ENERGY
Trade deals boost oil
Oil held its biggest gain in almost two weeks on optimism over a more conciliatory trade approach by the US, but was still headed for a weekly drop amid persistent demand concerns. Futures in New York edged higher after closing up 1.2 percent on Thursday, after Washington and Beijing signed a phase-one trade deal on Wednesday, and the Senate passed the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement a day later. A big jump in American oil-product stockpiles last week highlighted sluggish demand. China pledged US$52.4 billion in additional purchases of US energy over this year and next year in the agreement, although there was some skepticism in the market about whether it would be able to reach the target. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency warned in its monthly report that supplies from Iraq, the Middle East’s second-biggest producer, are potentially vulnerable due to rising political risks in the country and broader region.
STEEL
China output at new high
China’s annual steel output notched a fresh record last year, surging to short of 1 billion tonnes amid healthy demand. Crude steel production jumped 8.3 percent to 903.86 million tonnes, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Output last month surged 12 percent from a year earlier to 76.48 million tonnes, the highest since August. Steel consumption increased 6 percent last year, supported by demand from infrastructure and property sectors, according to the China and Iron Steel Association. The group predicts the expansion would continue this year, forecasting growth of 2 percent. At the same time, elevated output reflects the challenges the world’s top steel market faces in reining in oversupply.
SOUTH KOREA
Interest rate unaltered
The central bank yesterday left its key interest rate unchanged, opting to monitor signs of green shoots in the economy as the government steps up fiscal spending. The Bank of Korea kept the seven-day repurchase rate at 1.25 percent in its first policy decision of the year, an outcome forecast by all but one of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. One economist predicted a cut to 1 percent. The central bank gave a slightly more optimistic view of the economy in a statement released after the decision, adding that growth this year would largely be in line with its 2.3 percent projection in November last year. The economy is expected to perform better this year than last year and the government is determined to restore growth momentum through what it calls the most expansionary spending possible.
FINANCE
Barclays eyes job cuts
Barclays PLC is embarking on a plan to cut about 100 senior jobs, mostly in trading roles across its corporate and investment bank, as the British lender seeks to rein in costs. The bank has started trimming mainly managing director and director positions in London and Asian financial hubs, people familiar with the matter said. A spokeswoman for Barclays in London declined to comment on the cuts, which are among the first by a major investment bank this year. Securitized product sales for Americas head Jonathan Kitei, EMEA cash high-touch trading and sales head Tim Johnston and treasury head in India Anindya Das Gupta are leaving the bank as part of the cuts, people familiar with the matter said. All three declined to comment. About a dozen positions in Asia have been hit, though the cuts won’t result in a retreat from any business or market in the region, one of the people said.
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
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
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