FOREX
HKMA intervenes again
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) yesterday said it had bought up more than US$2 billion worth of Hong Kong dollars to maintain a long-held peg to the US dollar. The intervention — the third in as many day and the latest in a series of moves to support the currency this year — comes as the US dollar rockets on the back of turmoil in emerging markets and the ongoing Turkish lira crisis. The buyout means that the agency will have just $12 billion in its reserves by the end of the week, the lowest level in a decade, Bloomberg News said.
AVIATION
Blackstone eyes India stake
Blackstone Group LP is in talks to buy a stake in the loyalty program of Jet Airways India Ltd, the troubled Indian carrier that is exploring options to raise cash, people with knowledge of the matter said. The private equity firm has expressed interest in a deal that could value Jet Privilege Pvt at about 30 billion rupees (US$429 million) to 40 billion rupees, the sources said.
COMPUTERS
Lenovo posts Q2 profit gain
Chinese technology giant Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) yesterday recorded a sharp rise in first quarter net profit its turnaround gathered pace. The PC maker posted a US$77 million net profit in the quarter to June 30 — up from a US$72 million loss in the same period last year. Lenovo also reported a 19 percent rise in revenue to US$11.91 billion — its second consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.
AUTOMAKERS
SEC subpoenas Tesla board
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has subpoenaed Tesla Inc as it digs deeper into CEO Elon Musk’s disclosure about a potential buyout of the electric car maker, according to media reports. The subpoena demands information from each of Tesla’s nine directors, according to a story published on Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited an unidentified person familiar with the matter after Fox Business News reported the commission’s move. Neither Tesla nor the SEC would comment on Wednesday. The subpoena signals that the SEC has opened a formal investigation into whether Musk told the truth in his tweet on Tuesday last week about have financing locked up for a deal that analysts have estimated would require US$25 billion to US$50 billion.
BRAZIL
Economy contracted in Q2
The economy contracted nearly 1 percent in the second quarter due to a trucker’s strike, the central bank said on Wednesday. The nine-day strike that ended in late May caused fuel shortages, cut into food deliveries and backed up exports. The bank said the economy shrank 0.99 percent. According to the bank, the nation’s Economic Activity Index rose 3.29 percent in June from May, which saw a 3.28 percent drop. However, that was not enough to close the quarter on a positive note.
AUSTRALIA
Joblessness hits record low
Unemployment dropped to the lowest level since November 2012, edging toward the full employment level its central bank is targeting, even as hiring fell and fewer people sought work last month. Joblessness fell from 5.4 percent in June to 5.3 percent, which was economists’ median estimate, Bureau of Statistics data showed yesterday. Employment fell 3,900 from June, when it rose an upwardly revised 58,200.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Clambering hand-over-hand, sweat dripping into his eyes, a durian laborer expertly slices a cumbersome fruit from a tree before tossing it down to land with a soft thump in his colleague’s waiting arms about 15m below. Among Thailand’s most famous and lucrative exports, the pungent “king of fruits” is as distinctive in its smell as its spiky green-brown carapace, and has been farmed in the kingdom for hundreds of years. However, a vicious heat wave engulfing Southeast Asia has resulted in smaller yields and spiraling costs, with growers and sellers increasingly panicked as global warming damages the industry. “This year is a crisis,”