Reuters Insider - Asia Insight: Indonesia's search for survivors

ONO PHARMACEUTICAL

02/10/2018 12:02

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Source: Reuters Insider

Description: Indonesia's president orders rescue teams to ramp up their search
for survivors from the devastating earthquake and tsunami. New surveys point
to a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing. President Trump rules out ending the
trade war with China any time soon.
Short Link: https://reut.rs/2P4EXL9

Video Transcript:

Hello, and welcome to your Asia Insight, I am Angeline Ong. Our top story this
Tuesday. Indonesia's president Joko Widodo has ordered rescuers to search for
more victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami on the island of
Sulawesi.  br/ Some remote areas have been out of contact for three days,
making it difficult to gauge the full scale of the disaster. The current death
toll stands at more than 1,200 but it's expected to rise significantly.
Commercial airlines have struggled to restore operations at Palu's
quake-damaged airport, but the military has managed to airlift some of the
survivors to safety. A navy ship with a capacity of 1,000 is being deployed to
help with the evacuation. Now analysts say China is likely to roll out more
growth-support measures in the coming months, with two new surveys showing a
slowdown in manufacturing. For that, the official index fell from 51.3 in
August to 50.8 in September - that's a seven-month low whilst a private survey
has found that growth in the factory sector stalled after 15 months of
expansion. Now it's a sign US tariffs are having an impact on the Chinese
economy, although Beijing insists it will be able to cushion the blow by
stimulating domestic demand. Now as for the US President, he's not showing any
signs of relenting on his tough trade policy with China. Speaking a day after
agreeing to a NAFTA deal with Canada and Mexico, Donald Trump said it was
still too early to start working out a deal with China. He says he wants to
apply more pressure on the Chinese economy to get the best deal for the United
States.  br/  br/ Well, we'll see what happens with China. We have lost $375
billion in trade deficits, they have a surplus of $375 billion, with a B, and
China wants to talk very badly. And I said frankly, it's too early to talk,
can't talk now because they're not ready, because they've been ripping us for
so many years. It doesn't happen that quickly. br/  br/ Now let's take a quick
look at the markets across Asia. The optimism over the NAFTA trade deal has
faded somewhat with Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan closing 1.59% down. It
was better news in China where the CSI300 index finished up by more than 1%.
In Japan, it was a steady day with the Nikkei closing 0.10% up. Well, let's
take a look at some companies in the news. Shares in the Ono Pharmaceutical
Company has soared after researchers behind one of its drugs was awarded the
Nobel Prize. Tasuku Honjo of Japan and American James Allison received the
Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for work which led to the cancer
immunotherapy drug Opdivo.  br/ Shares in the Japanese company went up by
6.9%, reaching its highest level since 2016. Ono jointly developed and
commercialized the drug with US company Bristol-Meyers Squibb. The Japanese
automaker Mazda has announced that all of its new vehicles will incorporate
some form of electrification by 2030. Mazda says that all-battery electric
vehicles will account for 5% of the 2030 fleet. The car maker says it will
develop one type of EV that is powered solely by battery and another which
will pair a battery with a range extender powered by rotary engine. It has
plans to market the all-battery EV in 2020. Now Samsung is set to post a hefty
jump in third-quarter profit, taking it to record levels on the back of strong
performance by its chip unit. A Refinitiv poll of 15 analysts forecast that
Samsung would post a $15 trillion profit for July to September when it reports
preliminary results later this week. The surge has been driven by a spike in
prices for DRAM chips, which help devices perform multiple tasks at once. And
finally, Australia's competition watchdog says it has opened an inquiry into
price competition among suppliers of foreign currency conversion services. The
ACCC says the inquiry will examine why major companies in Australia, including
the big four banks, are able to consistently charge high prices. The inquiry
will also examine the ways exchange rates are presented to customers, and the
ability of potential entrants to compete. And that's it from your Asia
Insight. I'm Angeline Ong, and this is Reuters