The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) has allowed using physical gold and other securities as collateral on futures contracts trading. The move is aimed at increasing volumes and attracting investors from other markets.
Asia/Pacific
China's manufacturing PMI at 78-month low
The Chinese manufacturing sector registered its worst performance in the past 78 months. The measure of sentiment among purchasing managers, Preliminary Caixin China manufacturing index (PMI) dropped to 47 in September from 47.3 in August.
Alibaba and Suning Partnership Could Change China's E-commerce Domination
China e-commerce industry is worth $2.1 trillion in 2014 with the number of users growing by 31.4 percent as reported by China E-Commerce Research Center (CERC). Out of the total amount, $450 billion comes from the online retail business alone. Current market players in the e-commerce are Alibaba, JD.com, and Suning Commerce.
Sharp Corp explores ways on LCD biz revival, Taiwanese firm offers bid for it
Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co has offered bid to acquire the LCD business of Sharp Corporation. However, the bidding details were not revealed. Without confirming on its plans to offload LCD business or received any bid offer, Sharp Corp continues to explore several options for reviving the trouble-prone liquid panel display business. Sharp has also asked Apple Inc for funding support. Sharp Corp has sought a $1.9-billion revival package from the banks and decided to slash 5,000 jobs as part of the cost-cutting measures. The intense competition in LCD screens for smartphones from Asian companies is taking a toll on Sharp Corp's business.
Sony's Project Morpheus is now officially PlayStation VR
Sony announced the change of name their game device from Project Morpheus to PlayStation VR as it enables players to feel like they are physically inside the game's virtual world. Sony has decided to change the name of its device Project Morpheus to PlayStation VR. The announcement was made at the Tokyo Game Show tweeting out as well the news from the official PlayStation Twitter account, Wired reported.
Latest News
China faces risks of deflation, as manufacturers' selling prices fall for the 42nd consecutive month in August. The Producer Price Index (PPI) shed 5.9% from a year earlier, much worse than market expectations of a 5.5% decline.
With an ambition to be the next eCommerce giant in Southeast Asia, Matahari Mall officially launched Wednesday with $500 million funding from giant Indonesian real estate development company Lippo Group.
Nintendo, the largest Japanese video game company, had teamed up with Niantic Inc. to develop Pokémon Go, a mobile game based on the popular monsters from the Japanese cartoon series.
While Korea is hurting from a long drop in exports, one industry is booming in shipments and posts double-digit growth. This draws the attention of policymakers seeking for a new way to grow its export.
After gaining for a while on government's intervention, offshore Yuan fell for three sessions in a row. The Chinese government seems to be moving back from supporting the weakening currency Yuan and restricting capital outflow.
Revised data released Tuesday shows that Japan's economy contracted at a minus 1.2 percent annual rate during the second quarter. In a report from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, economists are rather impressed with the figure reported since it is better than what was expected. A preliminary report last month showed that Japan's economy contracted at a minus 1.6 percent annual rate.
The growth rate of China's economy for 2014 has revised marginally lower to 7.3 percent from previous forecast of 7.4 percent. The drop in services sector weighed more on gross domestic product (GDP). According to the latest data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the GDP stood at 63.6 trillion Yuan ($10 trillion) in 2013 and this was 32.4 percent lower than earlier projection. The latest data casts shadow over the Chinese government's target of seven percent for 2015.
Indian-based restaurant search app Zomato acquired $60M from Temasek Holdings and Vy Capital. The search app will use it to expand the business to other countries and to introduce other services like Zomato Whitelabel.
Pfizer Inc. has failed again in enforcing its intellectual property rights in India. The giant pharmaceutical's patent on its rheumatoid arthritis drug, Tofacitinib, was rejected in the country.
