15/08/2014 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news, live from Singapore.

As European growth stalls, major aged `` major ageing trading

partners start to feel the fallout. And darts are usually found in

western pubs but the sport is now found in Asia. Thanks are joining

us. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan are all due to release fresh

economic growth data later today but as we await those numbers there are

rising concerns among investors that the world economy could we headed

for a major slowdown, following week growth numbers from Japan and the

eurozone this week. But global stocks seem to be shrugging off the

bad news and continue their upward journey. On Wall Street, the Dow

Jones and SMP index ended higher following some strong corporate

earnings. In Europe, markets gained, although learning the European

markets ground to a halt. What's causing this discrepancy between

poor numbers and rising stock markets? Earlier I posted this

question to the chief economist at the bank of Singapore. One of the

things that's been supporting markets is that the weak growth

increases the chances that this very loose monetary policy that we are

seeing will extend into the future. Yesterday, career cut interest rates

and it is very loose monetary conditions and low interest rates

that have been supporting the demand for risk assets and the stock

market. But you don't have loose market policies for the likes of New

Zealand, Indonesia, India and the Philippines just raised the cost of

rolling recently. The Philippines did, as did Malaysia last month. ``

borrowing recently. But in Australia and New Zealand, the X based ``

expectations of interest rates going up have faded. Australia is even

talking about reductions. These factors are supporting the stock

markets. This could also hampered corporate earnings going forward.

From the mindset of many investors, they seem to be managing

expectations and lowering forecasts. The recession will be

good for nobody, if you start to get a proper decline in growth. I don't

think we are talking about that. All but earnings out of America have

been relatively strong. The news out of Japan has been quite good in

recent weeks. `` corporate earnings out of America. We aren't worried

about inflation and interest rates going up but it isn't so weak that

we are worried about falling profits. People are getting poor

return on their cash, looking for investment opportunities and finding

some value in the stock market. We have some key economic numbers

coming out of Asia. The countries that rely on China for growth. The

numbers coming out from the mainland has been rather mixed. What are you

expecting from here? I think the fears about the mainland are what

might happen as the credit bubble unravels, rather than the current

situation. Growth in China in the second quarter, the numbers come out

today, were good because they had stability of measures to support it.

It looks as if the Taiwan numbers will be close to 4%, Malaysia and

little bit above 5%, Hong Kong perhaps just shy of 3%. So it

doesn't look like they are struggling now. The fear is what

happens if China slows down hard over the next year. In places like

Taiwan will be very badly affected. In other news, Australia's

third`largest bank, Australia and New Zealand banking group, ANZ, is

on track to post six`year profits. They saw nine`month cash profits

rising by 8% to about $5 billion and said it was set to reach its

full`year financial forecasts, after it cut costs, Lowood debts and saw

stronger growth in Asia. `` lowered. Club Med may be taken over

after a long legal battle. The stock regulator approved a rival bid made

by an Italian businessman. He offered to pay 790 million new rose

for the holiday chain, which was 32% higher than another bid. Whether you

use them for sending e`mails, playing games, taking pictures,

smartphones are big this is in many parts of the world. But at the

moment India has the second`highest number of mobile phone subscribers

in the world, about 930 million. The latest figures show only one in

eight of them have smartphones. But that's changing.

There's no shortage of places, when it comes to buying a smartphone in

India, with over 20 brands to choose from in the market. Of course all of

them are trying to push the performance by improving

reliability, speed and function. But many of them offer smartphones at

less than $100, so it is the price that is fuelling demand in a big

way. The huge sales growth and population means more and more

companies are launching products here. China `based `` the Chinese

`based company recently sold hundreds of handsets to an online

website within seconds. Partly helped by low prices, these new

trends are eating into the market share of most of the

well`established players. These include both local brands and global

giants, like Samsung, Nokia and big roller. The Indian market is a big

market. `` Motorola. It has many different uses, who speak different

languages, different age groups, different consumer preferences. To

succeed in India, any player has to be able to offer a different range

of handset models. A small number of models won't work in a market like

India, simply because they're such a variety of demand. And it's not just

about the handsets. The boss of one of India's largest retailers says

the rise of fast mobile into that access will also boost sales.

Countries were waiting for 4G to happen. Once it happens, internet

will be available to anybody and everybody across the country. So,

more want internet on their smartphone and better connectivity.

Then the business will just grow. The intense competition means barely

one week goes by without the launch of another smartphone. And because

it is often accompanied by a hefty discount, the eventual winner could

be the Indian consumer. Have you ever played darts? It's now

considered a global sport and in Asia on with an expanding fan. That

means a growing business. So. So much so that the first ever World

Series darts competition to be played in this region kicks off in

Singapore tonight. `` so much so. This is probably how you think about

darts, a pub, appear in one hand and a dart in the other. `` a beer. Not

commonly called a sport and we don't usually describe the players at ASP

`` as athletes but big game. This is a very serious business. Meet this

five`time world champion. A Dutchman, better known as Barney.

And fellow competitor, Peter, and Simon Whitlock, the beard to be

feared. They are top layers, all in Singapore this weekend to show

locals how darts is done. We want to promote the sport more and more, so

more countries get involved, or companies will sponsor their best

players. At the end, there's more money. More players, big bucks? Of

course. But already there is big money in darts. Over the next two

days players will be vying to win $100,000 and, for the promoters,

they hoped the first ever World Series event in this region will

eventually bring in big returns. We have no interest in being one might

wonder. We will come back to Singapore and look at other areas in

Asia. But this game isn't quite the same as the one embraced by Asian

players. This is soft darts. A high`tech version, complete with

flashing lights and sound effects. The ends of the darts are plastic

points. Instead of doing the numbers in your head, the electronic board

calculates the school. Do you get addicted? Yes. Quite. Like? Because

when you hit the target you want, you feel good. It's been popular in

Japan for years and it is now sweeping across the region. Every

one of these machines and on average $800 every month. And at about $1

every game, the numbers are literally growing by the day. This

place at tracks up to 200 new players are weak. Whether it's a

soft or steel keep dart that takes your fancy, there's no denying more

people are adopting the game. And where there's popularity, players

and makers are hopeful that will continue.

A quick look at Asian stocks. Regional share prices are currently

rallying in early Friday trade, following some strong corporate

earnings and conciliatory comments from Russia to help is concerned

about the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine. `` help is concerned.

Goodbye for now. The main stories: Iraq's Thai

minister Nouri al`Maliki has agreed to step down. President Obama says

American air strikes have freed most of the people trapped by militants

in the north of the