INDIA
Bonds fall under pressure
Bonds tumbled as unexpectedly hawkish central bank minutes added to the pressure of higher oil prices, boosting bets policymakers would raise interest rates. The rupee fell to its weakest in more than a year. The 10-year yield was up seven basis points at 7.70 percent as of 1:36pm in Mumbai, after jumping as much as 17 basis points earlier. Minutes of the April 4 and 5 meeting released on Thursday showed most monetary policy committee members were optimistic the economy would rebound this year and actual output would move closer to its potential. Deputy Reserve Bank Governor Viral Acharya said he would vote for the start of the “withdrawal of accommodation” at the next meeting in June.
JAPAN
Inflation still below target
Consumer prices edged up 0.9 percent last month, government data showed yesterday, but inflation was slightly weaker than the previous month and still far below a longstanding target. The core inflation rate, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, stood at 0.9 percent, down from 1 percent the previous month, government data showed. With fresh food and energy stripped out, prices rose by even less — just 0.5 percent, data showed.
TECHNOLOGY
UK risks missing out
The UK is at risk of missing out on the EU’s booming digital market that spans robotics, battery-powered vehicles and 3D printing. That is the stark assessment of Austrian Minister of Finance Margarete Schramboeck, who is preparing for the country to take over the EU’s rotating presidency. A new framework for the digital single market should be completed during Austria’s leadership of the 28-nation bloc in the second half of this year, Schramboeck said in an interview in Vienna on Wednesday, but UK companies might be frozen out if Brexit negotiations go poorly.
FINANCE
Barclays chief to keep job
Barclays PLC chief executive officer Jes Staley is to keep his job after UK regulators said they had concluded their investigation into his attempts to unmask a whistle-blower. While the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority proposed that Staley pay a financial penalty, they “are not alleging that he acted with a lack of integrity or that he lacks fitness and propriety to continue to perform his role as group chief executive officer,” the bank said in a statement yesterday. The Barclays board has “unanimous confidence” in Staley and continues to recommend that he be re-elected at the annual general meeting on May 1, the company said.
TELECOMs
Ericsson clawing back
Ericsson AB is making progress in a protracted effort to reverse its fortunes, as the Swedish maker of wireless networks posted first-quarter results that were stronger than analysts had expected. Ericsson’s closely watched gross margin — the share of sales remaining after production costs — rose to 35.9 percent on an adjusted basis, from 18.7 percent a year earlier. That was higher than the 32.7 percent analysts had predicted. “Our efforts to improve efficiency in service delivery and common costs are starting to pay off,” chief executive officer Borje Ekholm said in a statement yesterday. “The improvements in the quarter are encouraging.”
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six