EQUITIES
NatWest to buy back shares
NatWest Group PLC has agreed to buy back £1.26 billion (US$1.6 billion) of its shares from the British government, as the Treasury continues to sell down its stake after a bailout during the financial crisis more than a decade ago. The off-market purchase of 469.2 million shares would be made at Friday last week’s closing price of 268.4 pence, a statement said yesterday. The deal would mean the Treasury’s voting rights in the lender would drop to about 38.6 percent from about 41.4 percent. The government would “keep other disposal options under active consideration, including by way of accelerated bookbuilds, when market conditions permit,” it said. “This transaction reduces government ownership below 40 percent and demonstrates positive progress on the bank’s strategic priorities and the path to privatisation,” NatWest chief executive officer Alison Rose said in a statement.
REAL ESTATE
UK advance sales drop
The proportion of new homes sold in advance in London dropped to 44 percent last year, tumbling from a peak of 71 percent in 2016, a report by Hamptons International said. That is largely due to an exodus of investors from the capital’s presale market, as their attention turns to higher-yielding regions such as the northwest of England. “With house price growth in the capital lagging the rest of the country since 2016, it’s meant they’ve increasingly been looking further north,” Hamptons senior analyst David Fell said. “Higher interest rates are likely to exacerbate this shift, with these cheaper locations offering higher yields.”
United states
Inflation progress ‘modest’
The US Federal Reserve is likely to make only modest progress in its fight against inflation for the rest of this year, despite keeping its benchmark interest rate at a 16-year high, a group of business economists said in a survey released yesterday. The National Association for Business Economics’ survey of 45 economists found that the median forecast is for inflation to average 4.2 percent this year, up from a 3.9 percent forecast in the group’s survey in February. The economists expect the Fed to keep its key rate at its current level of about 5.1 percent, its highest in 16 years.
OIL
Demand to strain supply
Oil demand is set to pick up in the second half of this year, with as much as 2 million more barrels per day (bpd) needed due to Asian growth, independent oil trader Vitol SA president Mike Muller said yesterday. “We are going into a second half of the year where, largely on account of Asian demand growth, the world will need around 2 million bpd more,” he told the Middle East Petroleum and Gas conference in Dubai. Demand would rise seasonally, resulting in stock draws and less excess supply, Muller said.
AUCTIONEERS
Christie’s eyes Asia
Auction house Christie’s has appointed Kevin Ching (程壽康) as its Asia chairman, as competition heats up in the industry. Ching was Sotheby’s Asia chief executive officer for 15 years before retiring in 2021. He starts with Christie’s tomorrow, ahead of the firm’s spring auction season. “We’d be looking to develop business and increase Asia buying not only in Asia, but also globally,” Ching said in an interview yesterday. Hong Kong is well placed to remain Asia’s art and culture headquarters, he said.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in