China banks cut key interest rate in bid to revive stalling economy August 22, 2022 China’s banks have slashed a key interest rate in a token gesture to revive the world’s second-largest economy. The country’s central bank said yesterday the one-year loan prime rate offered by banks was cut to 3.65 per cent from 3.7 per cent, while the five-year rate dropped to 4.3 per cent from 4.45 per cent. [...]
PwC to face Hong Kong probe over Evergrande audit August 15, 2022 Hong Kong’s audit watchdog has launched an investigation into PwC over its audit of embattled Chinese real estate developer Evergrande. The city-state’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today said it had opened an investigation into the Big Four accountancy firm’s audit of the heavily-indebted property firm’s 2020 results. The probe comes after PwC signed off [...]
China economy wilts under weight of ‘zero Covid’ restrictions and soft demand August 15, 2022 Strict adherence to blunt restrictions on daily life to deal with Covid-19 outbreaks is sending a chill through the Chinese economy, a raft of data released today showed. Beijing’s blanket lockdowns across some of the country’s economic powerhouses, including Shanghai, one of the world’s top trade hubs, are weighing on output. Retail sales growth in [...]
Abrdn’s Asian Income Fund loses 6.9 per cent of value as APAC markets suffer August 15, 2022 Asset management giant Abrdn said the value of the assets controlled by its Asia Income Fund plunged 6.9 per cent over the first half of 2022 as markets were rocked by a combination of Covid lockdowns and the ripples of war in Ukraine. In its half yearly report today, the firm said net asset value [...]
Five Chinese firms vow to delist from US markets amid long running audit dispute August 13, 2022 Five Chinese state-owned companies have said they will pull themselves off the New York stock exchange amid long-running clashes between Beijing and Washington over audit standards. The five Chinese firms have said they will delist from the Wall Street market after coming under scrutiny over US regulators claims they have failed to meet US audit [...]
Severing EU-China ties would cost Germany six times as much as Brexit August 8, 2022 Severing ties between the European Union and China would cost Germany six times as much as Brexit, reveals a new study published today. The country’s automotive industry, among the biggest contributors to Germany’s top line GDP, would shrink nearly nine per cent if the EU cut trade links with Beijing, according to the IFO Institute. [...]
Apple asks Taiwan suppliers to label products as ‘Made in China’ August 8, 2022 Apple yesterday asked Taiwan-based suppliers to use the ‘made in China’ label, as the firm reportedly wants products to comply with Bejing rule in a bid to avoid disruption from Chinese customs inspections. According to Nikkei, the company wants manufacturers on the island to label components bound for China as made in “Chinese Taipei” or [...]
Oil prices tumble as demand dips amid weak manufacturing data from China August 1, 2022 Oil prices dropped sharply across both major benchmarks, as weak manufacturing data from China and Europe weighed down demand.
Ollie Phillips: Why I am taking on the China Sevens coaching job July 29, 2022 I’ve spent a lot of my life involved in rugby sevens but I haven’t taken on many challenges as big as the one I have just embarked on with China. I am heading up the coaching team for China’s sevens programme, and will be heading out there shortly for the next few months. I am [...]
Latest Chinese economic data sends shockwaves through Asia as world’s second-largest market shrinks July 15, 2022 After Shanghai and other cities shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, China’s economy contracted in the three months ending in June compared with the previous quarter. The world’s second-largest economy shrank by 2.6 per cent, down from the January-March period’s already weak 1.4 per cent, official data showed today. Activity was “much weaker than expected”, [...]