■INTEREST RATES
Russia ends cycle of cuts
Russia left its key interest rate unchanged yesterday, signaling an end to an easing cycle of 14 interest rate cuts to help bring its economy out of the slowdown. The Bank of Russia’s board of directors left the main refinancing rate unchanged at a historic low level of 7.75 percent after its latest meeting, the bank said in a statement. It said that the decision was taken against a background of a “revival of production activity.”
■FRANCE
Public debt soars
French public debt rose sharply in the first quarter of the year to 80.3 percent of national output, an official estimate showed yesterday amid deep concern on financial markets about eurozone debt. The statistics office INSEE said in a first estimate that at the end of March the public sector debt rose by 46.5 billion euros (US$56.7 billion) from the previous quarter to 1.535.5 trillion euros.
■MANUFACTURING
S Korean output up 21.5%
South Korea’s industrial output grew year-on-year in May for the 11th straight month in another sign that the economy is rebounding fast from the global downturn, figures showed yesterday. Production in mining and manufacturing rose 21.5 percent in May from May last year, Statistics Korea said. Compared to April, output grew 2.6 percent. The manufacturing sector’s average operating rate was 82.8 percent, the highest since June 1995.
■BANKING
SMBC buying stake in India
Japanese megabank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) said yesterday it would buy a stake in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank, becoming the first Japanese bank to invest in an Indian counterpart. SMBC will take a 4.5 percent stake, or 16.4 million shares, of Kotak Mahindra for 13.66 billion rupees (US$293 million), pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Japan’s third-largest bank, which will reportedly become the third largest shareholder in the Indian lender, said it wished to pursue new opportunities in India.
■MINING
Rio Tinto buys more Ivanhoe
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto yesterday said it would spend US$393 million acquiring more shares in Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines to help push a landmark copper-gold project in Mongolia. Rio said it would exercise share warrants which would lift its stake in Ivanhoe shares by 7.3 percent to 29.6 percent to help keep the development of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, one of the world’s richest copper deposits, on schedule.
■TRADING
Oil broker banned for spree
The City of London watchdog has handed a five-year ban to an oil broker who made unauthorized trades that caused a spike in oil prices after a weekend of heavy drinking. Stephen Perkins was also fined £72,000 (US$110,000) for actions that cost his company, PVM Oil, more than £6 million. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) handed down the punishments on Tuesday over an incident in June last year in which Perkins drunkenly bought millions of barrels of oil, which pushed up the price of Brent crude more than US$2 to an eight-month high. “Perkins’ drunkenness does not excuse his market abuse,” said Alexander Justham, FSA’s director of markets. “Perkins has been banned because he is not a fit and proper person to be involved in regulated activities and his behavior posed a risk to the proper functioning of the market.”
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
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