JAPAN
Business outlook plunges
Business sentiment among the nation’s largest manufacturers worsened in the first quarter of this year, declining for a fifth straight quarter, a survey released yesterday by the central bank said. The headline measure in the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey found that outlook stood at plus-one, down from plus-seven in the December quarter last year. It is the worst quarterly result since December 2020. Sentiment among major non-manufacturers rose one point to plus-20 — the fourth straight quarter of improvement. For the Tankan’s projection three months from now, large manufacturers are expecting an improvement of two points at plus-three.
EUROZONE
Manufacturing PMI drops
Activity at struggling factories across the eurozone fell further last month as consumers feeling the pinch from rising living costs cut back on spending, a survey by S&P Global found. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 47.3 from February’s 48.5, just ahead of a preliminary reading of 47.1, but below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction for a ninth month. An index measuring output — which feeds into a composite PMI due tomorrow that is seen as a reliable guide to economic health — rose to a 10-month high of 50.4 from 50.1.
INDIA
Green energy bids planned
The country plans to issue tenders for the installation of 250 gigawatts (GW) of green energy capacity by March 2028, a government memo said yesterday. The nation aims to cut its emissions by 45 percent from 2005 levels. However, after missing a target to install 175GW in renewable energy capacity by last year, it is trying to boost non-fossil capacity — solar and wind energy, nuclear and hydro power, and bio-power — to 500GW by 2030. The country’s renewable energy capacity, excluding large hydroelectric facilities and nuclear power, exceeds 122GW, while non-fossil capacity stands at more than 175GW, government data from Feb. 28 showed.
TURKEY
Inflation continues to drop
The annual inflation rate last month slowed to 50 percent, official data showed yesterday, delivering another boost for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of next month’s elections. The inflation rate slowed for a fifth consecutive month from a high of more than 85 percent, the state statistics agency said. The official rate stood at 50.5 last month, down from 55.2 percent in February. The slowdown was led by a drop in the cost of energy imports, the figures showed.
SOUTH KOREA
Filings must be in English
Some large companies that are members of the benchmark KOSPI should submit their key regulatory filings in English within three days of their Korean submissions, the Financial Services Commission and Korea Exchange said in a joint statement on Sunday. Starting next year, companies with at least 10 trillion won (US$7.6 billion) in assets are to be required to submit filings related to dividends, rights issuances, treasury share cancellations and other crucial information in English within the allowed period, the statement said. The mandate on English filings is to be expanded in 2026 to include KOSPI companies with at least 2 trillion won in assets.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
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