restrict exports of rare earths. A notice was issued at the end of December that the Ministry of Commerce abolished export quotas.
TAIPEI – Taiwan’s Purchasing Managers’ Index got back on an expansionary track in December, gaining 0.9% to 50.1%, according to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. “The result puts an end to a four-month downward trend,” CIER President, Wu Chung-shu, said, pointing to a buoyant U.S. economy and improvement in the Euro zone.
HONG KONG - The rate of output growth in global emerging markets picked up slightly in December, but remained subdued overall, according to latest survey data from HSBC and Markit. The HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI), a monthly indicator derived from the PMI™ surveys, rose to a three-month high of 51.7, from November’s six-month low of 51.2, but still signalled only a modest rate of expansion.
HANOI - The State Bank of Vietnam devalued the VND by one per cent, its first currency adjustment in almost six months. The decision takes the official rate to 21,458/USD, as SBV has maintained its one per cent trading band. The move was in line with market expectations of weaker currency against general strength of the greenback.
HONG KONG - The drop in oil prices could increase global growth by 0.4% in 2015-16, says BBVA Bank, suggesting that advanced economies could see a positive effect on growth in the US (0.3%) and Europe (0.4%), with a higher effect on Spain (0.7%).
HONG KONG – In updating its forecasts for global growth in 2015, HSBC says the world economy remains highly unstable, and that the US recovery is vulnerable to weakening demand elsewhere in the world, alongside a potentially much-stronger dollar – the more the rest of the world softens, the greater the risk that the US recovery comes to an abrupt end.
~~IJING - With weakening demand amid a slowing economy, coal producers in China are bracing for a drag in 2015 sales. Shenhua Group, China’s biggest coal company, has already begun to experience a sharp slowdown in sales last month, selling only 34 million tonnes, a 30.2% year-on-year decrease.
WASHINGTON - Following US-China trade talks in Chicago earlier this week, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has confirmed that China’s Ministry of Agriculture has cleared imports for a number of biotech products: 1) A type of genetically-modified corn from Swiss seed developer Syngenta AG; and 2) biotech soybeans developed by DuPont Pioneer of the US and Germany’s Bayer CropScience AG.
BEIJING - China’s State Oceanic Administration has announced plans to set up an offshore observation network by 2020 to cope with disasters, guarantee development of the coastal economy and protect China’s maritime interests. Released on Wednesday, the SOA’s guideline outlines major tasks set to be completed within the next five years, including building radar stations, tsunami warning observation stations and undersea observation and satellite operations.
WASHNGTON - At a US-China trade meeting in Chicago on Wednesday, US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and Chinese Vice Premier, Wang Yang, agreed that efforts to improve collaboration on biotechnology “are critical, as they work to ensure that there is enough food to feed the world’s growing population”.
BEIJING – China’s National Development and Reform Commission has announced plans to invest RMB192 billion (US$31 billion) on roads and an airport in order to increase investment and support a slowing economy. The plan covers five roads to be built in the southern and central provinces of Guangxi, Guangdong and Sichuan, while RMB80 billion will be invested in a third Beijing airport.
HONG KONG – The HSBC China Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ for December has come in at 49.5 (50.0 in November), a seven-month low. The Flash China Manufacturing Output Index was at 49.7 (49.6 in November), a two-month high.
BEIJING – Working out how best to contain China’s spreading shadow-banking system has been a high priority for China’s top regulators since it became a serious issue in 2010. The latest plan involves establishment of a fund to support troubled trust firms as repayment risks continue to accumulate.