Reuters Asia Business

By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 100 Afghan websites have been suspended after a French internet services firm failed to make payments to the Taliban-controlled Ministry of Communications, officials said this week, a blow to mischievous internet users who used the “.af” appended to Afghan web domains to give their sites an edgy …

‘broke.af’ goes offline as Afghan web domains suspended amid payment dispute Read More »

By Tim Hepher (Reuters) – A UK judge has ordered Vietnam’s VietJet to refrain from interfering in the export of jets repossessed by a leasing firm in the latest twist to a dispute that has put one of the fastest-growing aviation markets under the spotlight. FW Aviation (FWA) has taken possession of four Airbus A321 …

UK court tells VietJet not to interfere with export of repossessed jets Read More »

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Five state-owned Chinese banks have been matched with more than 8,200 residential projects for development loans under the “whitelist” mechanism aimed at injecting liquidity into the crisis-hit sector, government-backed media The Paper reported. The high number of projects already approved for possible support highlights the government’s efforts to free up funding …

China steps up ‘whitelist’ mechanism for property sector – media Read More »

By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) -Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda voiced confidence over prospects of higher wages and stressed the bank’s resolve to phase out stimulus if inflation durably hits its goal, despite data showing the economy has slipped into recession. But he said the central bank will closely watch the …

BOJ’s Ueda keeps pledge to review stimulus when inflation goal met Read More »

By Sumeet Chatterjee, Engen Tham and Selena Li HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – HSBC plans to tighten risk management at Hong Kong unit Hang Seng Bank due to worries about a potential rise in bad loans amid growing economic headwinds and property sector crisis in China, said two people with knowledge of the matter. Hang Seng’s …

Exclusive-HSBC to improve ties with Hong Kong unit Hang Seng to mitigate risk, say sources Read More »

(Reuters) – Foreign investors increased their purchases of Japanese stocks last week as easing concerns over the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) potential policy shift buoyed market sentiment. According to data from Japanese exchanges, foreigners accumulated a net 817.43 billion yen ($5.44 billion) of local stocks in the week to Feb. 9, marking their most substantial …

Japanese stocks see biggest weekly foreign inflow in four weeks Read More »

By Brigid Riley TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s benchmark Nikkei rallied to 34-year highs on Friday and was on the cusp of eclipsing the all-time peak reached during the hey days of the nation’s bubble economy in the 1980s. The index blew past the post-economic bubble era record of 38,188.74, putting it on course to surpass the …

Nikkei soars to within sight of all-time peak, closes at 34-year high Read More »