Japan Financial News

Paul Niven (pictured) is the fund manager of the F&C Investment Trust.

Bandai Namco, a Japanese multinational video game creator, has introduced an AI virtual pet NFT game, RYUZO, featuring digital creatures called RYU on the Oasys Network, an eco-friendly gaming blockchain network. 

IPO) of Concord Biotech will open for public subscription on August 4 and close on August8. Ahead of the issue opening, the company's shares commanded a premium of Rs Rs 325 in the unlisted market. The company is one of the leading global manufacturers of select fermentation-based APIs (F-APIs) across immunosuppressants and oncology with market share of over 20% by volume in 2022.

India will participate in Ukraine peace talks to be hosted by Saudi Arabia on Aug. 5 and 6, a foreign ministry spokesperson said during a news briefing on Thursday. Saudi Arabia has invited Western nations, Ukraine and some major developing countries to discuss the peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier this year.

NTT Data Payments Services India, which has grown through a clutch of acquisitions including that of Atom Technologies, is keen to do more such deals as it seeks to become a top-five player in the next few days. The domestic arm of the Japanese tech major last September received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank for a payment aggregator licence and is today among the top ten in this already cluttered space.

Typhoon Khanun would cause severe damage to China which is reeling from rain from an earlier typhoon that caused deadly flooding and damage in Beijing, reported AP. If the forecast from the Japan weather agency proves true, oit would largely spare China from a double whammy. Khanun, which means jackfruit in Thai, had sustained surface winds of 162 kph (100 mph) with higher gusts Thursday morning.

Fitch's move to downgrade US rating as an excuse to book some profits off the table. Sensex has plunged about 1,500 points in 2 days while Nifty broke below the 19,300-zone. In the two-day selloff, investors have become poorer by Rs 5.7 lakh crore. While Fitch's statement had nothing new to offer as it is a well-known fact that developed market governments are getting more indebted, the downgrade of US rating to AA+ from AAA is seen as being sentimentally negative for riskier assets. In sync with the risk-off reaction in global and other Asian markets, Sensex plunged over 800 points on Thursday with Reliance Industries (RIL), banks and IT stocks leading the downside. Realty, banks and other financial stocks were among the worst affected but pharma stocks managed to thrive in the selling pressure on the back of Q1 earnings report card. Amid the global sell-off, Dalal Street traders also overlooked Morgan Stanley's upgrading of Indian equities to overweight position. Citing a structural uptrend, secular leadership and relative valuations being less extreme than in October, the global brokerage firm has placed India at the No.1 position in its basket of Asian emerging markets ex-Japan.

New Delhi: Global anime brand Crunchyroll has announced that the streaming platform will be adding a new batch of series to its available AVoD (advertising-based video-on-demand) catalogue, including titles like Chainsaw Man, SPY x FAMILY, VINLAND SAGA, BLUELOCK, Lycoris Recoil, My Dress-Up Darling, and others. Crunchyroll, LLC is an independent joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment in US and Aniplex in Japan, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., both subsidiaries of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corp.

The fate of Group H will be determined on August 3. Both matches will be played on August 3 at 3:30 PM (India time). The match against South Korea is crucial for Germany, two-time World Cup champions.

Morgan Stanley on Thursday upgraded Indian stocks to overweight rating and ranked India as the No. 1 market in its basket of Asian emerging markets ex-Japan. Beating the likes of Korea and UAE, India jumped 5 places in Morgan Stanley's list on the back of a structural uptrend, secular leadership and relative valuations being less extreme than in October.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister of Japan Hayashi Yoshimasa have discussed several Japanese-funded projects such as the Light Rail Transit (LRT), the East Terminal, the Kandy Development Plan, Central Highway, and the expansion of the Bandaranaike International Airport. Both countries expressed the importance of expediting the implementation of these projects, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said following the meeting over the last weekend.

On Wednesday, Toyota revealed the initial hybrid edition of the Land Cruiser, which is intended for release in North America and other significant markets. The company aims to reestablish the prominence of this high-margin and iconic sports utility vehicle. As per Reuters, the car manufacturer has announced that it will manufacture the latest version of the brand, which has its origins dating back to 1951, along with a smaller recently unveiled version.

Asian shares were subdued on Thursday after Fitch downgraded U.S. sovereign debt sparking profit-taking, with investors now shifting focus to Bank of England's rate decision and earnings from Apple and Amazon. Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures added 0.2%, following a heavy wave of selling on Wall Street overnight.

Typhoon Khanun, categorised by Taiwan's weather bureau as the second-strongest typhoon level, slowly headed towards its northeastern coast with maximum winds of 198 kph (123 mph). As of 9:15 A.M.

Also read: Real estate firms accepting watermelons, wheat as payment in China; Here's why A Tennessee-based farmer set a Guinness World Record in 2013 with a colossal watermelon weighing an astonishing 350.5 pounds. Beyond its delicious taste, watermelon has caught the attention of health researchers for its rich content of the antioxidant lycopene, which may help reduce the risk of certain cancers, including lung, stomach, and prostate cancers.

Also read: Potential Risks of Signing up for Worldcoin Addressing privacy concerns, Worldcoin's website assures that the project is "completely private," with biometric data either deleted or encrypted upon user preference. Nonetheless, regulators and privacy advocates have raised questions about the data collection and handling processes.

«Going ahead, markets could remain subdued given the gloomy global environment. Stock-specific action is likely to continue in the market with the ongoing result season,» said Siddhartha Khemka, Head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:STATE OF THE MARKETSGIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive startGIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded 27.5 points, or 0.14 per cent, higher at 19,528, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for positive start on Thursday.

global markets, after Fitch Ratings cut the sovereign credit rating of the US, the world's largest economy, by one level from the highest AAA to AA+. The selloff on account of the unexpected downgrade resulted in the Nifty closing below a key support of 19,560, which analysts said has opened up the likelihood of the index dropping another 2-3% unless there is an immediate rebound.NSE's Nifty fell 207 points, or 1.05%, to close at 19,526.55. BSE's Sensex declined 676.53 points, or 1.02%, to end at 65,782.78.

Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years as well as growing government debt. Meanwhile, private payrolls data in the US showed that the companies added 324,000 new jobs last month, much higher than the consensus estimates. In Asia, investors will focus on the Caixin private survey for China’s service sector activity in July.

Siemens Healthineers fell 5.6% after its quarterly profit dropped. German fashion brand Hugo Boss slid 1.9% despite it raised its full-year outlook. In Asia, stock markets closed down on Wednesday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery fell $1.88 to $79.49 a barrel Wednesday