US dollar edges higher as Chinese yuan continues slump

The US dollar edged higher on foreign exchange markets on Thursday while China's yuan continued its week-long slide. 

PHOTO: EPA

DEC 11, 20156:56 AM

[NEW YORK] The US dollar edged higher on foreign exchange markets on Thursday while China's yuan continued its week-long slide.

The greenback pulled back from Wednesday's one-month lows to trade at US$1.0939 per euro and 121.62 yen at around 2200 GMT.

The dollar inched up against the pound as well, in mostly quiet trade with little news to set a new direction.

China's yuan, or renminbi, slumped further, taking its four-day loss against the dollar to about 0.7 per cent, the sharpest fall since an August devaluation.

The yuan was trading at 6.439 per dollar compared to 6.420 a day earlier and 6.395 at the beginning of the week.

Beijing is struggling with an outflow of capital and the ongoing slowdown in the economy.

Data showed this week another fall in both imports and exports in November, and China's foreign exchange reserves fell to their lowest level in nearly three years, to US$3.44 trillion.

AFP

      

Singapore seeks feedback on US$19b acquisition of SanDisk by Western Digital

By

Jamie Lee leejamie@sph.com.sg@JamieLeeBT

Singapore's anti-trust body said on Friday it is seeking feedback over the US$19 billion acquisition of SanDisk Corp by US giant Western Digital Corp. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

DEC 11, 201511:14 AM

SINGAPORE'S anti-trust body said on Friday it is seeking feedback over the US$19 billion acquisition of SanDisk Corp by US giant Western Digital Corp.

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said the proposed acquisition, according to both parties, "will not result in a substantial lessening of competition for enterprise SSDs (solid-state drives) in Singapore or worldwide".

CCS was told that the two companies overlap globally in the supply of only enterprise SSDs, a more premium form of storage device compared to spinning hard-disk drives (HDDs).

SanDisk is one of the largest makers of Nand flash memory chips, which store data in mobile devices. The technology is useful in cloud-computing data centres, given the smaller power consumption and quick processing speed.

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In early 2014, Western Digital moved its production for its unit HGST Singapore from here to Thailand. It fired more than 500 workers based in Singapore then, alongside the move.

    
 

China says loss-making state firms should exit market

China's state-owned firms that suffer three consecutive years of losses should exit the market through bankruptcy or other means, the country's state asset supervisor said in a statement on Friday. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

DEC 11, 201510:52 AM

[BEIJING] China's state-owned firms that suffer three consecutive years of losses should exit the market through bankruptcy or other means, the country's state asset supervisor said in a statement on Friday.

"We will close, suspend, combine, divert, peel off or reorganise long-term, loss-making enterprises which are in the overcapacity industry and could not meet the state standards of energy consumption, environment protection, quality and safety," the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) added in the statement.

The comment follows a urge from China's premier Li Keqiang to clean zombie firms and tackle serious overcapacity in some industries.

REUTER
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China central bank fixes yuan mid-point at weakest in more than 4 years

The People's Bank of China set its official midpoint rate at 6.4358 per dollar prior to the market open on Friday, its weakest level since Aug 5, 2011, and 0.2 per cent weaker than the previous fix of 6.4236. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

DEC 11, 20159:37 AM

[SHANGHAI] The People's Bank of China set its official midpoint rate at 6.4358 per dollar prior to the market open on Friday, its weakest level since Aug 5, 2011, and 0.2 per cent weaker than the previous fix of 6.4236.

Guided by the PBOC's official guidance rate, spot yuan has hit multi-month lows each day this week in intraday trading, raising questions about how much the central bank intends to let it depreciate.

The spot rate is allowed to trade within a range 2 per cent above or below the official fixing on any given day.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund announced that it would include the yuan in its Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket alongside the dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen, an important milestone in China's integration into global finances.

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Markets have been rife with speculation that Beijing would allow the yuan to depreciate after the SDR inclusion. The yuan's performance this week appears to justify that speculation, traders said.

REUTERS