07/12/2015 Asia Business Report

Many people have had to be rescued from their homes in Cumbria

and Lancashire, while hospitals have had to cancel operations and

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

A new warning about emerging markets and how they will cope with the rise

in interest rates in the US. A bitter pill or a promising cure. We

look at how online pharmacies are shaking up the industry in India.

Welcome to the programme. Emerging markets will be at risk from an

eventual interest rate rise in the US. That is the warning from the

bank of International settlements, which says that 2016 could be a bad

year for those markets, even worse than two years ago when the US

Federal Reserve said it would stop dumping money into the economy. With

new data last Friday showing more data -- more jobs were created than

expected in the US, many believe the federal reserve will raise interest

rates when it meets on December 16. We can take a look at those

markets. They rallied in the US, increasing 2% on the close on

Friday. And Asian markets are also making strong gains. The Hong Kong

market is about to open but we have already seen gains in Tokyo and

Australia, although that is now retreating from what we saw earlier.

From Sydney, we can speak to Michael McCarthy.

We are seeing this very positive start for Asian markets with these

rallies, but will these markets be as audience if and when the Federal

Reserve do eventually raise interest rates? The job numbers that we saw

on Friday are pointing clearly to an increase. The buying that was done

on Friday night and is occurring in the Asia-Pacific region is in full

knowledge that it is almost certain US rates will rise on December 16,

and while volatility in the markets is likely to continue, it is quite

clear that at this stage at least investors are taking on the positive

news, the increase in jobs and the revision upwards of the October

data. That means the economy in the US is not only recovering but the

pace of recovery is increasing and that is good for the global economy

and for companies in general. It is not likely to be a single day

phenomenon. You said that much of the anticipation of a rate rise in

the US has already been factored in but we saw this report saying that

emerging markets will be quite badly hit once those rates start heading

up. Is this something that we should be worried about? The idea that

rising US interest rates could attract global investment flows that

the US is not new or controversial but because it is not new, we have

already seen a lot of potential adjustments to a higher US interest

rate market being made. That weakness that we have seen across,

emerging markets this year is a direct reflection of investors

adjusting to that ahead of the fact. Markets look to price the future,

not what is happening today. The world is very different from 2011

and 2012 and the situation of economies like Russia, Brazil and

China are very different, so I would be very careful about any analysis

that makes a blanket call for countries like that. Last week, we

saw OPEC decided to continue with their output and that keeps oil

prices low. We are seeing some impact in Australian markets with

energy stocks. How will this affect the global economy and commodity

remind economies like Australia? --, did his reliance. -- commodity

reliant. Oil prices affect many economies in this region but the

clear issue is that OPEC is broken and the Saudis, the biggest

producers, are pushing that. If they can find a way for it to come back

together, we could see Titan is returning to the oil market. --

things return to normal in the oil market.

A Chinese bank is trying to list on the stock exchange again this year

for the second time... Regulators in Europe are extending

trade protections aimed at helping European solar power manufactures

compete against cheaper products from China. The protections had been

in place for two years and were due to expire on Monday.

As the world works towards a binding framework for emissions reductions

in Paris, climate change is having an impact not just on the

environment but also on trade. Melting ice in the Arctic offers the

potential for new shipping routes. At a climate change exhibition in

Singapore, I asked the Norwegian ambassador about the outlook.

Global climate change is happening twice as fast in the Arctic as

otherwise globally. The ice is melting. It also gives opportunity

like new shipping routes and a new north-eastern shipping route and

north-west shipping route. In the long-term perspective, these will be

near impossible routes for ships globally. In the short-term

perspective, I don't think there will be any kind of competition to

the present shipping routes, to the Suez Canal. But it will also open up

for Asian countries to become more involved. Surely be opening up of

the Arctic shipping routes will impact this part of the world,

particularly countries like Singapore, which is a huge shipping

hub. The Straits of Malacca and the Suez Canal as well. Is this a

threat? On the opposite side. We see this as a very long-term

development. There are different ice conditions on both of the shipping

routes, the north-east and north-west, so we do not think this

is an issue for the next 20 years. And what about the concerns over the

environment as well as displacing many of the communities in the

region? For most of the Arctic people, shipping, oil and gas

production and other kinds of economic entity would be positive.

-- activity. It would create jobs and it would create engagement. We

would look at the increased engagement from Asian countries as

very positive, not as a threat to the Arctic.

A BBC investigation earlier this year found how easy it is to

purchase prescription drugs over the counter in India. It is an industry

that is under pressure as online only pharmacies are drawing more and

more customers away from traditional shops.

A one-day strike at 850,000 of India's pharmacies. The demand is a

ban on websites selling medicines online. TRANSLATION: Online firms

can buy medicines in bulk directly from large pharmaceutical companies

at huge discounts. We cannot match those prices. The bigger issue is

that India does not have a law to regulate online sales yet. This is

one start-up sending medicines online. It does not stop any drugs

itself, linking up with pharmacies to fulfil orders. It says more price

transparency means the consumer wins, with no risk to safety. In my

company, we have 35 pharmacists who check the prescription and eight

senior pharmacist who validated before we go to the third party,

which is the chemist. And the chemist has his own pharmacist which

again looks at the prescription before dispensing it. The local

neighbourhood chemist is something most Indians have grown up with and

you really have to go far to find one. But you can see the appeal of

the new services. It is quite easy to buy medicine online. Go to the

website, it global prescription and once it is approved, pay for it.

That is especially appealing if you are sick. With over-the-counter

drugs on the High Street worth $12 billion per year, it is no wonder

that online and offline businesses are fighting over it. We went to

more than half a dozen pharmacies in Delhi... Problems in India's

pharmacy sector were highlighted by the panorama programme earlier this

year, which found it was easy to buy prescription drugs, including

antibiotics, without having a prescription. The government is now

exploring how to better regulate the sale of medicines and whether

pharmacies need to face up to the modern reality of e-commerce is

something regulators are also bound to look at.

And a quick look at the markets before we go to stop we are starting

to see those gains as Asian markets take their choose from the strong

closure on Wall Street on Friday, which was down to the

better-than-expected US jobs report. In Australia, energy stocks are

being sold off after OPEC maintained its output. That is it for now.

Thank you for