SOUTH KOREA
Inflation hits 12-year low
Inflation was the lowest for more than 12 years last month, Statistics Korea said yesterday, raising prospects of an imminent interest rate cut. The consumer price index rose 1.2 percent year-on-year last month, the slowest pace since the 1.1 percent of May 2000, it said. The figure compared with a 1.5 percent increase in July. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, stood at 1.3 percent year-on-year last month, up from the 1.2 percent posted the month before. In its last meeting on Aug. 9, Bank of Korea kept the benchmark seven-day repo rate unchanged at 3 percent.
INDONESIA
CPI edges up to 4.58%
The Central Statistics Agency said yesterday that inflation edged slightly higher last month as food prices rose during Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday celebrations. The consumer price index (CPI) came in at 4.58 percent last month, up from 4.56 percent in July, it said. On a monthly basis, inflation also edged up to 0.95 percent, from 0.7 percent in July. Core inflation was 4.16 percent last month, easing from 4.28 percent the previous month. Bank Indonesia has left its benchmark rate unchanged at a record low of 5.75 percent since February.
GAMBLING
Macau revenues up 5.5%
Gambling revenue growth in Macau, the world’s most lucrative casino market, rebounded slightly to 5.5 percent last month after slowing to its lowest rate since 2009. Macau gambling authorities posted data yesterday that showed casino revenue rose to 26.1 billion patacas (US$3.3 billion) last month. In July, revenues rose just 1.5 percent. Macau’s casino revenues have surged at double-digit rates in recent years thanks to high-rolling Chinese gamblers. Revenue surged 42 percent last year to US$33.5 billion, more than five times the amount earned on the Las Vegas Strip. Last month’s revenues were the second-highest ever for Macau casinos, topped only by the 26.8 billion patacas in October last year.
BANKING
New system will take time
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said it was unlikely that a new Europe-wide banking supervisory system would be up and running in the new year — dampening hopes that stressed banks could soon tap eurozone rescue funds directly. The European Commission will make proposals for the system next Wednesday. Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said last week he hoped it could be phased in starting in January. EU leaders have agreed that funds set up to bail out indebted governments could be allowed to funnel money directly to ailing banks — rather than via governments, increasing their debt burden — once an effective central bank supervision system is established.
CONFECTIONERY
Darrell Lea to close shops
Australian chocolate retailer Darrell Lea yesterday said it would close all its shops and only sell products through licensed outlets, with the loss of more than 400 jobs. The confectionery firm, a popular local brand established in 1927, will stay in Australian hands after being sold by administrators to the Quinn family, which has a long history of food manufacturing and distribution. As part of the sale agreement, the firm’s remaining 27 branded stores would close, effective Sunday. About 246 permanent and 172 casual staff will be axed. Another 32 shops were closed earlier this year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”