China Financial News

Chinese prosecutors say the former chairman of state-owned Chinese bank China Everbright Group has been arrested on suspicion of corruption and bribery

(Reuters) — Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday received a money-transmitter license from Utah, the 15th U.S. state to grant approval as the company explores offering payment features.

Baidu on Monday refuted a newspaper report that said its artificial intelligence chatbot Ernie was linked to Chinese military research. Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post on Friday cited an academic paper from a university affiliated with the People's Liberation Army cyberwarfare division. The paper stated that the division had tested its artificial intelligence system on Baidu's Ernie and on artificial intelligence firm iFlyTek's Spark, both of which are language-based AI chatbots similar to ChatGPT.

China. That is drawing the attention of President Joe Biden and his aides, who are considering new protectionist measures to make sure American industry can compete against Beijing. As US factories spin up to produce electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels, China is flooding the market with similar goods, often at significantly lower prices. A similar influx is also hitting the European market.

Taiwan is pivotal to the geopolitics of Asia and the future of global technological leadership. Communist China has never controlled Taiwan, a self-governing democracy, but arrogates to itself the right to take Taiwan over at a time of its choice, regardless of what Taiwanese think. How to deal with Communist China is therefore always a central issue in Taiwan’s elections.

By Divya Chowdhury and Savio Shetty

Wow! Momo Foods has raised ₹350 crore from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia. This is the company's biggest fund raise and comes amid robust double-digit growth in overall food services, in addition to low price points and popularity of momos as a snack in India. The investment will be made through both primary infusion and secondary purchase from early-stage investors, Indian Angel Network and Lighthouse Funds.

Global public debt in 2023 reached historical highs that have put the world economy’s growth at risk. And International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections point to this burden growing much faster in the next five years than its pre-pandemic projections. This time, rising debt is a trend across the board.

By Richa Naidu

Equity ETFs were the biggest gainers for both Q4 and the whole year, adding €34.6bn in the last three months of 2023 and €89.7bn over 2023, a 72% increase from 2022.

Germany is stuck in a rut, and there is no quick way out. The European powerhouse’s economy, the largest on the continent and the world’s fourth biggest, shrank last year, extending a six-year slump that is raising fears of deindustrialization and sapping support for governments across the region. Output in the country likely shrank by 0.3% in the three months through December from the previous quarter, the German federal statistics agency said Monday.

The more the U.S. government worries about China’s ambitions in the chip industry, the more equipment for making chips that China seems to buy. When ASML, the Dutch company that makes the world’s most advanced lithography machines for manufacturing microchips, reports fourth-quarter results next week, one of the most eye-catching numbers will be the share of sales it made in China.

European markets have opened lower while Asian markets were mostly higher as the week got off to a mixed start

Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te has emerged victorious in Taiwan’s presidential election and his opponents have conceded

A war of words has erupted the day after Taiwan’s presidential election

Jakarta: Indian shooters' gold rush continued in the Asia Olympic Qualifiers with Yogesh Singh winning the top prize in individual as well as team event of the men's 25m centre fire pistol competition on Monday. Yogesh claimed the individual gold medal after shooting 573, finishing ahead of silver winner Muad Al Balushi of Oman (570) and Indonesia's Anang Yulianto (567).

Lai Ching-te is Taiwan’s president-elect who has vowed to safeguard the Asian island’s de-facto independence from China and further align it with other democracies

«The setup for 2023 was very powerful as its previous calendar year witnessed only 10 new 52-week highs, while for 2024, its previous calendar year saw a staggering 29 new 52-week highs. Today markets opened at new lifetime highs marking the second new lifetime high in just 15 days of calendar year 2024,» said Paras Matalia of SAMCO Mutual Fund. While shares of heavyweight RIL (Reliance Industries) have been giving support to Nifty with 8% upside in just 4 trading sessions, the rally in 2024 has been largely led by uptick in the IT index with growing optimism about increased discretionary spending and strong deal wins. «The US bond yield edged lower as market participants bet on the Fed easing cycle, which is expected to start in March. Investors are likely to take a more measured approach due to the release of Chinese GDP and UK inflation data this week,» Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said. After buying Indian equities worth over Rs 66,000 crore in December, foreign institutional investors or FIIs have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore in the first two weeks of the calendar year. While anticipated rate cuts this year are expected to further fuel the rally till the Lok Sabha elections, analysts warn of intermittent volatility especially due to Budget and occasional profit booking. «The recent upswing warrants a certain degree of caution as, many times, such sharp rallies do not sustain. Thus, we believe that the near-term view will be cautious and suggest profit booking in areas of exuberance, especially in the smallcap space,» Pranav Haridasan, MD and CEO at Axis Securities.

By Eduardo Baptista

Will James (pictured), joined the firm from Premier Miton, where he managed the Premier Miton Equity Income fund, which closed in June 2023.

restricted chip-industry exports to China. Fortunately, lithium is not the only game in town. As we report this week, a clutch of firms are making batteries based on sodium, lithium’s elemental cousin.