■RUSSIA
GDP shrank 10.5% in April
The Russian economy contracted by 10.5 percent last month compared with a year earlier, local news agencies reported yesterday. GDP in the first four months of the year also fell 9.8 percent from a year ago, Russian Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said. On a seasonally adjusted basis, GDP last month declined 0.4 percent from March, milder compared with the 0.8 percent fall between February and March, he said. Klepach said the economy ministry was still forecasting an overall decline in GDP for this year of between 6 percent and 8 percent, although this might change.
■MANUFACTURING
Singapore output falls 0.5%
Singapore said yesterday that manufacturing output declined at a much slower pace last month, helped by a strong turnaround in the biomedical industry. And on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, output rose 24.7 percent compared with a 13.9 percent drop in March, the Economic Development Board said. Total manufacturing output last month fell 0.5 percent from a year ago, a sharp improvement from the revised 32.8 percent contraction recorded a month before, the board said. The figures represent the seventh straight month of decline in output.
■METALS
China approves Ji’en bid
China’s Ji’en Nickel Industry said yesterday that Chinese regulators had approved a partnership with Canadian mining company Goldbrook Ventures for nickel exploration in Canada. The Chinese miner plans to invest 248 million yuan (US$36 million) in mining projects at Goldbrooks’ Raglan property in northern Quebec, it said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In return for the payment Ji’en will acquire a 50 percent share of revenue from exploration and development of the 360,000-hectare property over the next three years. Ji’en, based in Jilin Province, also announced in a separate statement yesterday that it had acquired a controlling stake in Canadian Liberty Mines for 165 million yuan.
■EQUIPMENT
Nikon to cut 1,000 jobs
Japanese camera and precision equipment maker Nikon Corp said yesterday it would cut about 1,000 jobs, mostly at its domestic plants, as it braces for a loss this year. Nikon said it would overhaul its operations making devices for use in the production of semiconductors. It will also downsize its subsidiary in Singapore and transfer part of the business to Taiwan. The group aims to reduce its annual costs by about ¥8 billion (US$84 million). Hit by weak demand, Nikon earlier this month forecast a net loss of ¥17 billion for the current business year to March.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Inspur drops Qimonda bid
Efforts to find a new owner for Qimonda, the German manufacturer of memory chips for computers and phones, have suffered a new blow after a Chinese contender pulled out, the Saechsische Zeitung newspaper reported yesterday. Inspur Group (浪潮集團) had dropped plans for a complete takeover of Qimonda because of a decline in demand for microelectronic products caused by the global economic crisis, the report said. Inspur, based in Shandong Province, disclosed the news in a letter to the government of the German state of Saxony, where the insolvent chipmaker has its main factory. Qimonda is a subsidiary of chipmaker Infineon.
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