Segantii hedge fund founder accused of insider dealing in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s securities watchdog started criminal proceedings against Segantii Capital Management Ltd. along with its founder Simon Sadler and former trader Daniel La Rocca over alleged insider dealing, marking one…
WSJ moves Asia HQ from Hong Kong to Singapore
The Wall Street Journal will shift its Asia headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore, it said on Thursday in a letter sent to staff and seen by AFP. The US…
US law firm Mayer Brown to split from Hong Kong partnership
U.S. law firm Mayer Brown said on Thursday that it plans to separate from its current Hong Kong operations, as many international law firms rethink or reduce their presence in…
Hong Kong growth beats forecast as recovery gains traction
Hong Kong’s economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, a tentative sign that the city’s post-pandemic recovery is stabilizing. The city’s gross domestic product expanded 2.7% in the…
HK’s GDP growth beats estimates
Hong Kong’s economy grew at a better-than-expected pace of 2.7 percent in the first three months of 2024, according to advance estimates announced by the Census and Statistics Department yesterday,…
StanChart’s US$1.91b profit beats forecasts
Standard Chartered (2888) beat forecasts with a 5.5 percent rise in its first-quarter pretax profit, as the income boost from higher interest rates and a robust performance from its markets…
Pavilia Forest to launch soon
New World Development (0017) and Far East Consortium International (0035) have named their new project at the old Kai Tak airport runway, The Pavilia Forest, with phase one of the…
70pc of local SMEs report a decline in performance
Nearly 70 percent of local small and medium enterprises reported a decline in business performance compared to prepandemic levels, according to a recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Small…
2.44m ‘green bombs’ about to drop as revenue plummets to HK$342b
The Inland Revenue Department on Thursday sent out about 2.44 million tax returns for individuals – dubbed “green bombs” – for the 2023/24 year and reminded citizens to file their…
HK stocks score 8-day winning streak as Fed tone less hawkish than feared
Hong Kong stocks kick started May on a strong note on Thursday, after less hawkish-than-expected comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve, while Beijing vowing to step up economic support also…
Business levels worse than pre-pandemic, according to a survey
The Hong Kong Federation of Commerce Small and Medium Enterprises and Impact-Junior Chamber International Hong Kong stated on Monday that around 70 percent of the intelligent enterprises have said that…
Japan considers tax breaks to stem yen’s decline
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is examining the possibility of introducing measures to provide tax breaks for companies converting foreign profits into yen, two senior party officials told Reuters. The…
EV giants ramp up deliveries
Chinese auto giant BYD (1211) sold 313,245 electric vehicles last month, up by 49 percent from a year ago, according to a filing yesterday. Among the trio of Chinese EV…
Mom’s Day discounts tempt homebuyers
Hongkong’s homebuyers are now being offered Mother’s Day discounts, after large numbers of viewers flocked to new projects over the Labor Day holiday. The first three buyers purchasing a two-bedroom…
China’s new home prices edge up but secondary market struggles
New home prices across 100 cities in China rose nearly 0.3 percent in April from the previous month while that of second-hand homes fell for the 24 month in a…
Macau gaming revenue soars 26pc in April to 18.5b patacas
Macau’s gaming revenue rose 26 percent from a year earlier last month, according to official data yesterday, beating expectations of a 23 percent year-on-year increase. Gross gaming revenue came in…
China to step up support for economy, flexibly use policy tools, Politburo says
China will step up support for the economy with prudent monetary and proactive fiscal policies, including interest rates and bank reserve requirement ratios (RRR), the Politburo of the Communist Party…
China to hold key party ‘plenum’ to further modernise country, amid challenges at home, abroad
The Chinese Communist Party’s central committee will gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decision makers was elected in…
HSBC says chief executive Noel Quinn ‘to retire’
Banking giant HSBC said Tuesday that chief executive Noel Quinn would retire after overseeing a “successful transformation” of the firm and record profits during his almost five years in charge.…
Gold Coast Bay’s first phase offers 692 flats
The first phase of Gold Coast Bay, Early Light International Estates’s new project in Tuen Mun, has been named The Uppland and it will offer 692 flats. The Property Development…
Shrinking margins hurt Big Four lenders
China’s Big Four banks saw their profits decline in the first quarter amid shrinking margins, with mainland lenders under pressure to support troubled property developers and boost weak demand for…
AIA’s new business value soars 27pc
AIA (1299) posted a 27 percent jump in new business value in the first quarter, while pledging to boost share buybacks and acknowledging it used a broker that relied on…
Yen rebounds after hitting 34-year low past 160 per dollar
The yen surged after diving to a new 34-year low past 160 per dollar on Monday as a forecast-beating US inflation reading dented expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts…
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumps 20pc from January low, heads for bull market
Hong Kong’s benchmark equity index headed for a technical bull market as stocks in the city extended this month’s stellar rebound sparked by overseas inflows. The Hang Seng Index rose…
Rain fails to dampen homebuyers’ spirits
Property sales were brisk over the weekend in Hong Kong despite stormy weather as lower prices at new projects attracted more buyers and prompted sellers of second-hand homes to continue…
TVB sees mainland revenue hitting $1b
Television Broadcasts (0511) chairman Thomas Hui To expects revenue from the company’s mainland business will be “comfortably” above the HK$1 billion mark this year thanks to drama co-productions and a…
China will ‘always’ be open to foreign firms, Premier Li tells Musk
Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday that China would “always” be open to foreign firms, state media reported, as the two met during the billionaire’s…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives in China: state media
Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in China on Sunday, state media said, the tech billionaire’s second trip in less than a year to the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles.…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicks off surprise trip to Beijing, sources say
A private jet linked to Tesla CEO Elon Musk landed in Beijing on Sunday, a flight tracking app showed, as two people with knowledge of the matter said the billionaire…
First-quarter GDP expected to be within the growth forecast range: Paul Chan
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po expected the GDP in the first quarter to be within the government’s previous growth forecast range. In his latest blog update on Sunday, Chan estimated…
TikTok, ByteDance US General Counsel Andersen to Exit Role
Erich Andersen, the US-based general counsel for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd., is stepping down from that role, the social media app said. Andersen, who was a…
ByteDance says ‘no plans’ to sell TikTok after US ban law
Chinese tech giant ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok after a new US law put it on a deadline to divest from the hugely popular video…
China passes tariff law as tensions with trading partners simmer
China on Friday passed a law leaving its biggest trade partners in no doubt that it can hit back should they put tariffs on the exports of the world’s No.2…
Hong Kong March home prices up 1.1pc, first rise in nearly a year
Hong Kong’s private home prices reversed a 10-month falling streak in March, climbing 1.1 percent from February, after the financial city lifted curbs to boost the ailing property market. The…
Property market booms after cooling measure lifted
The removal of three major cooling measures last weekend has sparked a rapidly growing property boom in Macau’s market, especially among first-time home buyers. Developers have seized the opportunity to…
Galaxy to add Ultra-Luxury Capella Hotel to Portfolio in 2025
Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) has announced a landmark collaboration with Capella Hotels and Resorts, named the “Best Hotel Brand in the World” by Travel + Leisure Magazine in 2023. This…
AMCM and Central Bank of Timor-Leste renew bilateral cooperation agreement
The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) and the Central Bank of Timor-Leste (BCTL) signed a renewed cooperation agreement to deepen and strengthen collaboration in various areas, the AMCM said in…
Leaders highlight AI role in driving sustainable development
The transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in industry and manufacturing was the focus of a recent event co-organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United…
Evergrande maverick turns positive on Chinese property
When it comes to Chinese real estate, John Lam is a lone wolf. The UBS analyst shocked markets three years ago with a rare sell rating on China Evergrande Group…
The yen has a yield problem the BOJ can’t easily fix
As the yen plumbs three-decade lows and pressure grows on Japan to intervene or make monetary policy changes, traders figure there is not much Tokyo can do to reverse the…
AI update sparks SenseTime jump
Shares of SenseTime (0020) soared up to 36 percent with the release of the latest version of its SenseNova generative AI model, highlighting the intense interest surrounding China’s efforts to…
Profit fears as Gucci sales plunge
French luxury group Kering, which owns Gucci brand, warned that first-half profit might plunge up to 45 percent due to decreasing demand from mainland Chinese. Its first-quarter sales declined as…
Volkswagen revamps its approach in China in bid to overtake upstart EV makers
As auto giant Volkswagen AG races to catch up with upstart Chinese competitors, it has drivers like 26-year-old Ren Yiling in mind. She is young and wants to play video…
Hong Kong Stock Exchange bids farewell to first woman chair
“Iron Lady” Laura Cha concluded on Wednesday her six-year chairmanship as the first helmswoman of Hong Kong’s ailing stock exchange, which has suffered a plunge in overall trading under her…
64 family offices setting up or expanding business in HK
The dedicated team of Invest Hong Kong, under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, has assisted 64 family offices in setting up or expanding their businesses in the city. That…
BEC CEO Dialogue Offers Insights on Accelerating Digital Transformation for a Net-zero Future
Business Environment Council Limited (“BEC”) has recently organised its biannual signature event “BEC CEO Dialogue”, attracting leaders, professionals and experts from various industries of the business sector to join. With…
Ping An net pays for stocks slump
Profit at Ping An Insurance (2318) dropped 4.3 percent in the first quarter as stock-market declines and falling bond yields eroded investment returns. Net income fell to 36.7 billion yuan…
China bull extends gains for HSI
UBS raised its ratings for Chinese equities to overweight, helping Hong Kong stocks extend a rally yesterday but warned profit growth at US tech giants will slow. That bullish outlook…
Most small firms expect upturn in results for year
About 70 percent of small enterprises in Hong Kong expect corporate results will grow in 2024, marking the highest level in the past five years, a survey by CPA Australia…
Beijing rues jump in local government bond issues
Funds sought by local governments in China to tackle their debts amounted to about 5.9 trillion yuan (HK$6.37 trillion) this year, more than 50 percent higher than the planned scale,…
Chinese unicorns wooed for IPOs
The government is reaching out to some leading mainland unicorns to come to seek financing in Hong Kong, said Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, with China Resources Beverage, which owns…
CPI 1700cc
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp is increasing up to 27 service fees and charges from June, with most of them rising by over 10 percent. Some fees are seeing…
‘Conference of Entrepreneurs’ explores bilateral opportunities
The 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries – Macau (Forum Macau) came to a close yesterday with the “Conference of…
Huawei, Li Auto join EV price war
Huawei’s electric vehicle arm is reportedly offering 5,000 yuan (HK$5,409) to lure buyers of Xiaomi’s (1810) SU7 to cancel their bookings and purchase its Luxeed S7 as the battle for…
Losses hit home in first-quarter sales
Home deals with paper losses reached 1,305 cases in the first quarter, the highest in 14 years, even after the removal of housing curbs in the end of February. Data…
Unicom net rises 9pc to 5.6b yuan
China Unicom (0762) said net profit climbed by 8.9 percent yearly to 5.6 billion yuan (HK$6.05 billion) in the three months through March as the services revenue rose. Operating revenue…
Sales lift for China Mobile
China Mobile (0941) said its first-quarter net profit rose 5.5 percent yearly to 29.6 billion yuan (HK$32.02 billion), thanks to stronger growth in sales of products and other services. The…
Stocks lifted by Beijing connect measures
Hong Kong stocks rose 287 points yesterday, led by tech shares, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced measures to further boost connectivity with the SAR as the yuan extended…
Higher pay ‘curse’ hits 200 bankers
Around 200 Hong Kong bankers lost their jobs over the past year, as pay for senior bankers here is 40 to 70 percent higher than peers receive in Singapore, which…
Hong Kong’s Wah Kwong orders more LNG carriers banking on growing trade
Hong Kong-based shipping company Wah Kwong is finalizing a deal later this month to double the number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers that it has ordered to four, as…
EU aims to increase food exports to China despite trade tensions
On a visit to China this week, EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said his focus will be on increasing agri-food exports to the world’s second largest economy and keeping food…
Hong Kong bankers face more job cuts on China slowdown, high pay
Hong Kong investment bankers could face more job cuts as the slowdown in China deals persists and employers look to trim highly compensated staff, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. An estimated…
Fallout looms for tech
Technology stocks are set to suffer following the US slump of the “Magnificent 7,” which lost nearly US$1 trillion (HK$7.8 trillion) in market value last week. The seven – Alphabet,…
Developers bite at secondary sales
Ten major housing estates saw just eight deals, the least in about eight months amid pressure from more launches by developers and rainstorms. The estates, tracked by Centaline Property, saw…
More price cuts as Tesla sales slow
Tesla rolled out another round of price cuts in the mainland, offering up to 6 percent discounts just two weeks after trying to entice buyers with zero-interest loans. Prices fell…
Bittersweet Bund selloff for Sunac
A Shanghai project of Sunac China (1918) sold out in a single day, reaping nearly 10 billion yuan (HK$10.8 billion) for the developer in another rare bit of good news…
Tesla cuts prices nearly $2,000 in China, in line with US cuts
Tesla has cut prices by nearly $2,000 across its models in China, after price cuts in the United States, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war…
Hong Kong regulator to investigate PwC auditing of Evergrande
Hong Kong’s accounting regulator said it would start an investigation into PwC’s role in auditing Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, citing the publication of a “whistle-blower report”. Heavily indebted Evergrande…
Lufthansa evaluates new China routes amid slow recovery in capacity
Lufthansa Airlines’ capacity on routes to and from China has returned to 70% of the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic and it is evaluating adding new routes to the country,…
Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads from China app store after Beijing order
Apple said on Friday it had removed Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese government, which cited…
Macau renovations to hurt Sands earnings
Las Vegas Sands, the parent of Sands China (1928), said renovations at an entertainment center and a hotel in Macau will crimp results this year, sending the shares lower in…
PBOC warns against one-sided pursuit of credit expansion
China’s central bank cautioned against a “one-sided” pursuit of credit expansion after data showed a slowdown in bank lending, vowing to prioritize the quality of credit over size and move…
Unemployment inches up in HK
Hong Kong’s jobless rate inched up by 0.1 percentage points to 3 percent for the three-month period through March, with 9,400 more unemployed. Unemployment rates in nearly all major economic…
Sports giants’ sales slow amid weak consumption
China’s sports equipment maker Xtep (1368) said its core brand recorded high single-digit retail sales growth in the first quarter from around 20 percent growth a year ago. Last year’s…
Consumer credit reference platform poised for launch
Hong Kong’s consumer credit reference services platform Credit Data Smart will commence on April 26, allowing the public to access credit reports. Each resident can only obtain one free report…
HKEX to develop own derivatives platform
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388) said it will develop its own derivatives platform that will offer near 24-hour trading and new products, speeding up digitalization to boost its status…
EU seeks to take on China, US to reverse economic decline
The European Union’s economy is falling further behind China and the United States, a major headache that will dominate leaders’ talks on Thursday as they discuss how to stem the…
60 enterprises to be introduced to HK-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park
The first batch of 60 companies – about a quarter of which are from overseas – officially became partners with the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) and are…
Biden wants higher tariffs on China steel, aluminum
US President Joe Biden is calling for higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, part of a series of steps to shore up the American steel sector and woo its…
New Ho Man Tin flats priced at eight-year low
Onmantin, jointly developed by Great Eagle (0041) and MTR Corporation (0066) in Ho Man Tin, has revealed the first price list, offering 115 flats with an average price of HK$19,988…
Morgan Stanley job cuts to hit China, HK hardest
Morgan Stanley plans to start cutting about 50 investment-banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region this week, sources said, with at least 80 percent of reductions in Hong Kong and China.…
Biden to call for higher tariffs on Chinese metals in ‘Steel City’ Pittsburgh
U.S. President Joe Biden will call on Wednesday for sharply higher tariffs on Chinese metal products as part of a package of policies aimed at pleasing steelworkers in the swing…
Indonesian business delegation visits HK, plans to establish family offices
A delegation of the Employers’ Association of Indonesia stressed that the National Security Law and the recent controversy involving the Dubai prince has not affected their enthusiasm for investment in…
Morgan Stanley plans biggest round of HK and mainland job cuts in years
Morgan Stanley plans to start cutting about 50 investment-banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region this week, with at least 80% of the reductions in Hong Kong and China, people familiar…
BOC Life best in delivering non-guaranteed returns
BOC Life was the best performer among profit-sharing insurance products which successfully met projected targets on non-guaranteed returns. Less than 40 percent of data presented in local insurance products met…
China beats growth forecasts but momentum is still weak
China announced faster-than-expected economic growth of 5.3 percent in the first quarter from a year ago – along with mixed March data including new home prices, retail sales, and industrial…
Markets skid on rate hike fears
Global stocks and Asian currencies tumbled against the US dollar on worries that the US may hike the rate again to as high as 6.5 percent instead of cutting and…
Apple CEO says that he wants to increase investments in Vietnam
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that he wants to further increase investment in Vietnam a day after the company announced it would spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian…
Baidu says AI chatbot ‘Ernie Bot’ has amassed 200 million users
China’s Baidu said on Tuesday its artificial intelligence chatbot “Ernie Bota” has garnered more than 200 million users as it seeks to remain China’s most popular ChatGPT-like chatbot amid increasingly…
Property developer Times China receives winding-up petition in Hong Kong
A Hong Kong bank has filed a request for a court to liquidate Chinese developer Times China Holdings Ltd., the latest example of creditors trying to recoup money from defaulted…
HK gives spot bitcoin and ether ETFs green light
Hong Kong gave conditional approvals for asset managers to start spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds, the firms said, a development that boosted both tokens and the wider crypto market.…
Yen hits fresh low, HSI slips amid geopolitical tensions
The yen hit a fresh 34-year low to the US dollar yesterday, while Hong Kong stocks slid amid rising geopolitical tensions. The Japanese currency traded past 153.9 against the greenback…
Developers need 4tn yuan to complete presold projects
Chinese private developers face a 4 trillion yuan (HK$4.32 trillion) funding gap to complete construction of presold homes, according to Goldman Sachs. The stark warning came as state-backed developer China…
Residential rebound running out of steam
Hong Kong’s residential market is losing momentum following a short rebound after the removal of housing curbs, warns JP Morgan. It said home prices in the secondary market fell 1.5…
China to snatch luxury market crown from US by 2030
China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest personal luxury market by 2030 with a market size of US$148 billion (HK$1.15 trillion), according to a report by…
Japan’s yen falls to lowest since 1990, dollar/yen up 0.6pc
The yen weakened on Monday, pushing the dollar to its highest against the Japanese currency since June 1990, with markets alert to any signs of intervention from the Japanese authorities…
Tesla to lay off more than 10pc of staff globally as sales fall
Tesla will lay off more than 10 percent of its global workforce, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday shows, as it grapples with falling sales amid an intensifying…
Apple CEO Tim Cook arrives in Vietnam to meet users, boost supplier ties
Apple CEO Tim Cook arrived in Hanoi on Monday, starting a two-day visit to Vietnam, a key manufacturing hub for the iPhone maker, during which he is expected to meet…
Russia and China trade new copper disguised as scrap to skirt taxes, sanctions
Russian Copper Company (RCC) and Chinese firms have avoided taxes and skirted the impact of Western sanctions by trading in new copper wire rod disguised as scrap, three sources familiar…
Germany’s Scholz in China: we want fair auto market but no dumping
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday pressed his case for an open and fair European market for Chinese cars but warned against dumping, overproduction and intellectual property infringements as he…
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