INDONESIA
Inflation rises, PMI shrinks
Indonesia’s inflation accelerated last month to its highest level in five months due to increased food prices, data showed yesterday, as people stocked up before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The consumer price index rose 7.15 percent year-on-year, according to the official statistics agency, faster than expected and up from a 6.79 percent increase in April. It was the highest level since 8.36 percent in December. However, HSBC’s purchasing managers’ index for Indonesia painted a gloomy picture of the manufacturing sector. It rose slightly to 47.1 last month from 46.7 in April, but was still below 50, indicating a contraction.
REAL ESTATE
China house prices trend up
China’s new home prices increased last month for the first time in four months, a survey showed yesterday, as the effects of Beijing’s loosening policies to boost the market kick in. The average price of a new home in 100 major Chinese cities rose 0.5 percent month-on-month to 10,569 yuan (US$1,696) per square meter, the China Index Academy said in a report. On a year-on-year basis, house prices fell 3.73 percent last month, compared with a decline of 4.46 percent in April, the group said. The average price in China’s top 10 cities was 19,148 yuan per square meter, down 2.33 percent from a year ago, it said, slowing from a fall of 3.46 percent last month.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple planning yen bonds
Apple Inc may sell a debut yen-denominated bond “in the near future” after hiring banks to arrange investor calls last month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said. The iPhone maker will offer the securities subject to market conditions, according to an e-mailed statement from Goldman Sachs yesterday. Apple has said it is boosting its capital return program by US$70 billion through March 2017 and would be accessing US and international debt markets to help pay for it. A yen bond sale would be the first in the Japanese currency for the company, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
BANKING
Citi may close Banamex US
Citigroup bank is expected to close the US unit of its Mexican banking subsidiary Banamex after it was accused of weak money-laundering controls, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Based in Century City, California, Banamex USA specializes in moving money across the US border into Mexico. The bank is undergoing probes related to its anti-money laundering controls, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Citigroup has raised the idea of closing Banamex with regulators as part of discussions to settle the probes, the Journal said.
GAMBLING
Macau revenue dips further
Macau’s casino revenue fell for the 12th straight month last month, as China’s battle against graft and a slowing economy kept high rollers and vacationing gamblers away. Gross gaming revenue in the world’s largest gambling hub dropped 37.1 percent to 20.35 billion patacas (US$2.55 billion), according to data released by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. Macau’s economic output plunged 24.5 percent in the first quarter, following a 17.2 percent contraction in the previous quarter as gamblers stayed away and travelers cut spending. The number of Macau visitors dropped 3.4 percent in April. Mainland Chinese, who make up two-thirds of the city’s total, fell for the second month in a row, by 6.4 percent year-on-year.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy