Thu, Nov 29, 2018 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Bloomberg
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  WEALTH

  Japanese top regional list

  Japan’s rich have the largest accumulation of wealth in the Asia-Pacific region at US$7.7 trillion, but legions of Chinese millionaires are rushing to catch up. The pool of wealth held by China’s high-net worth individuals grew more than 144 percent from 2010 to last year to US$6.5 trillion, consultancy Capgemini SE’s Asia-Pacific Wealth Report said yesterday. The equivalent rate of growth in Japan over the same period was about 87 percent. More recently, India’s millionaires have been picking up the pace. Wealth held by Indian high-net worth individuals rose close to 22 percent last year compared with the prior year, the fastest growth in the region over that period, Capgemini said. Hong Kong had the third-highest growth at 16.3 percent, mainly thanks to a booming real-estate market. Taiwan was fifth after Thailand.

  SMARTPHONES

  Cook, Ivanka tour schools

  Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday toured schools in Idaho with Ivanka Trump, one day after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on the iPhone and other mobile phones made in China. The trip provided Cook an opportunity for extended conversation with the president’s daughter and senior adviser just before Donald Trump holds a key meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Buenos Aires later this week. Trade tensions are to be a major part of the agenda. While the iPhone has been spared in the US’ ongoing trade dispute with China, Trump on Monday said that he might include it in another round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

  TECHNOLOGY

  Microsoft surpasses Apple

  Microsoft Corp surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company — all it took was a US$300 billion rout. After briefly claiming the top spot on Monday, Microsoft shares on Tuesday rose 0.6 percent, pushing the company’s market value to US$828.1 billion at the close. That exceeded by more than US$1 billion the value of Apple, which has tumbled this month on concern about iPhone sales. The last time Microsoft’s market capitalization was bigger than Apple was in 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. A recent stock market swoon has taken a toll on nearly all technology companies, but investors have punished consumer-focused companies like Apple and Amazon.com Inc more than firms that mostly cater to businesses, like Microsoft. Microsoft is down 6.3 percent since the start of last month, while Apple has lost 23 percent.

  BANKING

  PIMCO sole buyer of bonds

  Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO) was the sole buyer of UniCredit SpA’s surprise US$3 billion sale of five-year bonds, said two people with knowledge of the transaction, who asked for anonymity. The bond issue, unusually large for a private offering, was taken up by a “prime institutional investor,” UniCredit said in a statement. It was UniCredit’s second sale of senior non-preferred notes, a type of security that can be held by managers of funds that can only invest in senior debt, even though it allows regulators to force investors to take losses in a crisis. The sale would help support the Italian bank’s capital position and boost its subordination ratio by about 73 basis points, the bank said. The cost of the transaction is equivalent to a spread of 420 basis points above the euro five-year swap rate, UniCredit said. That compares with a spread of 70 basis points from a January issue, a European Securities Network note said.

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