COMMODITIES
Merchant gains lost
The Merchant Commodity Fund, managed by Doug King and Michael Coleman, fell 10.6 percent last month as commodities slumped, wiping out gains for the year. The fund lost 10.3 percent in the first eight months this year, Coleman confirmed via e-mail from Singapore, declining to comment further. Hedge funds investing in commodities have chalked up losses this year amid a slump in the prices of crude oil and iron ore. The Eurekahedge CTA/Managed Futures Hedge Fund Index was down 0.8 percent in the period, on track for the second annual decline in 15 years. Some commodity hedge fund managers lost money last month as they bet prices of oil and iron ore would extend declines in a month when those commodities climbed.
BANKING
Macquarie expects climb
Macquarie Group Ltd expects first-half profits to climb 40 percent from the same period last year as a weaker Australian currency, higher performance fees at its asset management unit and increased client risk appetite boost earnings. Net income in the year to March 31 is also expected to be higher than the previous year, the Sydney-based investment bank said in a regulatory filing. Second-half profits are likely to be broadly in line with the first six months, even as the firm expects lower performance fees in the period. Macquarie reports first-half earnings on Oct. 30, according to its Web site.
GAMING
Nintendo appoints president
Japanese video game giant Nintendo said yesterday it has appointed Tatsumi Kimishima as its new president two months after its chief executive died from cancer. Kimishima, who is currently the head of human resources, will take office tomorrow, the company said in a press release. The 65 year-old former banker also served as CEO of Nintendo America between 2006 and 2013. The Kyoto-based company said it has named Kimishima in order to “reinforce and enhance its management” after the death of its CEO Satoru Iwata. Iwata died in July at the age of 55, just months after abandoning a controversial consoles-only policy.
ECONOMY
Malaysia to boost economy
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says the government will pump 20 billion ringgit (US$4.6 billion) into an equity fund to support the stock market and ruled out capital controls despite the ringgit’s plunge. The Malaysian ringgit is down 26 percent from a year earlier, breaching 4 ringgit to the dollar last month, its worst level in 17 years. The stock market is down 7.5 percent in the past three months. Najib reiterated the government has no plans to bring back capital controls. He said yesterday that ValueCap, which was set up in 2012 to boost undervalued shares, is to be revived with 20 billion ringgit capital. Malaysia pegged the ringgit at 3.80 to the US dollar and imposed capital curbs in September 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
COMPUTING
Toshiba posts Q1 loss
Toshiba Corp posted a net loss for the first quarter as sales fell to the lowest in two and a half years. The net loss was ￥12.3 billion (US$102 million) for the three months ended June, the Tokyo-based industrial group reported yesterday in a statement. Sales were ￥1.35 trillion, the lowest since the quarter ended December 2012. Toshiba is releasing its second earnings report in as many weeks after delaying results amid an accounting scandal.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
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