MANUFACTURING
Confidence up in Japan
Confidence among major Japanese manufacturers improved in the last quarter after a precipitous drop in the previous three months, a Bank of Japan survey showed yesterday. The survey showed confidence among large manufacturers stood at plus 13, up one point from the previous quarter and beating market expectations for a plus 10 reading. In another positive sign, expectations for capital spending also rose, while the report suggested that the labor market was tightening. However, the reading for large companies in the non-manufacturing sector fell to plus 13 from plus 19 in the previous three months.
MANUFACTURING
Industry stalls in China
Chinese manufacturing growth stalled last month, data showed yesterday, as a sluggish property market complicates leaders’ attempts to address a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. The official purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 51.1, unchanged from August, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The data comes a day after HSBC’s own PMI missed forecasts, and analysts said authorities would likely use the gauges to adjust policy.
FINANCE
Inflation slow in S Korea
South Korean inflation grew at its slowest rate for seven months last month, helped by stable prices of food and healthcare services, state data showed yesterday. The consumer price index rose 1.1 percent from a year ago, following a 1.4 percent increase in August, state-run Statistics Korea said. It was the slowest pace since February, when it rose 1.0 percent.
MYANMAR
Foreign banks licensed
Myanmar says it has awarded licenses to nine foreign banks. The Central Bank said yesterday that Bangkok Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and United Overseas Bank were among those that won licenses for limited operations. Others include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Malayan Banking Berhard. The banks will be allowed to operate just one branch and cannot engage in retail banking. They can only lend to foreign investors in foreign currencies, not the local kyat, unless they partner with a local bank.
PHARMACEUTICALS
J&J planning to buy Alios
Johnson & Johnson plans to acquire Alios BioPharma, a private company specializing in treatments for viral diseases, for US$1.75 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday. The all-cash deal is to include an Alios medication still under trial for treating infants with respiratory syncytial virus, a common ailment in young children. The companies said the transaction is likely to close in the fourth quarter, following standard antitrust reviews.
TECHNOLOGY
Windows 10 previewed
Microsoft Corp showed a first glimpse of its newest Windows operating system, touting new features such as a custom application store and added security, seeking to woo businesses that shunned the previous version as confusing and hard to use. Called Windows 10, the software restores the Start menu and will let corporations tailor the app store for their own users, Windows chief Terry Myerson said at an event on Tuesday in San Francisco. The new system, designed to run on mobile and desktop devices, is also to separate corporate and personal data on individual machines to bolster security, he said.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained