Reuters Asia Business

By Samuel Shen and Kane Wu SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s surprise move to slow the pace of mainland initial public offerings (IPOs) in an attempt to bolster the secondary market will cloud the fundraising plans of hundreds of companies and will weigh on the economy, bankers and lawyers said. The regulatory decision was part …

China companies’ fundraising options narrow after IPO restrictions Read More »

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) plans to host an internal meeting on Wednesday to discuss changing rates charged on existing mortgages, financial media outlet 21jingji.com reported. Chinese lenders are widely expected to cut interest rates on existing mortgages after the central bank early this month said it would guide commercial …

China’s Bank of Communications to discuss changing existing mortgage rates -media Read More »

By Clare Jim HONG KONG (Reuters) – Just how cash-strapped embattled Country Garden Holdings is will be the focus when China’s largest private property developer is due to report its first-half results on Wednesday. The liquidity stress in the company became public this month after it missed two dollar coupon payments and sought to extend …

All eyes on Country Garden’s cash flow as troubled firm set to report loss Read More »

By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean labour unions are battling company managements to press an unusual demand: raising the age of retirement to give workers a few more wage-earning years before having to seek another job to supplement slim pensions. The issue fuels a contest for jobs between older workers among one of …

Labour unions push to raise retirement age in greying South Korea Read More »

By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s financial regulator will closely monitor how central bank policy impacts regional banks, as the world’s third-largest economy approaches the normalisation of its monetary settings after years of massive easing. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) “will monitor how potential changes in the financial markets and client situations will affect …

Japan regulator to monitor potential BOJ impact on regional banks Read More »

By Yoshifumi Takemoto TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s government is considering extending until year-end fuel subsidies to keep gasoline prices below 180 yen a litre, while working on a supplementary budget to finance broader measures, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to …

Japan considering extending gasoline subsidies to year-end – sources Read More »

By Uditha Jayasinghe ANAMADUWA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – H.J.M Seneviratne, 63, slices through yellowed paddy stems dried out by a drought that has destroyed over 95% of his crop and is threatening crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s summer rice harvest. The island’s economy was crushed last year by its worst financial crisis in over seven decades, caused …

Drought dents Sri Lanka’s economic hopes, farmers’ livelihood Read More »