Tue, Apr 25, 2023 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  JAPAN

  Stimulus plans unchanged

  Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda said he saw little need to alter monetary stimulus plans ahead of his first policy meeting as the bank’s chief, forecasting underlying inflation to weaken. “Our stance is to continue with monetary stimulus along with our price outlook,” Ueda said yesterday in response to questions in parliament. “Inflation is expected to cool to below 2 percent in the second half of this fiscal year” ending in March next year, he added. While some expect that some adjustments to the BOJ’s yield curve control policy, Ueda said the bank was not at a stage to discuss tweaking it. Data on Friday showed Japan’s consumer prices excluding fresh food and energy gained the most since 1981.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  US pressures Seoul on China

  The US has asked South Korea to urge its chipmakers not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing bans Micron Technology Inc from selling semiconductors, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Washington asked Seoul to encourage Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to hold back from boosting sales to China if Micron is banned as a result of an investigation by Beijing, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the situation. The Chinese Cyberspace Administration last month said it would conduct a security review of Micron products sold in the country. The chipmaker said last month it was cooperating with the Chinese government, and its operations in the country were normal. The White House did not comment on the report, only saying that Washington and Seoul have made efforts to coordinate investments in the semiconductor sector, secure critical technologies and address economic coercion.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  Home sellers wary on pricing

  British property owners are turning more cautious about asking for higher prices, according to a survey from online property analyst Rightmove. Average asking prices rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier to ￡366,247 (US$455,950), the slowest pace since December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic and government tax breaks triggered a frenzy of buying. The monthly pace of increase slowed to 0.2 percent from 0.8 percent last month. The figures point to a stagnating market in which a shortage of new properties for sale is keeping prices aloft despite a jump in mortgage rates and double-digit inflation. While asking price growth slowed, first-time buyers faced record prices, and there were signs of improving confidence among buyers and sellers, Rightmove analyst Tim Bannister said in a statement yesterday.

  ADANI GROUP

  Bonds rise amid buyback

  Adani Group bonds rose after a key company started the first debt buyback by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate since it was targeted by a short seller in January. Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd plans to buy back as much as US$130 million of its July 2024 bonds and similar amounts in each of the next four quarters, as it tries to show that its liquidity position is comfortable, the firm said in a stock exchange filing. The buyback marks another effort by the group to regain investor confidence, including trimming capital spending, after a Hindenburg Research report pounded its bonds and shares. Adani Ports’ “measured pace” of repaying debt should enable it to maintain its revised capital spending target of about US$550 million in the fiscal year started this month, Bloomberg Intelligence reported.
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