CHINA
PBOC injects less cash
The government injected the least amount of medium-term cash into the banking system since November last year, a sign that policymakers are watching the effects of past easing steps as the nation’s economic recovery appears to be on track. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) offered 170 billion yuan (US$24.74 billion) of funds to banks through the medium-term lending facility. That resulted in a 20 billion yuan net injection this month, the smallest since November. It also left the interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent, the eighth month for it to stand pat, as expected by a majority of economists and analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
UNITED KINGDOM
BOE reviews deposit scheme
The Bank of England (BOE) is considering an overhaul of its deposit guarantee scheme after the recent global banking crisis, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the central bank’s plans. Reforms under consideration include raising the amount covered for businesses from the current ￡85,000 (US$105,250) limit, as well as forcing banks to pre-fund the system to a greater extent to speed up payouts, the newspaper reported. The report did not have details on what the new limit could be. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp guarantees deposits up to US$250,000.
INDIA
Adviser pushes back on ESG
The country needs to resist efforts by some western ratings companies to push environmental, social and governance (ESG) norms on emerging markets even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is committed to zero emissions by 2070, a key economic adviser said. “The issue is not so much about the need for some norms, but about who will be monitoring these targets,” Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Modi’s economic advisory council said in an interview. “The existing credit rating ones already have serious biases and failures. Allowing the emergence of a new bunch of exclusively western agencies to monitor ESG targets is problematic.”
SINGAPORE
Home sales rise
Home sales rose to a six-month high last month as appetite for homes remained strong. Purchases of new private apartments increased to 492 units last month, according to figures released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. That is the third month of gains following the plunge to a 14-year-low in December last year when a lack of project launches held back buyers. “The general market view is still quite positive,” OrangeTee & Tie Pte (橙易產業) senior vice president of research and analytics Christine Sun (孫燕清) said. The lack of supply compared to demand will continue to support the market, Sun added.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault reviews EV pricing
French automaker Renault SA is reviewing its pricing policies of electric vehicles (EV0 worldwide to ensure it stays competitive after a wave of price cuts by US rival Tesla Inc, a top executive said yesterday. After slashing prices several times in the US, Tesla on Friday cut prices in Europe — including on Renault’s home turf of France — as well as Israel and Singapore, expanding a global discount drive it began in China in January. “We will analyze country by country, market by market, which level of competitiveness we need to have to stay in the game,” Renault chief executive Fabrice Cambolive said.
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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