Business and technology quick bites

Updated version at 2.03 pm

The highlighted words in red are links to the news article.

March 22, 2021,

Business News

1. Most emerging Asian currencies edged weaker, with investors slightly unsettled by a slump in Turkey’s lira after President Tayyip Erdogan sacked a hawkish central bank governor, replacing him with a critic of high-interest rates.
2. Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and IHH Healthcare Bhd, which have operations in Turkey hogged the limelight in morning trade today after their share prices fell following the Turkish lira’s sharp decline overnight.
3. CapitaLand Ltd, majority-owned by Singapore state investor Temasek, announced on Monday plans to split itself into two in a strategy aimed at pursuing growth as an asset-light company.
4. Indonesia’s grocery market could be worth US$169.4 billion in 2022 – up from US$140.2 billion in 2019 but traditional retailers are expected to lose ground to convenience stores, which will grow their market share from 8.6%  in 2020 to 9.3%  in 2022.
5. A Credit Suisse Group AG survey of more than 200 institutional investors with US$812 billion in hedge fund assets showed Asia-Pacific was the most-sought after region with 55% net demand, the highest level of interest in over a decade.
6. Beleaguered casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd said it received a buyout offer from private equity company Blackstone Group Inc that values the company at AUS$8.02 billion (US$6.19 billion).

Technology News 

1. Tighter regulations, billions in lost overseas share value, and government pledges to get even tougher – Chinese tech giants are reeling under what looks like a sustained Big Brother assault on innovation and enterprise.
2. LG Electronics Inc may shutter its mobile communication business rather than sell it, DongA Ilbo reports, citing an unidentified person in the electronics industry.
3. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, suspended from Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, plans to launch his own platform in two to three months, one of his senior advisers told Fox News.
4. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has been lobbying the British government to introduce a legal requirement for internet giants such as Google to take down financial fraud websites, according to a report in the Sunday Times.