Reuters Asia Business

By Orathai Sriring and Chayut Setboonsarng BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday stuck to his belief that the country’s economy was in crisis and said he would roll out stimulus measures on top of handouts, despite the central bank governor’s disagreement with his approach. The comments come after Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, the bank’s …

Thai PM asserts economy is in ‘crisis’, pledges more stimulus Read More »

BENGALURU (Reuters) – SoftBank Group has sold an additional 2% in India’s Paytm, the latest in a string of selldowns in the digital payments firm. The Japanese conglomerate, which sold shares between Dec. 19 and Jan. 20, now holds a 5.06% stake in the company, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday. Paytm has recently …

SoftBank offloads another 2% in India’s Paytm Read More »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vietnam’s ambassador to the United States on Tuesday urged Washington to end its “non-market economy” label on Hanoi, warning that maintaining the resulting punitive duties on Vietnamese goods is bad for increasingly close bilateral ties. Last year, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was reviewing Vietnam’s non-market economy status after Hanoi argued …

Vietnam says US ‘non-market economy’ label is bad for bilateral ties Read More »

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nomura Securities was sued in New York by a former quantitative researcher who said she was underpaid relative to men and fired after insisting that her team “should stop discriminating against women.” Xue Feng filed her lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, seeking unspecified damages for …

Nomura is sued by former researcher over alleged gender bias Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese nuclear power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company wrapped up testing on Tuesday of the first drones to be deployed to the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi plant in its decades-long decommissioning process. A snake-shaped robot and four drones are set to be dispatched in February to survey the damage at Fukushima Daiichi’s …

Japan’s Tepco tests drones for wrecked nuclear plant in decommissioning first Read More »

By Orathai Sriring, Devjyot Ghoshal and Kay Johnson BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s current policy rate is broadly neutral and the country’s slower-than-expected economic growth forecast for this year did not constitute a crisis, its central bank chief told Reuters on Tuesday. Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said he had no concern about negative …

Exclusive-Thai central bank chief says current policy rate neutral, economy not in crisis Read More »

By Mei Mei Chu BEIJING (Reuters) – China will “guide” farmers to reduce hog production capacity as it steps up regulation of the industry, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday, after an aggressive expansion drive led to an oversupply of pigs and heavy losses. Big agribusinesses in the world’s top pork producer have modernised farms …

China to encourage hog farmers to reduce capacity after price slump Read More »

By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan maintained ultra-easy monetary settings on Tuesday but signalled its growing conviction that conditions for phasing out its huge stimulus was falling into place, suggesting that an end to negative interest rates was nearing. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda gave no hints on whether the …

BOJ signals conviction on hitting inflation goal, keeps low rates Read More »

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s central bank kept interest rates steady on Tuesday, in line with market expectations, forgoing a rate cut as a new tax threatened upward pressure on expenses and fuelled concerns about inflation. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) maintained the Standing Deposit Facility Rate at …

Sri Lanka central bank keeps policy rates steady to tame inflation Read More »