AI uptake sees wealth management headcounts in Hong Kong trail growth in assets

Chinese memory chip giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) plans to invest 34.9 billion yuan (US$5.2 billion) in expansion, with a large portion of the capital going to domestic suppliers of chipmaking equipment, according to a source. The firm, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market, would spend 24.1 billion yuan on a new technology research and development project and another 10.8 billion yuan on the second phase of a wafer testing base, according to a Monday stock filing. The...

Citi Research has turned bullish on China’s 30-year government bonds, projecting that yields will fall further even as US Treasury yields climb. In a Monday research note, analysts at the Wall Street bank recommended that investors go long on China’s 30-year sovereign debt, saying they expected the yield to fall towards 1.8 per cent while the 10-year yield could edge towards 1.6 per cent. The analysts attributed the outlook to easing supply pressures and improved market dynamics for China’s...

Shares of Akeso surged after British drug maker AstraZeneca moved to advance the Chinese biotech firm’s flagship cancer drug, while a new deal from US giant Merck further underscored the sector’s global momentum amid easing fears of US curbs. AstraZeneca on Tuesday announced a US$2 billion equity investment in Florida-headquartered Summit Therapeutics, which holds the exclusive rights to develop and commercialise Akeso’s immunotherapy drug ivonescimab outside China. Summit and AstraZeneca would...

Domestic workers will receive a P500 increase in their monthly minimum wage under a new wage order in Central Visayas, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Tuesday.

Global investors are turning to China again in search of alternatives to crowded US asset markets, with Pimco seeing Chinese bonds as one of the safest ways to diversify portfolios after sentiment towards the world’s second-largest economy “flipped 180 degrees”. The US-based asset manager, which oversaw more than US$2 trillion in assets by the end of June, had been pointing its clients, particularly those outside the United States, towards Chinese offshore bonds, according to its president,...

As the Philippines moves to include nuclear power in its energy mix, the Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing for a competitive procurement framework focused on strict grid readiness, staged delivery schedules, and rigorous pricing parameters.

Hong Kong welcomed four companies to start trading on Tuesday after they raised a combined HK$14.4 billion (US$1.83 billion) – but three opened below their offer prices, adding pressure to an already sluggish month for initial public offerings (IPOs). Automated equipment manufacturer RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology was the largest company to make its debut, having raised HK$5.18 billion, but its shares closed 4.9 per cent lower at HK$414.4 (US$52.82) after dropping as much as 9.8 per...

JPMorgan Chase, the world’s top bank by market capitalisation, plans to expand hiring and technology investment across mainland China and Hong Kong and is looking to take advantage of the city’s strengthening capital markets as well as its platform for serving companies operating in and out of the Chinese market, according to senior executives. CEO Jamie Dimon said the banking giant’s China-related business, measured by factors including client volume, has grown sharply over the past decade –...

Some securities companies have begun to clean up non-compliant overseas stock trading by mainland Chinese investors following a regulatory crackdown that started months ago with fines on Tiger Brokers and Futu Securities International. Orient Securities’ mainland-based clients that have trading accounts in its Hong Kong unit will be banned from buying stocks and transferring in funds starting on Wednesday, according to a notice to customers seen by the South China Morning Post. Guotai Junan...

US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence start-up founded by renowned Chinese-American computer scientist Li Fei-Fei, for US$8.2 billion in an all-stock deal, as the company steps up its rivalry with Nvidia. The acquisition, expected to close by the end of this year, would integrate World Labs’ research team and spatial-intelligence model expertise into AMD, according to an announcement on Monday. Li, a Stanford University professor...

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on Tuesday announced that it has started the bidding or competitive selection process (CSP) for suppliers of its 900-megawatt (MW) baseload power requirement.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said Tuesday the suspension of excise taxes on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene would provide direct relief to Filipino households amid elevated global oil prices.