EQUITIES
Tech issues stop trading
India’s largest exchange yesterday resumed trading in its stock and equity derivatives markets after keeping traders on tenterhooks for about three hours with conflicting messages about what time operations would resume. Issues at the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd started early, when traders were unable to execute trades at its venue and prices were not updating, Kejriwal Research and Investment Services founder Arun Kejriwal said. The bourse shut both the cash and derivatives segments at 9:55am and said premarket trading would resume at 10:45am. Technical issues persisted, forcing it to delay the restart to 11am before finally restarting at 12:30pm. A pricing display issue was still being addressed, an exchange spokeswoman said.
ENERGY
ADNOC mulls joint ventures
The United Arab Emirates’ main state oil company yesterday said that it was seeking to create joint ventures with international investors and was considering floating shares in some of its businesses in an effort to raise billions of dollars. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) said the plans would include expanding its drilling operations, creating a new “energy infrastructure venture” and further opening up its refinery and petrochemical operations to outside investors. The company said it was considering an initial public offering for minority stakes in some related services businesses, though it ruled out floating shares in the overall company for now. That is to remain owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Abu Dhabi holds the bulk of the oil wealth in the seven-state Emirates federation. In October last year, it announced plans to combine two major offshore divisions to streamline its operations amid a slump in oil prices.
ENERGY
Shell spends on renewables
Royal Dutch Shell PLC plans to spend as much as US$1 billion a year on its New Energies division as the transition toward renewable power and electric cars accelerates. “In some parts of the world we are beginning to see battery-electric cars starting to gain consumer acceptance,” while wind and solar costs are falling fast, Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in a speech in Istanbul yesterday. “All of this is good news for the world and must accelerate,” while still offering opportunities for producers of fossil fuels. Shell sees opportunities in hydrogen fuel-cells, liquefied natural gas and next-generation biofuels for air travel, shipping and heavy freight — areas of transport for which batteries are not adequate. The intermittent nature of wind and solar energy means power plants fired by natural gas would have a long-term role, Van Beurden said.
TRADE
German surplus expands
Germany’s trade surplus widened in May, official data showed yesterday, just days after a stormy G20 summit that saw clashes with the US over protectionism. Exports from Europe’s largest economy grew 1.4 percent compared with April adjusting for seasonal effects, reaching 107.9 billion euros, according to federal statistics office Destatis. With exports gaining 1.2 percent to reach 87.6 billion euros, Germany’s trade surplus grew to 20.3 billion euros in May, compared with 19.7 billion euros in April, and were 14.1 percent higher than in May last year. The surplus is a major source of tension between Germany and historically close allies in the US and the EU.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last