KUALA LUMPUR: Many Malaysian investors are positive about the local economy and expect Asia to offer the best investment returns next year, according to a Franklin Templeton global poll. Of the 1,000 Malaysian respondents polled, 44 per cent believed the local economy has improved while a smaller 24 per cent believed it has worsened, according to the 2012 Global Investor Sentiment Survey conducted by Franklin Templeton, a global investment management organisation....
SYDNEY: The head of France's Total says the energy giant wants to expand in Australia's booming resources sector, but warns that a lack of manpower and lively competition could contain its ambitions.
On his first visit to Australia, Christophe de Margerie said the nation had enjoyed "unbelievable success" in developing its liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry which the government hopes will soon rival that of Qatar....
PARIS: France's economy stalled in the first quarter of 2012, official statistics agency INSEE said, highlighting the challenge to Socialist President Francois Hollande as he was inaugurated on Tuesday.
In addition to recording zero growth in the first quarter, INSEE revised its fourth quarter 2011 growth figure down to 0.1 per cent from 0.2 per cent, while maintaining that the eurozone's second biggest economy expanded by 1.7 per cent last year....
SYDNEY: Australia has enough gas reserves to maintain current production for almost 200 years, a report released Monday showed, supporting the nation's push to become a global exporter to rival Qatar.
The nation has identified gas resources of about 390 trillion cubic feet, but this could double if exploration for shale gas is successful, Energy and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said....
MOSCOW: The loss of the new Superjet 100 in Indonesia has dealt a heavy blow to the Russian aviation industry which hoped the first new civilian aircraft built in post-Soviet Russia would improve its image. The Superjet 100, developed by legendary Russian planemakers Sukhoi, first took to the skies in 2008 and only started commercial flights last year in what officials hoped would mark a turnaround for the industry....
HONG KONG: HSBC is in talks to sell assets in several South American countries, the banking giant said Thursday, as part of its plans to streamline global operations to cut costs.
Europe's biggest bank said in a statement to the stock exchange here, where it is listed, that it "is in discussions regarding the possible sale of its operations in Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay".
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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Thursday it is exploring partnerships in India and China as it looks to guard against increased competition and global economic uncertainty.
"There is always a constant look at how we can be nimble in response to changes in the market," chief executive Goh Choon Phong told reporters a day after the group announced sharply lower profits for the fiscal year to March....
JAKARTA: Indonesia's banking sector is becoming a magnet for foreign firms willing to accept an uncertain investment environment in return for booming growth and an untapped market of tens of millions.
Major players are watching with interest the outcome of DBS Group of Singapore's trail-blazing $7.3 billion deal struck on April 2 to acquire Bank Danamon Indonesia, the nation's fifth-largest bank....
JUBA: The World Bank warned Tuesday of its "deep concern" at the struggling economies of foes Sudan and South Sudan, locked in a bitter border dispute and an oil shutdown over transit fees.
"The World Bank is deeply concerned with the economic and development impact of the unresolved oil issues and how this will affect the people of both South Sudan and Sudan, particularly the most vulnerable," it said in a statement....
BUCHAREST: Plans by the Canadian company Gabriel Resources to open a gold mine at Rosia Montana in Romania might be hampered by a centre-left cabinet which is to take office on Monday, analysts say.
"The Rosia Montana project will be reassessed in a transparent way so that decisions are in line with the national interest, environment protection regulations and European legislation," the new government's economic programme says....
