Posts by Mark Darwin
China tech firms ramp up M&A deals with the blessing of Beijing
[BEIJING] After a chastening crackdown that wiped billions off their value and forced top executives out of the public eye, China’s technology giants are back in favour and on the front foot, making deals and snapping up assets. At the top of the pile are Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, two huge players…
Read MoreAsia: Stocks down with eyes on Mideast, dollar hit by Trump Fed comment
[HONG KONG] Most stocks fell on Thursday and oil rose as traders kept a nervous eye on the Iran-Israel ceasefire, while the dollar dropped after Donald Trump said he had a handful of candidates to succeed Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, fuelling rate cut bets. Uncertainty over the US president’s trade war was also keeping…
Read MoreChina opens first offshore gold vault and contracts in Hong Kong
[SINGAPORE] The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) has expanded outside mainland China for the first time, with the rollout of two new contracts and a bullion vault in Hong Kong. The launch serves a number of purposes, from broadening the Shanghai exchange’s international reach to strengthening China’s clout in commodity and currency markets and Hong Kong’s…
Read MoreIndonesia’s yield curve may steepen as Bank Indonesia unwinds intervention
[JAKARTA] Indonesia’s sovereign yield curve is set to steepen as the central bank reduces its use of short-term rupiah securities, prompting a shift in demand towards government bonds. The spread between 2- and 10-year bond yields this week reached the widest since June 2023. Bank Indonesia (BI) is in an interest-rate cutting cycle and investors…
Read MoreCivmec to acquire ship manufacturer Luerssen Australia for A$20 million
The aim of the deal is to solidify Australia’s sovereign shipbuilding capability [SINGAPORE] Australian construction engineering company Civmec will purchase Luerssen Australia from Naval Vessels Lurssen (NVL) Australia for A$20 million (S$16 million) in cash, the company said on Thursday (Jun 26). Civmec will take ownership of the whole business, including assets, employees and licences.…
Read MoreCircle K owner misses estimates on lower fuel prices, demand
[TORONTO] Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard slightly missed earnings estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter earnings because of lower fuel demand. The Canadian convenience store and fuel retailer earned 46 US cents per share on an adjusted basis, according to a statement on Wednesday (Jun 25), a penny short of the 47 US cents estimated…
Read MorePartial offer for Cordlife lapses with Thai-listed Medeze obtaining less than 1% stake
An independent financial adviser had earlier deemed the offer unfair and unreasonable [SINGAPORE] A partial offer for a 10 per cent stake in Cordlife Group has lapsed, with the offerer, a subsidiary of Thai-listed Medeze Group, having secured less than a 10th of the shares it needed to. As at the close of the offer…
Read MoreTech lobby group urges EU leaders to pause AI Act
Published Thu, Jun 26, 2025 · 06:29 AM [STOCKHOLM] Tech lobbying group CCIA Europe, whose members include Alphabet, Meta and Apple, on Thursday urged European Union to pause implementation of the AI Act, saying a rushed roll-out risks jeopardising the continent’s AI aspirations. Europe’s landmark AI rules entered into force in June last year with…
Read MoreHong Kong intervenes to defend FX peg as local currency drops
[HONG KONG] Hong Kong’s de facto central bank bought the local dollar to prop it up on Thursday (Jun 26), in a move to defend the city’s currency peg to the greenback. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) purchased HK$9.4 billion (S$1.5 billion) of local currency. This came after the exchange rate touched the weak…
Read MoreEurope: Shares sag as investors weigh Iran-Israel ceasefire
A RALLY in European stocks hit a roadblock as investors weighed the fragility of the Israel-Iran ceasefire, with attention quickly shifting to the looming US tariff pause deadline. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost steam after Tuesday’s best intraday jump in over a month, dipping 0.74 per cent to 536.98 as a wave of red swept across most…
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