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Stock Market / Finance in Asia

  • Tokyo stocks rise in morning on enhanced expectation of U.S. interest rate hike

    JAPAN, 2015/11/23 Tokyo shares ended the morning session higher on Thursday with market confidence boosted by the expectation of an U.S. interest rate raise in December. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 276.50 points, or 1.41 percent, from Wednesday to end the morning at 19,925.68. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 19.62 points, or 1.24 percent, to 1,606.15.

  • Uzbekistan sees sharp devaluation of national currency

    UZBEKISTAN, 2015/11/05 Uzbekistan saw a sharp devaluation of its national currency, the som, against the US dollar in October, according to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. The official rate of the som, as set by the Central Bank, amounted to 2621 som per dollar at the end of September 2015. This price has fallen to 2692.13 som per dollar, a drop of 2.2 %, over the month as compared with figures from 2014, at the same time as the price fell from 2367.4 som to 2.383 som per dollar. Uzbekistan saw a 0.7 % decrease in its official som rate.

  • Berro, Al Hilal Bank: An Islamic bank doesn’t have to be old or rusty

    WORLD, 2015/11/01 Islamic finance is going mainstream, with Western nations planning to issue their initial sovereign sukuk. It still constitutes only a small % of total world financial assets, and most activity is concentrated in a handful of markets—but for how long? “Is the Islamic finance market going world? Of course, it is,” says Mohamed Berro, CEO of Al Hilal Bank, one of the fastest-growing banks in the United Arab Emirates. “World corporations, institutions and sovereign borrowers want to capture Islamic liquidity,” he says. “We can compete on a world basis, particularly at a time at the same time as the world is keen on ethical banking.”

  • Malaysia's Najib frames budget to woo support, cut deficit

    MALAYSIA, 2015/11/01 Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak delivered a budget on Friday to help the less well off and bolster economic growth in a country hit hard by weak global energy prices, but raised income tax rates to help bring down the fiscal deficit. Under fire over allegations of corruption at state-fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd, Najib will hope the budget measures, which included increased cash support for low income families, extra funds for affordable housing projects and higher development spending, will help soothe criticism of his leadership. A government economic report, released before the budget speech, forecast Malaysia's current account surplus would be more than halved in 2016 to 11.3 billion ringgit ($2.63 billion), extending a negative trend that has been a key factor behind the ringgit's 17 percent fall this year.

  • Japan's economy out of its decades-long deflationary slump.

    JAPAN, 2015/10/31 The Bank of Japan may confound the chorus of analysts calling for further easing at its policy conference Friday next industrial production data Thursday came in better than expected. With the central bank's inflation target of 2 % by the middle of next year still looking tough to hit and much of Japan's other economic data painting a mixed picture, expectations have grown that the BOJ would step up its by presently massive quantitative easing (QE) program on Friday. The program, currently calling for the central bank to increase its monetary base by 80 trillion yen ($662 billion) annually, was launched in 2013 as the initial "arrow" of Abenomics, or Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to push Japan's economy out of its decades-long deflationary slump.

  • Economic slowdown expected in Caucasus, Central Asia

    AZERBAIJAN, 2015/10/26 For oil exporters of Caucasus and Central Asia, the economic increase is projected at 3.75 % for 2015, down from nearly 5.5 % in the previous year, despite a sizable fiscal stimulus in some nations (3 % of GDP in Kazakhstan and 1 % of GDP in Uzbekistan), the International Monetary Fund announced in its recently published statement. Slower increase in oil production in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, fewer remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan and less public investment in Turkmenistan, inclunding weaker confidence resulting from currency depreciations, have contributed to the economic slowdown, according to the statement. “Increase is expected to pick up in 2016 to 4 %, as increase strengthens in significant trading partners, such as Russia and the euro area, and as domestic confidence improves,” said the statement.

  • Tokyo stocks open sharply higher on bargain-hunting

    JAPAN, 2015/09/30 Tokyo stocks opened sharply higher in early trading Wednesday on bargain-hunting next steep losses across Monday and Tuesday. At 9:15 a.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average was up 333.00 points, or 1.97 %, from Tuesday to 17,263.84. The broader Topix index of all Initial Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 27.67 points, or 2.01 %, to 1,403.19.

  • India cuts lending rate by 50 basis points

    INDIA, 2015/09/30 India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Tuesday cut its short-term lending rate by 50 basis points to a four-year low. The repurchase rate, or the interest charged on short-term borrowings, was cut to 6.75 %, while the indexed reverse repo rate, or the interest payable by the central bank on short- term deposit, automatically was cut to 5.75 %. The move will allow commercial banks to lower their own lending rates for personal, automobile, housing and commercial loans.

  • Trading volume rose to 2.79 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section

    JAPAN, 2015/09/29 Tokyo stocks plummeted Tuesday, with the Nikkei index falling 4.05 % to a additional than 8-month closing low as a drop in commodity prices and a world equities rout was extended further, fueled by concerns over China's economic situation. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 714.27 points from Monday to close the day at 16,930.84, while the broader Topix index of all Initial Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 63.15 points, or 4.39 %, to end at 1,375.52. Tuesday's sell-off was prompted in early trade with investor sentiment dashed by major bourses in Europe and the U.S. seeing equities lose ground overnight, with the knock-on result causing Asian indices to mirror such losses, with market analysts saying the market mood was largely due to concerns about the outlook for China's economy.

  • Singapore stocks end down 0.14 pct

    SINGAPORE, 2015/09/29 Singapore shares closed 0.14 % lower on Tuesday, as investors dumped shares following plunging commodity prices. Commodity and energy stocks led declines on continued concerns about a world slowdown. World commodity stocks fell sharply overnight next the Swiss mining-and-trading company Glencore PCL' s share price slumped in London on concerns about its deficit load as commodity prices tumbled. Meanwhile, a spokesman for China's National Bureau of Statistics last week expanded the definition of the "around 7 %" 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) increase target to include a range of 6.5 % to 7.5 %, triggering investors who interpreted the new definition as "China's GDP may fall to 6.5 % in the worst case" to dump shares in Hong Kong, further dampening the market sentiment across the region.
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