REAL ESTATE
UK house prices accelerate
British house price growth quickened more than expected this month, according to a survey released yesterday, in another sign of growing momentum in the housing market. Mortgage lender Nationwide said house prices rose 0.8 percent this month, compared with a 0.1 percent increase last month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth of 0.5 percent this month. House prices rose 4.5 percent year-on-year, up from a 3.7 percent annual increase last month.
BUILDING MATERIALS
TMK sells shares to cut debt
TMK PJSC, Russia’s largest pipe producer for the oil and gas industry, is selling 10 billion rubles (US$136.74 million) of shares to VTB Bank to cut its debt burden. As a part of the deal, TMK has already sold 8 percent of stock held in treasury, TMK strategy and business development vice president Vladimir Shmatovich said on a conference call with reporters after the announcement yesterday. The rest of the shares are to be delivered to the lender next year. TMK’s profit was hurt this year as oil prices declined and drilling in the US slowed. Its total debt was US$2.83 billion at the end of the third quarter.
SHIPPING
Chinese giants to merge
China will combine two of its state-owned shipping giants, the companies said, in the sector’s second multibillion-dollar merger in a month as the government pushes consolidation of state enterprises. Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co (中外運航運), the nation’s third-largest shipping company, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of China Merchants Group (CMG, 招商局集團), a conglomerate with interests in transport, finance and property, according to company statements. Sinotrans has assets of more than 100 billion yuan (US$15.42 billion), while China Merchants holds assets of 624 billion yuan, Xinhua news agency reported.
RETAIL
Ocado stock falls sharply
Shares in British online supermarket Ocado fell sharply yesterday, which traders attributed to concerns over growing competition from a rival service at Amazon. Ocado shares were down 7.9 percent by 9:10am, making the stock the worst performer on Britain’s FTSE 250 mid-cap index and on the pan-European STOXX 600 index. Trading volumes in Ocado stock were also above the average for the rest of the UK and European markets. Patronus Partners Ltd head Paul Kavanagh and Beaufort Securities’ Graeme Hatch cited Amazon UK’s plans to expand its Pantry grocery delivery service as the main reason for the slide in Ocado’s shares.
ENERGY
Oil prices resume drop
Oil prices resumed their decline in Asia yesterday, ahead of the release of data on US crude stockpiles and production. Prices have been volatile during the holiday-shortened final week of this year and remained near multi-year lows in the face of indications a global crude supply glut is to continue into next year. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February was down US$0.68 at US$37.19 and Brent crude for the same month was trading US$0.41 lower at US$37.38 a barrel at about 6:20am. Analysts were expecting the US Department of Energy to release data later yesterday showing that US commercial crude stockpiles in the week to Dec. 25 declined. However, Bloomberg News said that would still leave supplies more than 120 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
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