Reuters Asia Business

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia’s antitrust agency has given its “conditional” blessing to last year’s takeover of the country’s biggest e-commerce platform Tokopedia by TikTok after ending its probe into potential monopoly risks, it said on Wednesday.  TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, completed a deal in January 2024 to buy 75.01% of Tokopedia for $840 million from …

Indonesia antitrust agency gives ‘conditional’ go-ahead for TikTok’s Tokopedia takeover Read More »

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s finance minister said on Wednesday he would propose projects worth 110 billion baht ($3.4 billion) to the cabinet next week, as the government looks to boost the economy. The projects are expected to boost GDP growth by 0.4 to 0.5 percentage points, Pichai Chunhavajira told a press conference. ($1 = 32.60 baht) …

Thailand minister to propose $3.4 billion stimulus projects to cabinet next week Read More »

BEIJING (Reuters) -Banks in China’s Henan province said on Tuesday they will stop giving car dealers high commissions for auto loans taken out by buyers – a move that comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny of the sector. Chinese authorities have been keen to curb a deepening price war in the car industry and what they …

Some Chinese banks vow to rein in commissions given to car dealers for auto loans Read More »

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek retailers want the European Union to bring forward the introduction of a two euro ($2.30) handling fee for low-value e-commerce packages coming into the bloc, a letter, seen by Reuters, showed. The EU disclosed plans in May to remove the duty-free treatment of low-value consignments worth no more than 150 euros and …

Greek retailers urge EU to bring forward fee on low-value parcels Read More »

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries said on Wednesday that two orders from Russia’s Zvezda worth a total of 4.85 trillion won ($3.54 billion) for icebreaker ships were cancelled due to “illegal termination by the shipowner”. Samsung Heavy said in regulatory filings that in June 2024, Zvezda shipyard unilaterally informed the South Korean …

Samsung Heavy says $3.54 billion icebreaker orders from Russia’s Zvezda cancelled Read More »

By Ashley Tang, Sudarshan Varadhan and Florence Tan KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Energy majors are pouring money into gas exploration and production in Malaysia and Indonesia to meet rising power demand from growing populations and a proliferation of data centres in the region. The wave of investments come as European majors pivot back to more profitable …

Energy majors lock onto Southeast Asia in race for more gas for AI power demand Read More »

By Cynthia Kim and Jihoon Lee SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s central bank governor said on Wednesday he was not against issuing won-denominated stablecoins but had concerns about managing capital flows. “Issuing won-based stablecoin could make it easier to exchange them with dollar stablecoin rather than working to reduce use of dollar stablecoin. That in turn …

BOK chief says he is not against won-based stablecoins but has forex concerns Read More »