CHINA
Inflation almost doubles
Inflation almost doubled last month to its highest level in four years, data showed yesterday, as Lunar New Year holiday spending added to growing inflationary pressures in the world’s second-largest economy. The key consumer price index hit 2.9 percent last month, up from 1.5 percent in January. The producer price index — an important barometer of the industrial sector that measures the cost of goods at the factory gate — came in at 3.7 percent year-on-year, down from the 4.3 percent in the previous month.
JAPAN
Stimulus measures remain
The central bank yesterday stayed the course with its monetary stimulus at Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s final policy meeting before his new term begins next month. The central bank kept its yield-curve control settings and asset purchases unchanged, a result forecast by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In its policy statement, the central bank again said inflation expectations have been “more or less unchanged.” It also repeated its view that domestic demand is likely to follow an uptrend, with inflation rising toward 2 percent.
REAL ESTATE
HNA selling HK plot of land
HNA Group Co (海航集團) is poised to dispose of a plot of land in Hong Kong to local property developer Wheelock & Co (會德豐) for HK$6.36 billion (US$811 million) as the embattled Chinese conglomerate accelerates its selling spree to repay debt. A binding offer for the site, which spans 7,318m2 around the former Kai Tak airport, was made on Thursday and the deal is likely to be completed by May 16, according to a regulatory filing by Wheelock yesterday.
STEELMAKERS
Kobe Steel boss faces axe
Kobe Steel Ltd’s president could have to resign after more fake data were uncovered at the Japanese steelmaker, but as far as the bond market is concerned the scandal is largely over. Yield premiums on the company’s debt have fallen to five-month lows since the firm on Tuesday announced a leadership change and steps to prevent more data falsification. The firm said this week that its data fabrications date back decades and an independent investigation found further instances of misconduct.
CASINOS
Wynn to pay settlement
Wynn Resorts Ltd has agreed to pay US$2.4 billion in a settlement with a Tokyo casino game maker and its US unit over the forced redemption of their shares in the Las Vegas-based casino operating company in 2012. The company on Thursday announced the settlement with Universal Entertainment Corp, which previously held an almost 20 percent stake in Wynn Resorts through its subsidiary Aruze USA Inc. Wynn Resorts agreed to pay the sum by March 31.
MINING
Ghanaians threaten strike
Ghana’s largest mineworkers’ union plans protests and strikes throughout operations in the nation if the government allows Gold Fields Ltd’s local unit to dismiss more than 2,000 staff as it starts the process of hiring a contractor to operate its biggest mine in the West African nation. Gold Fields is committing “acts of corporate greed aimed at amassing huge profits at the expense of Ghanaian mine workers,” Prince William Ankrah, general secretary of the 16,000-member Ghana Mine Workers Union, said in an interview on Thursday.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by