:00:00. > :00:00.Oxfordshire 13 days ago. No body has yet been found. Ben Blakeley, who is
:00:00. > :00:17.22 and from Reading, is due to appear before magistrates later this
:00:18. > :00:23.morning. The Japanese economy - a hit or a
:00:24. > :00:36.miss? To hike or not to hike, the dilemma
:00:37. > :00:42.facing India's central bank. We start off with Japan. Business
:00:43. > :00:46.confidence among manufacturers show that improvement in the three months
:00:47. > :00:54.until December stimulate -- signal that the government stimulation
:00:55. > :01:03.policies are working. Sentiment among manufacturers improved by four
:01:04. > :01:12.points to plus 16, a six-year high. We also saw a rise in the index. It
:01:13. > :01:24.comes as Shinzo Abe at Marks is one year in office. He has pledged
:01:25. > :01:29.economic reforms. The survey also showed that large companies planned
:01:30. > :01:33.to increase capital spending by just 4.6% in the financial year to March
:01:34. > :01:37.2014. That is lower than what economists were hoping for. Next
:01:38. > :01:46.year, the government hopes to go ahead with a higher sales tax, from
:01:47. > :01:51.5% to 8% starting in April. I asked if the upcoming sales tax will
:01:52. > :01:56.create a dent in the prospects for the Japanese economy.
:01:57. > :02:00.It will have an impact on spending. We will see demand being brought
:02:01. > :02:02.forwards. The first quarter will have strong consumer spending and
:02:03. > :02:09.that it will slump in the second quarter. The business outlook survey
:02:10. > :02:16.covers a forecast for two quarters and it shows that manufacturers are
:02:17. > :02:19.quite confident that we will see a mild deterioration in the second
:02:20. > :02:24.quarter. What are the three top things in your wish list that you
:02:25. > :02:35.hope that she is a bit will -- Shinzo Abe it will implement is ? .
:02:36. > :02:41.We want to see some quantitive easing. And we want to see some
:02:42. > :02:46.structural reforms. We want to see something in terms of the TBB
:02:47. > :02:52.negotiations succeeding. We want to see that agriculture protection will
:02:53. > :02:55.be lowered. For more on the progress of the
:02:56. > :02:58.Japanese economy, log onto our website. Check out the latest
:02:59. > :03:06.commentary from our chief business, -- correspondent.
:03:07. > :03:11.Singapore -based budget airline is joining forces with Thailand's
:03:12. > :03:18.low-cost airline. The two are coming together to create a new low-cost
:03:19. > :03:25.carrier. It will be based in Bangkok. The Thai company will have
:03:26. > :03:28.a 51% in the partnership, while the Singaporean one will own the
:03:29. > :03:32.remaining. Investment in the project will total just over 60 million US
:03:33. > :03:36.dollars. Austrian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
:03:37. > :03:42.has supported calls from Qantas for a level playing field -- Australian
:03:43. > :03:49.prime minister. They face a record loss and rising competition. The
:03:50. > :03:53.Qantas sale act, which came into place in 1992, limits foreign
:03:54. > :03:58.ownership of the carrier to 49% and requires Qantas to keep the majority
:03:59. > :04:02.of its maintenance operations in a straight. The airline has long
:04:03. > :04:10.complained of Virgin Australia and is major shareholders providing a
:04:11. > :04:13.virgin access to foreign funding, thereby providing an unfair playing
:04:14. > :04:18.field. India's central bank will be
:04:19. > :04:21.revealing whether or not it will be changing interest rates. In the past
:04:22. > :04:25.three months, the bank has increased the cost of borrowing twice to try
:04:26. > :04:32.to keep soaring prices in check. It is also, at a time when growth has
:04:33. > :04:40.remained slow -- it has also come at a time.
:04:41. > :04:44.This man has lived in this building all his life. In the next few
:04:45. > :04:52.months, he has to move out. Like most old buildings in the city, his
:04:53. > :04:56.home is going to be redeveloped. Even though the developer is
:04:57. > :05:00.providing him with compensation, he says it will not be enough to buy a
:05:01. > :05:06.new home. The prospect of taking a loan is not very appealing. I was
:05:07. > :05:09.looking for a home loan, but I cannot take the burden right now.
:05:10. > :05:13.The interest-rate just keeps going up and never comes down. It has to
:05:14. > :05:17.fit my budget, and that is not going to happen with the current scenario
:05:18. > :05:21.of real estate and home loan interest rates. High interest rates
:05:22. > :05:26.coupled with the slowing economy has made it difficult for consumers to
:05:27. > :05:30.buy homes. In fact, it has hit sales in a big way, forcing many real
:05:31. > :05:34.estate developers to offer discounts. That has not helped much.
:05:35. > :05:36.It is not only consumers that are feeling the pressure of high
:05:37. > :05:46.interest rates. Businesses are also feeling the heat. This factory based
:05:47. > :05:52.in Mumbai makes switchgears, which are used in housing apartments and
:05:53. > :05:56.industrial complexes. The economic slowdown means it is not getting
:05:57. > :06:00.many orders -- not has not been getting many orders over the last
:06:01. > :06:06.couple of years. Rising labour and energy prices have impacted its
:06:07. > :06:11.costs, which have gone up sharply over the same period. If that is not
:06:12. > :06:16.bad enough, high interest rates have squeezed its profit even further. We
:06:17. > :06:22.have to look for some ultimate way of financing. Maybe we have to look
:06:23. > :06:27.for some cheaper funding from abroad, if it is available. The
:06:28. > :06:31.banking industry here cannot provide us, and we may have to look for
:06:32. > :06:38.alternatives if we are to stay in business. It will be a big challenge
:06:39. > :06:41.for us. The Indian central bank has increased key lending rates twice in
:06:42. > :06:47.the last three months. This is mainly due to high inflation driven
:06:48. > :06:52.I rising prices. The government and industry have been clamouring for a
:06:53. > :06:56.rate cut to revive the slowing economy. But so far, the bank has
:06:57. > :07:01.shown no signs of giving in to the pressure. The rate decision from the
:07:02. > :07:07.Indian central bank is due to come out on Wednesday.
:07:08. > :07:12.December is traditionally one of the best months. Is because of the
:07:13. > :07:16.so-called Santa Claus rally. That is when share prices rise of the final
:07:17. > :07:20.ten days of training before the New year. Overall, volatility would
:07:21. > :07:25.probably best described it doesn't get it. I spoke to the Philippines
:07:26. > :07:28.stock exchange president, who told me how the stock exchange and the
:07:29. > :07:31.Philippines has performed this year. I think the year has been quite good
:07:32. > :07:37.for the Philippines and for the stock market. Good in the sense that
:07:38. > :07:45.we have a lot more activity on the exchange, more liquidity, more IPOs,
:07:46. > :07:50.and new stocks and products being launched. How have the bribery
:07:51. > :07:54.scandals and the natural calamities impacted sentiment of investors?
:07:55. > :07:58.There has always been a short-term dip. A big contributor to the
:07:59. > :08:05.volatility that you talk about. The same thing happened when the tape a
:08:06. > :08:10.story first came out. There was an overreaction. It contributes to the
:08:11. > :08:15.volatility. Overall, I would say that the basic fundamentals prevail
:08:16. > :08:20.when you take a look at trends. This year has been a milestone for the
:08:21. > :08:22.Philippines. It got an investment-grade status from some of
:08:23. > :08:30.the key ratings agencies. How much has this helped in terms of bringing
:08:31. > :08:33.in new investors into the Philippine capital markets? Tremendous. I would
:08:34. > :08:38.say that we are seeing a lot of 1st-time portfolio manner --
:08:39. > :08:41.managers who are investing in the first time because they could not
:08:42. > :08:47.invest in investment-grade investments. This rating has given a
:08:48. > :08:53.third-party cheque in terms of saying the company is OK, the
:08:54. > :08:59.financials are OK and the fundamentals are looking decent.
:09:00. > :09:07.When you take a look at who we are seeing, a big influx for example has
:09:08. > :09:11.been from Japan. An amazing amount of interest and portfolio flowing
:09:12. > :09:21.from that sector, which was not present before. What could be the
:09:22. > :09:27.big flags for the economy and the capital markets? I think how the
:09:28. > :09:32.reconstruction relating to the storm will be, in terms of how much
:09:33. > :09:35.infrastructure building will the company be able to do, something
:09:36. > :09:40.that the people have been looking forward to for some time. For the
:09:41. > :09:49.capital market, the big question is what will be the US Federal talk.
:09:50. > :09:55.That created so much volatility last year in the local market and that
:09:56. > :09:55.could be a factor in how markets are perceived, including the
:09:56. > :10:09.Philippines. Investors continue to remain on the
:10:10. > :10:13.sidelines amid concerns that the US Federal bank could change policy
:10:14. > :10:24.this week. Thank you for interesting your time
:10:25. > :10:44.with us. Goodbye for now. -- investing your time with us.
:10:45. > :10:50.The top stories this hour - the actor Peter O'Toole, renowned for
:10:51. > :10:51.playing Lawrence of Arabia in the Oscar-winning film has died, aged