Reuters Asia Business

(This Feb 2 story adds dropped word “tech” in headline) By Katanga Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global stocks rallied on Wednesday to close higher as strong earnings from U.S. technology companies and OPEC+ plans for moderate oil output helped to counter jitters over weak economic reports. Investors also shrugged off the pace of central banks’ …

Stocks end higher on strong tech amid mixed U.S. earnings, weak economic reports Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co plans to pay an annual dividend of 120 yen ($1.10) per share in the next financial year to March 2023, after raising its per share dividend forecast for this year to 105 yen from 95 yen, Chief Financial Officer Takakazu Uchida said on Thursday. The company …

Mitsui plans to pay annual dividend of 120 yen/share in FY2022/23 Read More »

By Sam Nussey TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares in Sony Group Corp slid as much as 8.8% in early trade in Tokyo on Thursday after four consecutive days of gains as concerns about its gaming business re-emerge amid component shortages and competition from heavyweight rivals. Sony fell almost 13% last month after rival Microsoft announced it …

Sony shares slide as gaming concerns re-emerge Read More »

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan has no plan to modify its ultra-loose monetary policy as inflation remains distant from its 2% target, deputy governor Masazumi Wakatabe said, dousing speculation that creeping inflation could prompt it to tweak yield targets. Wakatabe said in a speech on Thursday that consumer inflation may accelerate …

BOJ deputy governor Wakatabe says premature to tighten monetary policy now Read More »

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund deleted a sentence critical of Japan’s continued financing of high-emissions coal projects from a staff mission statement on the Japanese economy, a copy of an earlier draft viewed by Reuters shows. The IMF issued the report on Jan. 28 at the conclusion of a routine country …

Exclusive-IMF staff cut critical coal language from Japan statement -document Read More »

By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang SEOUL (Reuters) – Some of South Korea’s corporate giants have asked staff to test themselves for COVID-19 before returning to work on Thursday after the Lunar New Year holidays, amid concerns the break could fuel the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant. Kakao Corp, operator of South Korea’s …

S.Korean companies take precautions to block COVID-19 spread after holidays Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s services sector activity contracted at the fastest pace in five months in January in a sign businesses faced pressure from a record surge in new coronavirus infections due to the Omicron variant. The world’s third-largest economy has seen COVID-19 cases surge in recent weeks, forcing the government to roll out tougher …

Japan’s service sector shrinks at fastest pace in 5 months – PMI Read More »