CHINA
Trading hours to increase
The country plans to extend the yuan’s trading hours as it seeks to increase global investor participation in onshore currency trading as part of its internationalization push. Regulators led by the People’s Bank of China have told some banks to prepare for an extension of onshore yuan trading hours, people familiar with the matter said. The trading would close at 3am the next day, instead of 11:30pm local time, the people said. It is not known when the change would take effect. The bank had pledged to extend currency trading hours last month after the IMF lifted yuan’s weighting in the Special Drawing Rights currency basket.
THAILAND
Rate hike in works
The central bank signaled an imminent rate increase, saying timely monetary policy adjustment in line with changing economic and price trends would help steer broader inflation expectations. Gradual rate hikes would not derail an economic recovery given the real negative interest rates stemming from “ultra-low” policy rate and high inflation, Bank of Thailand officials said yesterday. They ruled out an off-cycle rate hike, saying the three remaining meetings of the rate-setting panel for this year were appropriate. The Monetary Policy Committee left the key rate unchanged at a record low 0.5 percent for a 16th straight meeting early this month.
INDIA
Recession might aid prices
Recessions in advanced economies might benefit India in a “perverse way,” as a moderation in global commodities prices would help cool domestic inflation, said Samiran Chakraborty, managing director and chief economist for India at Citigroup. “India being a net importer of commodities should benefit on the inflation front,” Chakraborty said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday. He added that the country would still face pressures from a global slowdown, as it would crimp exports and economic growth.
IRAN
Steel firm halts production
One of the country’s biggest steel companies yesterday said that it was forced to halt production after being hit by a cyberattack, apparently marking one of the biggest such assaults on the country’s strategic industrial sector in recent memory. The state-owned Khuzestan Steel Co said in a statement that experts had determined the firm was unable to continue operations “due to technical problems and will be closed until further notice” following “cyberattacks.” A local news channel, Jamaran, reported that the attack failed to cause any structural damage to the steel mill, as the factory happened to be non-operational at the time due to an electricity outage.
OBITUARY
EssilorLuxottica boss dies
Leonardo del Vecchio, the chairman of spectacles maker EssilorLuxottica and one of Italy’s wealthiest business figures, has died aged 87, Italian media reported yesterday. There was no immediate comment from his company, but a source confirmed the reports. The Italian businessman founded Luxottica in 1961 and built up a company which owns the Ray-Ban brand and combined forces with France’s Essilor in a major merger in 2018. His Delfin holding company is the largest shareholder in Italian financial services group Mediobanca SpA and has a stake of just under 10 percent in Italy’s largest insurer Generali SpA.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
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