The rise of oil prices had brought positive growth to most of the Asian markets, except for Japan. On the other hand, European market had seen a drop. The oil prices increased overnight due to speculations that U.S Federal Reserve would possibly decide not to increase interest rates throughout 2016.
Tags: China
Chinese consortium approaches Opera with an offer of $1.2 billion
Opera Software, widely known for browsers, has been offered $1.2 billion to sell its 100% stake to a Chinese consortium. The buyers are awaiting a nod from the shareholders who are almost sold on the tempting offer that reflects a win-win situation for both parties.
Foreign Investment: Indonesian Government Will Revise Regulations, Allowing Foreign Capital on More Sectors
The changes are part of the government's economic stimulus package, expected to boost the country's economic growth and create job openings. Indonesia's new regulations on investment would loosen current restrictions on foreign investments in various sectors, including e-commerce, retail and healthcare.
Startups: Student.com Raised $60 Million From High-Profile Investors to Expand Its Service Helping Students Find Accommodations
A startup focusing in the student accommodation markets just received $60 million from high-profile firms and individuals, led by VY Capital. Student.com will use the funds to expand its presence and service in the promising markets of international students accommodation. For now, most of Student.com's bookings came from Asia-based students.
China Startup: Venture Firm Qiming Received $648 Million in Venture Capital Fund from Princeton University and Duke University
One of China’s biggest venture capital firm, Qiming, secured its fifth US dollar venture capital fund in total of $648 million. The fund will help expand the firm’s investments in Chinese top startups in various sectors such as internet, consumer, technology, healthcare, as well as cleantech.
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The Shanghai Disneyland's ticket prices would be 20 percent cheaper than Hong Kong Disneyland at 539 yuan, even though the Shanghai's area would be much larger. After being constructed for more than six years, the park would be ready to open for public this summer with possible further expansion.
Both ChemChina and Syngenta have agreed on the amount of $34 billion for ChemChina to acquire the Swiss company. The acquisition, if completed, would be the biggest foreign purchase ever made by a Chinese company. However, the trend shows that Chinese company are showing interest in investing overseas, especially in the Western countries.
The supplier's subsidiary units in China was convicted for selling substandard and expired meats to restaurants including McDonald's and KFC. However, the company argued that the verdict was unjust and inconsistent with the evidence presented in court.
21 people were arrested by the Chinese police on account of a huge online financial scam. The P2P online lender Ezubao had almost pulled off the biggest scam in wealth management product industry, with almost 900,000 investors losing around $7.6 billion (50 billion yuan).
Google has set a milestone in the field of artificial technology, with its latest innovation AlphaGo. The program has been designed to tackle the 10 to the power of 700 variations that the ancient Chinese game of Go offers. Additionally, they beat FaceBook in this race, as Zuckerberg had announced the launch of a similar program called Darkforest around the same time.
India is now the world's largest exporter of rice, with 10.23 million tons of rice exported in 2015. The country outranked the former leader, Thailand whose export numbers have fallen to 9.8 million tons this year, which also recorded the lowest rice prices in the last ten years. It seems the falling prices are also tied to the global oil crisis that has hit the rice importers, thereby affecting their purchasing power.
Global Innovation: China, India, and Thailand Are Among Countries With Lesser Support for Innovation
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) concluded the study based on 27 factors that bring both positive and negative impact towards global innovation. The study involved 56 countries, whereas China stood at the 44th rank, Thailand the 53rd, followed by India. ITIF also noted that supporting global innovation is crucial for countries' economic growth.
Many Chinese factories are being abandoned due to the downturn in the country. This has caused millions of workers unemployed, and many of the remaining workers should have their salaries cut.
China’s central bank, the People's Bank of China is putting the largest amount of cash into the financial system in nearly three years which is around 340 billion yuan. The move was done as the bank is preparing for lots of cash out as it is nearing the Lunar New Year.
