Japan Financial News

Blue Zones released. In the docuseries, Dan Buettner, author and National Geographic fellow, takes a look at five areas in the world – the Blue Zones – where people have the highest life expectancy. He aims to learn the secret to a healthy and long life from the people in these areas. From what he learned from people who have lived a 100 years on this planet, Buettner created the Blue Zones diet.

Tokyo prosecutors say they have arrested a former vice foreign minister of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet on suspicion of accepting more than 61 million yen ($414,000) in bribes from a wind power company in return for his promotion of wind powe...

Stocks declined, while Treasury yields climbed after a stronger-than-estimated reading on the US services industry bolstered speculation the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer.

The slide in the yen isn’t over, despite expectations the dollar may not be quite so strong in coming months, said the top forecaster for the currency. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has taken a test ride on Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway, which connects two Indonesian cities as part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for October delivery rose 85 cents to $87.54 a barrel Wednesday

COVID-19 pandemic. His remarks come amidst growing concerns over China's assertive actions in territorial disputes, which were highlighted by Beijing's release of a controversial map claiming territories of other nations as part of China. India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have protested against the Chinese map.

Jonathan Schiessl, Deputy CIO, Westminster Asset Management, says “China looks very cheap compared to India. And some of the other markets in the region, be they developed markets like Japan, look quite attractive as well. I think India will continue to do well. We still very much like India, particularly on the medium to longer term basis. But, yes, in the short term, it has obviously recovered, had a good run, and looks a little bit expensive compared to some other markets.”PSUs were not the most favoured stocks till about three-odd years back, but in the last three years, the game has completely changed. Some of these stocks are even looking overheated at these levels. Within the PSU pack, do you have any favourites? What do you make of the rally that one is seeing in the government-owned entities?It is not surprising. Clearly the indices have done pretty well and they were looking fairly good value and under-owned. Personally, we tend to steer away from most of the PSU stocks. We tend to focus on other segments of the market. So it is not a part of the market that we chase. But yes, there are some pretty decent ones out there. Some of the oil and gas ones look quite interesting. But generally speaking, we tend to focus on the private sector rather than public sector stocks.

Proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform Avalanche is expecting 5-10 million transactions on a subnet as a Japanese loyalty program company that claims to have 100 million users has partnered with the network to bring their mass-scale loyalty rewards program into a blockchain. 

map," China has been questioned by various countries with many of them lodging protests against the nation. Japan is the latest country to join the others in rejecting Beijing's map. According to Matsuno Hirokazu, chief cabinet secretary of Japan, the map's description of the Senkaku Islands is based on Beijing's claims. Hirokazu said the islands are unquestionably an «inherent part» of Japan's territory, in terms of both history and international law, according to Japanese public broadcaster, NHK World. He said that Japan has lodged a strong protest with Beijing via diplomatic channels and has demanded an immediate retraction of the description on the map. However, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson dismissed the Japanese government's protest over a description of Japan's Senkaku Islands in a new map released by Beijing, according to NHK. Notably, Japan controls the islands.

consumer spending in the economy. According to customs data released on Thursday, China’s exports dipped 8.8% year-on-year (YoY) to $284.87 billion in August, registering its fourth straight month of decline. However, exports beat a forecast of 9.2% fall in a Reuters poll and off a 14.5% drop in July.

Temasek led a $140 million funding round in India's Ola Electric at a valuation of $5.4 billion, two sources with the direct knowledge said, the latest funding for the e-scooter maker before its initial public offering. The investment round has been closed and Ola will be receiving the funds within a week's time, though there will be another round of fund raising before it files papers for an up to $1 billion IPO planned for late 2023, said the first source. Ola did not respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Temasek, which is an existing investor in Ola Electric, declined to comment. Ola Electric, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and backed by Japan's SoftBank Group, has become India's e-scooter market leader with a 32% share, competing with Ather Energy as well as companies such as TVS Motor and Hero Electric. Valued at $5 billion last year, Ola sold around 95,000 e-scooters during April-August 2023, industry data showed.

NASA, and it will involve studying light at various wavelengths, temperature assessments, and analysing the shapes and brightness of celestial objects, AP reported. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was responsible for manufacturing and launching the rocket H-IIA.

rising U.S. yields and a slowing Chinese economy sapped momentum from the market's rally. The Nikkei index closed 0.75% lower at 32,991.08, after hitting a high of 33,322.45 in morning trade.

IFM Investors’ private equity unit has invested $80 million into software business Tally Group, which specialises in administering and billing for customers who use the grid for drawing and sending power.

Global South," and that at the upcoming Group of 20 meetings being held in New Delhi, that voice will be heard. At the August summit of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — current chair South Africa declared its goal was to «advance the agenda of the Global South.» And ahead of this May's summit of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies in Hiroshima, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed that the guest nations he had invited reflected the importance of the Global South. The United Nations, the World Bank, U.S. President Joe Biden — everyone seems to be talking about the Global South these days.

10-month low. It had closed at 83.13. Strong US services PMI data raised bets that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates elevated for longer, which lifted Treasury yields.

Narendra Modi on Thursday called for building a rules-based post-COVID world order and strengthening the voice of the Global South. In an address at the annual ASEAN-India summit here, the prime minister also underlined the need for ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners. India supports the ASEAN outlook on Indo-Pacific, Modi told the leaders of the grouping. The prime minister described ASEAN as the epicentre of growth, saying it plays a crucial role in global development. The 21st century is Asia's century.

Li Qiang said on Wednesday it is important to avoid a «new Cold War» when dealing with conflicts between countries as world leaders gathered in Indonesia amid sharpening geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking at an annual summit involving members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea, Li said countries needed to «appropriately handle differences and disputes». «At present, it is very important to oppose taking sides, bloc confrontation and a new Cold War,» Li told the meeting. ASEAN, which has warned of the danger of getting dragged into major powers' disputes, is also holding wider talks with Li, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and leaders of partner countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia and India. Neither U.S.

NASA rocket, and the second, an attempt by a Japanese startup, ended in a crash during the lunar descent in April. (With agency inputs)

dollar strengthened further against major currencies as investors increased bets for further Federal Reserve policy tightening. The Bloomberg dollar index rose to a fresh six-month high as investors increased expectations for the Fed to hike again this year. Treasury yields drifted higher across the curve Thursday, extending Wednesday increases that pushed two-year yields above 5%.