Reuters Asia Business

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) – Bigger-than-expected pay hikes by major Japanese firms have significantly heightened the chance the central bank will end eight years of negative interest rate policy next week, marking a landmark shift away from its huge stimulus programme. Internal preparations for an exit have been in the works since Kazuo Ueda …

Japan on cusp of ending negative interest rates, chance of March BOJ exit heightens Read More »

(Reuters) – Foreign investors significantly increased their purchases of Japanese bonds last week amid growing expectation that Japan may soon end its long-standing negative interest rate policy and start increasing rates this year. They acquired a massive 1.15 trillion yen (about $7.8 billion) of long-term Japanese bonds on a net basis last week, the largest …

Foreigners pile into Japanese bonds amid rising bets of end to negative rates Read More »

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a bill seeking penalties on ultra-fast fashion products, sold by companies like China’s Shein, aimed at helping to offset their environmental impact. The bill calls for gradually increasing penalties of up to 10 euros per individual item of clothing by 2030, as well for …

French lawmakers approve bill to apply penalties on fast fashion Read More »

ROME (Reuters) -Italy’s competition watchdog has fined three units of social media giant TikTok 10 million euros ($10.94 million) in total for inadequate checks on content potentially harmful to young or vulnerable users, it said on Thursday. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and other social media companies including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, …

Italy regulator fines TikTok $11 million over content checks Read More »

SEOUL (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor Co and sister company Kia Corp will recall about 170,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in South Korea over problems with software in the charging systems, South Korea’s transport ministry said on Thursday. Hyundai will recall 113,916 EVs in the country, affecting five EV models, including Ioniq-series and Genesis models, the ministry …

Hyundai and Kia to recall nearly 170,000 EVs over software problem in South Korea Read More »

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alibaba’s AliExpress could face a hefty fine after the European Commission on Thursday launched an investigation into dissemination of potentially illegal and pornographic materials, the third such probe after social media platform X and TikTok. Under the EU’s newly adopted Digital Services Act (DSA), AliExpress has been designated as …

AliExpress targeted in EU probe over possibly illegal online products Read More »

By Gilles Guillaume PARIS (Reuters) – MG Motors, a unit of Chinese automaker SAIC, will open a second European parts centre by the summer of 2024 in France to meet the country’s growing demand for its vehicles, a spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday. MG, whose electric compact car MG4 was the 23rd best-selling car in …

SAIC’s MG to open second Europe parts centre by the summer Read More »

By Corina Pons and Helen Reid MADRID (Reuters) – Zara-owner Inditex more than doubled its pre-tax profits in China last year even as the fashion retailer scaled back its physical presence, closing a fifth of its stores in the country in a sign its focus on online sales is bearing fruit. Inditex has been shrinking …

Zara owner Inditex slashes China stores in digital focus Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan has started to make arrangements to end its negative interest rate policy at the March 18-19 meeting, Jiji news agency reported on Thursday. A number of major firms this week announced wage hikes above those of 2023, heightening expectations that the rosy pay trends will give the central …

BOJ preparing to end negative interest rate policy at March meeting, Jiji reports Read More »