The dollar got off to a quiet start on Monday following a few days of directionless trading with investors unlikely to take aggressive positions ahead of major events in the United States and the euro zone. Policy reviews by the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan (BOJ) will also keep the market cautious in a holiday-shortened week for much of Asia. Many centers in the region will shut on Thursday for the Labor Day holiday, while Japan will be closed on Tuesday.
Updated 5 Years ago

BTC China halted local-currency deposits to clients’ China Merchants Bank Co. accounts, as lenders close accounts with Bitcoin exchanges amid government measures to check surging trading in the virtual currency. The suspension aims to protect security of client funds and ensure stable operations, BTC China, the nation’s largest Bitcoin exchange, said on its official microblog yesterday. Merchants Bank banned the use of its accounts for Bitcoin transactions, according to a statement dated April 25 on the lender’s website.
Updated 5 Years ago

Shares in Japan Display slid to their lowest since its initial public offering just over a month ago after the world's largest maker of smartphone screens slashed its full-year operating profit forecast by nearly 11 percent. Japan Display cut its operating profit forecast to 27.20 billion yen ($266.58 million) from 30.40 billion yen for the year ended in March. It cited lower sales than expected due to difficulties in negotiating prices for mid-tier smartphone screens with customers as the market price dropped.
Updated 5 Years ago

German drugmaker Bayer AG is exploring the sale of its $10 billion plastics unit to focus on growing its healthbusiness, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. Bayer is considering the sale of its MaterialScience division after chemicals company Evonik Industries AG showed interest in the unit several months ago, Bloomberg said, adding that no final decision has been made on the plastics unit. (r.reuters.com/pez78v)
Updated 5 Years ago

Even before the jet vanished March 8 on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS) had run up losses of $1.3 billion in the previous three years. The incident has put the carrier under global scrutiny, jeopardizing its reputation and prompting boycotts by travel agents in China. Analysts now project losses through 2016 and the Subang, Malaysia-based company is trading near the lowest since 2001 relative to its assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Split up, the government-controlled airline could fetch $1.3 billion, an amount that’s more than 10 percent higher than the company’s market value last week, said Malayan Banking Bhd.
Updated 5 Years ago

The social network recently reached out to Helsinki-based Huuuge Inc., the maker of the game, to convince the team to build mobile applications with its tools. The startup didn’t bite, said Anton Gauffin, Huuuge’s founder and executive chairman. “I don’t think developers really see Facebook as a tool or provider of help for developers,” said Gauffin, who added that his team makes games using Apple Inc.’s software.
Updated 5 Years ago

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) is moving substantial parts of its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California, to suburban Dallas as the world’s largest automaker seeks savings from its U.S. sales unit, people familiar with the matter said. Employees will be informed of the plan today, said the people, who asked not to be identified disclosing private conversations. Steve Curtis, a Toyota spokesman, didn’t immediately return a call on the matter.
Updated 5 Years ago

The naira rose against the dollar on Wednesday as Chevron’s local unit sold the United States currency and offshore funds bought local debt, foreign exchange market dealers said. According to a Reuters report, the naira traded 0.34 per cent higher at N161.60 to the dollar on Wednesday afternoon, from Tuesday’s close of N162.15. Dealers said Chevron sold about $18m to banks, while offshore investors participating in a debt auction on Wednesday sold an undisclosed amount of dollars.
Updated 5 Years ago

The first class of five Rotary sponsored scholars has graduated with Master of Science degrees in water education from the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The graduates now will apply their education to water and sanitation projects in their home countries of Argentina, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana. Established in 2011, the partnership between Rotary and UNESCO-IHE — the world’s largest graduate water education facility — addresses the global water and sanitation crisis by increasing the ranks of trained professionals critically needed to devise, plan and implement solutions in countries where communities lack access to clean water and safe sanitation. Rotary provides scholarship grants that enable local Rotary clubs and districts to select and sponsor eligible students to the program. Rotary members mentor the students throughout the program, building positive relationships that continue after graduation.
Updated 5 Years ago

Nigerian bankers are once again discovering their core mandate of lending as the end of free money in the form of public sector deposits and growing regulation mean the industry’s earnings rose last year at the slowest pace since 2010. Banks lent a larger portion of their deposits in 2013 compared to 2012, as the cumulative pretax profit of 12 commercial bank’s which have released Full Year 2013 earnings, increased a mere 8.12 percent, to N434.64 billion, compared with the industry’s 488.7 percent earnings growth in 2012.
Updated 5 Years ago