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PERTH: Oil prices extended their decline for a third straight session on Friday as the U.S. pushed for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal that could bring more oil supplies onto the global market, while uncertainty over U.S. interest rate cuts curbed investor risk appetite. Brent crude futures fell 71 cents, or 1.12%, to $62.67 a barrel by 0212 GMT after slipping 0.2% in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.29 a barrel, down 71 cents, or 1.20%, after closing 0.5% lower on Thursday. Both contracts are set to fall more than 2% this week on oversupply concerns.…
Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday following Wall Street’s retreat as renewed concerns about the artificial intelligence sector and lacklustre US jobs data prompted investors to pull back from riskier assets after a brief Nvidia-led rally.The Hang Seng Index slumped 1.6 per cent to 25,424.06 as of 9.45am local time, putting it on course for the worst weekly decline since April 11. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 2.7 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index declined 1.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite lost 1.2 per cent.Among the major losers, search-engine giant Baidu slumped 6.4 per cent…
The Philippines’ deepening flood-control corruption scandal has now drawn in one of the country’s most influential religious groups, with a mass mobilisation by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) church offering a revealing glimpse into the political fault lines reshaping Manila’s crisis.The two-day gathering, which began on Sunday and drew more than half a million INC members to the capital, was officially framed as a demand for transparency and accountability over billions of pesos allegedly lost to anomalous flood-mitigation projects.But analysts say the rally’s scale and timing signal the Christian church’s intent to test its political leverage at a…
Huang Shilin, co-founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and its third-largest shareholder, has cashed in on a rally in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery giant’s shares, selling a 1 per cent stake worth 1.7 billion yuan (US$239 million).The engineer-turned-entrepreneur agreed to offload 45.6 million yuan-denominated A shares to 16 corporate and institutional investors at 376.12 yuan (US$52.92) apiece, according to a filing by CATL to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The billionaire still holds more than 9 per cent of the company after the share sale.CATL, listed in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong, saw its mainland-traded shares advance 46 per…
Huang Shilin, co-founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and its third-largest shareholder, has cashed in on a rally in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery giant’s shares, selling a 1 per cent stake worth 1.7 billion yuan (US$239 million).The engineer-turned-entrepreneur agreed to offload 45.6 million yuan-denominated A shares to 16 corporate and institutional investors at 376.12 yuan (US$52.92) apiece, according to a filing by CATL to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The billionaire still holds more than 9 per cent of the company after the share sale.CATL, listed in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong, saw its mainland-traded shares advance 46 per…
China last week warned its citizens to avoid travel to Japan, with major Chinese airlines offering full refunds for flights there. On Wednesday, Beijing said it would suspend Japanese seafood imports.It is not the first time China has wielded its trade and tourism clout as a retaliatory tool to counter security risks, sovereignty threats or to pressure other countries. But observers have cautioned that the risky tactics could provoke international backlash.The Chinese strategy could affect how regional countries view Beijing, potentially undermining its efforts to position itself as a responsible global power and instead be seen as destabilising the region.The…
South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk-yeol may have begun laying the ideological groundwork for a self-coup long before his failed attempt to impose martial law last December, according to newly disclosed legal documents.Political analysts say the revelations suggest Yoon’s push for emergency rule was not a sudden response to security tensions, but part of a long-standing pattern of authoritarian inclinations dating back to his early political career and even his years as a prosecutor.Special prosecutors have indicted Yoon on charges of attempting to provoke North Korea to manufacture a justification for martial law.The indictment asserts that Yoon had already made…
Chinese investors have seen 390 million yuan (US$54.8 million) wiped off the value of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Japanese stocks, as relations between the Asian neighbours plunge to a new low after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan drew the ire of Beijing.The five ETFs listed on mainland exchanges – four tracking the Nikkei 225 and one mimicking the Topix index – have dropped about 5 per cent over the past two weeks, underscoring how worsening ties could weigh heavily on Japan’s economy, which is already grappling with accelerating inflation amid public complaints about rising living costs.The tumult hit…
Chinese investors have seen 390 million yuan (US$54.8 million) wiped off the value of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Japanese stocks, as relations between the Asian neighbours plunge to a new low after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan drew the ire of Beijing.The five ETFs listed on mainland exchanges – four tracking the Nikkei 225 and one mimicking the Topix index – have dropped about 5 per cent over the past two weeks, underscoring how worsening ties could weigh heavily on Japan’s economy, which is already grappling with accelerating inflation amid public complaints about rising living costs.The tumult hit…
Washington needs to accelerate arms sales to Taiwan and help establish a regional contingency stockpile for its defence, the US Senate heard on Thursday.Such steps would help implement provisions in a landmark 2022 law – the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA) – that have not yet been fully realised, as well as boost morale on the self-governed island, witnesses said at a hearing hosted by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Years-long delays and unimplemented authorities have fuelled concerns in Taiwan and elsewhere that US support is softening as Washington seeks to stabilise ties with Beijing – a perception they said…