AMMB Holdings Bhd (or AmBank Group) and RHB Bank Berhad (or RHB Bank) today announced that they would not proceed with the proposed merger as both parties have mutually agreed to end the negotiations on it.
Japan Tobacco (JT) said Tuesday it would pay nearly $1 billion to buy Mighty Corp., the Philippines' number two cigarette firm, marking its second acquisition in Southeast Asia this month.
ASEAN countries, which have always relied on low-skilled labour, will now have to look into ways to address skill gaps such as adoption of technological advancement to improve their competitive advantage in the digital economic era. It is timely for ASEAN countries to emphasise on digital skills in higher learning institutions to prepare their graduates with such skills. This will enable them to face the millennial workforce environment and be competitive themselves.
Asian stocks were mixed at the open after a lackluster U.S. session, as the yen snapped four days of gains. Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio said he was reducing risk.Equity benchmarks fluctuated in Japan, and advanced in Australia and South Korea after the S&P 500 Index halted a two-day slide. Trading was about 15 percent below the 30-day average for the S&P 500 on a day highlighted by the first total solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. from coast to coast in 99 years.
Interest rate cuts are once again on the table in Indonesia.With inflation and credit growth slowing, central bank Governor Agus Martowardojo has spurred speculation he may resume policy easing to give a boost to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Bank Indonesia has been on hold since its last reduction in October, but with the threat of capital outflows from higher U.S.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan called on the U.S. and China to avoid a trade war while urging nations to stop trying to protect obsolete jobs.“I’m most worried about a trade war,” Balakrishnan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin on Tuesday. “I want to make this point: don’t blame trade.
Investors looking for ways to hedge against North Korea risk as war drills get underway should focus on Japanese real estate investment trusts and the Asean markets, according to Societe Generale SA.Japanese REITs are favored as a safe haven because they offer a 3.8 percent dividend yield, are not correlated with the stock market and outperform when the yen rises, strategists Frank Benzimra and Rajat Agarwal wrote in an August 21 note.Japan’s defensive businesses such as drugmakers, food, lan
Annual military drills between the U.S. and South Korea this week could reignite tensions after Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump traded barbs.
Asian stocks fluctuated as investors monitored war drills scheduled for the Korean peninsula and prepared for a key meeting of global central bankers.Japan’s Topix index and South Korea’s Kospi index were modestly lower, while Australia’s declined 0.6 percent. U.S. stocks rallied on Friday from session lows -- though they still ended the day lower -- after the White House announced that Steve Bannon would be leaving his job as chief strategist.
Malaysia’s largest state-owned fund manager is looking to hold less cash even as it struggles to make acquisitions that would generate attractive returns.A fifth of Permodalan Nasional Bhd.’s 266 billion ringgit ($62 billion) of assets under management is in cash and money markets, and Chairman Abdul Wahid Omar said in an interview that the fund could reduce such holdings by at least 5 percentage points.
PT Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia, a unit of national carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, plans to raise as much as $300 million in an initial share sale to fund setting up of a new unit in an island near Singapore and expand overseas.GMF AeroAsia, which conducts maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft for 170 customers, will offer between 20 percent and 30 percent of its equity to investors and is targeting an October listing on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, said President Director Iwan
The ASEAN region is emerging as one of the key geographical locations for low-cost manufacturing - creating added opportunities in terms of industrial-related employment, export revenues and foreign direct investment inflow.
