Reuters Asia Business

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asia-focused insurer AIA Group Ltd on Thursday forecast a rebound in its sales, despite a 13% drop in first-half new business value (NBV) after COVID-19 lockdowns across its key markets including China and Hong Kong dented revenue. The NBV, which measures expected profits from new premiums and is a key gauge …

Insurer AIA sees sales rebound despite lower new business value on COVID woes Read More »

(Reuters) -The United States and China are nearing an agreement allowing American accounting regulators to travel to Hong Kong to inspect audit records of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Securities regulators in Beijing are making arrangements for Chinese companies listed in New York and their accounting firms to transfer audit …

Beijing nears deal to let U.S. inspect Chinese company records in Hong Kong – WSJ Read More »

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – PetroChina reported on Thursday a 55% jump in profit during the first half of 2022, boosted by an increase of its oil and gas output and higher energy prices, as Western sanctions on Russia intensified tight supply worries. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the listed firm of Asia’s top oil and gas …

PetroChina H1 profit jumps 55% on high oil prices Read More »

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai drugmaker Siam Bioscience, owned by the country’s king, reported a near 50-fold increase in annual profit in 2021, when it began producing AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine, government data shows. The company is part of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s vast fortune, which includes land and property estimated at between $30 billion and $60 …

Thai king’s medical firm reports record profit after vaccine deal with AstraZeneca Read More »

By Yagnoseni Das BENGALURU (Reuters) -Singapore Telecommunications Ltd said on Thursday it would sell a 3.3% stake in India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd to Bharti Telecom Ltd for an aggregate consideration of about S$2.25 billion ($1.61 billion). Singtel, southeast Asia’s largest telecom firm, said its units Pastel Ltd and Viridian Ltd would together sell 198 million …

Singtel to sell 3.3% stake in Bharti Airtel for $1.6 billion Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) -Honda Motor Co said on Thursday it would slash production plans by up to 40% in Japan early in September due to persistent supply chain and logistical issues. The news comes even Japanese automakers have been cautiously optimistic that chips shortage that caused repeated production cutback is easing. Its assembly plant in Saitama …

Honda to cut output by up to 40% at Japan plants on supply disruptions Read More »

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc revealed its first quantum computer on Thursday and is ready to make it available to external users, joining the global race to apply the technology to practical uses. The Baidu-developed quantum computer, dubbed “Qianshi”, has a 10-quantum-bit (qubit) processor, Baidu said in a statement. The Beijing-based …

China’s Baidu reveals its first quantum computer called Qianshi Read More »

By Scott Murdoch and Donny Kwok HONG KONG (Reuters) -Shares of China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp opened down 24% at its Hong Kong debut on Thursday, but rallied to close flat after the listing raised $2.1 billion in the financial hub’s largest such exercise in 2022. China Tourism is a major duty-free network operator …

China Tourism shares tank 24% before closing flat in Hong Kong debut Read More »

By Sam Nussey TOKYO (Reuters) -Sony Group Corp said on Thursday it was hiking the price of its PlayStation 5 games console in markets including Europe, Japan and Britain following economic pressures including rising interest rates. Sony said it is raising the price of the disk drive equipped version of the console to 549.99 euros …

Sony hikes PS5 price on economic pressures, rising rates Read More »