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The US dollar held steady on Wednesday near its lowest levels since early October, after data showed the labor market remains weak, keeping investors cautious about the timing of the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate cut.   The euro traded at $1.1751 in Asian hours, hovering near a 12-week high reached in the previous session, ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy decision on Thursday, where the bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged.   The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against six major peers, stood at 98.193, remaining close to its lowest level since October 3, recorded…

My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, Dec. 17 1. Stocks were heading for a higher open this morning. The S & P 500 fell Tuesday after mixed jobs data. The index, which closed at a record last Thursday, has declined every session since then. 2. Memory and storage solutions giant Micron Technology reports earnings tonight. Even as I expect a blowout quarter, I do not think CEO Sanjay Mehrotra will allow the estimates to get ahead of themselves. 3. Morgan Stanley made a big call on Apple , bumping its price target to $315 from $305 and keeping its…

The conviction of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying in a high-profile Hong Kong trial has drawn sharp reactions in London, casting uncertainty over thawing Sino-British ties before Keir Starmer visits China.Although the outcome of Lai’s 156-day national security trial was widely expected, observers say it poses a significant test for the Labour government’s balancing act on China, which could narrow the space for engagement even if its immediate impact on bilateral relations is limited.Lai, 78, a British citizen and the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, was convicted on Monday of conspiring to “collude with foreign forces or with…

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has amended its post-listing public float rules to give companies greater flexibility in managing capital while strengthening market transparency.The bourse operator will allow listed companies to meet an alternative ongoing public float threshold, requiring at least 10 per cent of issued shares in the listed class and a market value above HK$1 billion (US$128.5 million).For mainland China-listed firms, or A shares, their Hong Kong shares must represent at least 5 per cent of total issued shares or have a market value of at least HK$1 billion.The initiatives aimed to provide greater flexibility and efficiency…

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has amended its post-listing public float rules to give companies greater flexibility in managing capital while strengthening market transparency.The bourse operator will allow listed companies to meet an alternative ongoing public float threshold, requiring at least 10 per cent of issued shares in the listed class and a market value above HK$1 billion (US$128.5 million).For mainland China-listed firms, or A shares, their Hong Kong shares must represent at least 5 per cent of total issued shares or have a market value of at least HK$1 billion.The initiatives aimed to provide greater flexibility and efficiency…

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. PLA division overseeing Taiwan sees newcomers in chargeThe Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, the division that oversees Taiwan and that has been hit hard in Beijing’s anti-graft campaign, appears to be presided over by two officers who joined the division only recently.2. Senior US and Chinese defence officials continue ‘military-to-military’ dialogueSenior US and Chinese defence officials met in Washington this week in the latest sign of renewed military-to-military communication as the two countries seek to…

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said on Tuesday that her office was notified last week of the civil lawsuit filed in the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court.According to court documents, the case was brought by the municipal government of Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first detected, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.The defendants are the State of Missouri, represented by Governor Mike Kehoe, as well as two of the state’s former top legal officers – Eric Schmitt, now a US senator, and Andrew Bailey, now a co-deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.The Chinese parties accused…

Without mentioning his Chinese name, Shenzhen-based Tencent’s announcement on Wednesday came with a photo of Yao. He was tasked to lead the company’s new AI infrastructure efforts, including the development of large language models (LLMs).Yao’s official position is chief AI scientist under the CEO’s office at Tencent, reporting directly to president Martin Lau Chi-ping.As part of Tencent’s AI reorganisation, the Technology Engineering Group (TEG), one of the company’s six major business units, established two new departments.The “AI Infra” department was “responsible for developing the technical capabilities of large-model training and inference platforms”, while the “Data Computing Platform” team was tasked…

In a striking transformation, the small South American country of Guyana — until recently one of the continent’s poorest nations — has entered the world’s top 10 richest countries by GDP per capita. In just one decade, Guyana has moved from its first oil discovery to producing nearly 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block. This achievement has come despite an unbalanced production-sharing agreement that heavily favors the ExxonMobil-led consortium controlling the oil concession, yet it has still delivered an extraordinary economic boom. However, the speed of this growth and the scale of oil income…

Chinese tablet makers, including Xiaomi and Honor, have raised prices across their product lines as they scrambled to absorb soaring costs of memory chips.Xiaomi, the Beijing-based smartphone and electric vehicle maker, has imposed mark-ups of 100 yuan (US$14) to 300 yuan on several tablet products this week, including its entry-level Redmi Pad 2 and the premium Xiaomi Pad 8 series.The Redmi Pad 2, launched in June this year with a starting price of 999 yuan, now carries a price tag of 1,199 yuan for the base model. The Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro now sells for 4,099 yuan, 200 yuan more…