:00:00. > :00:20.America's central bank continues to reduce its supply of cheap money,
:00:21. > :00:27.reining in its massive on buying scheme. As China becomes the
:00:28. > :00:32.world's biggest market for red wine consumption, we find out how
:00:33. > :00:39.producers are making the most out of it.
:00:40. > :00:43.We kick off with America's central bank reducing its monthly bond
:00:44. > :00:49.buying stimulus programme by another $10 billion. Staying with its plan
:00:50. > :00:54.to cut back the supply of cheap money. The Federal Reserve said
:00:55. > :00:58.economic growth had picked up since it last met in December. The move
:00:59. > :01:05.was expected, but US share prices still fell overnight. In Asia, Tokyo
:01:06. > :01:09.is down more than 3%, following the tumble in New York. Worries over
:01:10. > :01:14.turbulence in emerging markets. Australia is also in negative
:01:15. > :01:25.territory by 45 points. That is about 1%. Hong Kong also in negative
:01:26. > :01:32.territory. South Korea is closed today due to the lunar New Year
:01:33. > :01:36.holidays. I spoke to our correspondence in New York.
:01:37. > :01:46.I think what this suggests is that the struggles in the emerging
:01:47. > :01:52.markets, while important to keep an eye on, in terms of the US economy
:01:53. > :01:56.it doesn't pose a very big threat, which is why I think you are seeing
:01:57. > :02:00.that the Federal Reserve has continued on with a reduction in its
:02:01. > :02:04.asset purchases. It went on to talk about the strength in the US
:02:05. > :02:08.economy, that it is actually economic activity gaining steam,
:02:09. > :02:15.consumer confidence is increasing, corporations are starting to higher
:02:16. > :02:18.again, and there is a real sense in this country that the economy is
:02:19. > :02:24.getting a little bit better. -- hire. They are seeing that to be
:02:25. > :02:30.happening in the future. We can see the Federal Reserve are beginning to
:02:31. > :02:35.scale back the support of the economy. With a scaling back of the
:02:36. > :02:38.bond buying programme, there were no surprises. The Fed stayed the
:02:39. > :02:42.course, but the market is still reacted, even though they were
:02:43. > :02:51.expecting this. It is interesting, because one of the reasons some
:02:52. > :02:55.analysts have commented, the reason the Fed felt comfortable with this
:02:56. > :02:59.reduction, the last time they announced a $10 billion reduction,
:03:00. > :03:04.the stock market took the information quite well. This time,
:03:05. > :03:09.we saw that the markets in the US fell by 1% or even a little bit
:03:10. > :03:12.more. Much of that has to do with some corporate earnings here in the
:03:13. > :03:16.US, it was a little bit less than anticipated. Also, the strain that
:03:17. > :03:23.we are seeing in emerging markets, that is also putting some pressure
:03:24. > :03:33.on the markets here in the US. Also making headlines, in a a surprise
:03:34. > :03:40.move, Google has sold Motorola. Google bought the company in 2012,
:03:41. > :03:52.but the search engine drives will keep several lucrative patents,
:03:53. > :04:04.including the smart phone and software.
:04:05. > :04:14.Shares in the Nintendo Co have fallen, after they said the top
:04:15. > :04:19.executives would take a pay cut to make amends for poor performance.
:04:20. > :04:24.Shares in Facebook soared more than 10% in after hours trading the US,
:04:25. > :04:28.after the company reported better than expected profits for the three
:04:29. > :04:34.months ending in December. The company reported revenues of $523
:04:35. > :04:38.million for the quarter, which is a 63% increase from the year before.
:04:39. > :04:44.The boost came from stronger mobile advertising sales, which is a
:04:45. > :04:48.priority of the chief executive. Fresh growth data from the
:04:49. > :04:53.Philippines revealed its economy expanded by six x 5% in the final
:04:54. > :05:05.quarter of 2013, compared to one year ago. -- six .5%. The expansion
:05:06. > :05:09.comes despite the impact of Typhoon Haiyan which hit in November, and
:05:10. > :05:13.cause a temporary slowdown in the economy. Going forward, the
:05:14. > :05:18.reconstruction effort, which is costing $8 billion over four years,
:05:19. > :05:28.could provide a further boost the economy in 2014. Earlier, I spoke to
:05:29. > :05:33.a guest about it. Private consumption needs to remain very
:05:34. > :05:36.strong. It is one of the strongest in the region, and that could
:05:37. > :05:42.continue to help support the economy in 2014. One of the other positives
:05:43. > :05:48.is we are seeing some revival in manufacturing. Manufacturing growth
:05:49. > :05:52.last year came into double digits, and it should benefit from a
:05:53. > :05:56.slightly better than anticipated growth this year. Manufacturing has
:05:57. > :06:02.in one of the weaker points of the Philippine economy, and the surging
:06:03. > :06:09.growth of the outsourcing industry. You made all the right points. We
:06:10. > :06:14.also need to remember that there is some infrastructure overhaul taking
:06:15. > :06:17.place in the Philippines that could continue to drive investment growth
:06:18. > :06:24.in the country. Investment growth has been stellar for the last couple
:06:25. > :06:25.of months, and we expect that to continue this year, especially with
:06:26. > :06:35.reconstruction efforts taking place in affected areas.
:06:36. > :06:40.Moving to South Africa, wearing a surprise move the central bank
:06:41. > :06:50.raised the of rolling to 5.5% -- borrowing. The bank's governor said
:06:51. > :06:58.the global financial crisis was in a new phase, and was creating new
:06:59. > :07:09.opportunities for emerging markets. US airspace giant, owing, --
:07:10. > :07:18.Boeing, has delivered more commercial aircraft. Future revenues
:07:19. > :07:24.and profits will be lower than analysts expected. The company said
:07:25. > :07:30.it forecast to deliver up to 725 aircraft this year, a 10% increase
:07:31. > :07:36.from 2013. China has overtaken France and Italy
:07:37. > :07:39.to become the world's biggest consumer of red wine. Asia's one
:07:40. > :07:45.market is set to become nearly as big as America within three years.
:07:46. > :07:51.We look at how some companies try to crack into the market as the
:07:52. > :07:56.region's appetite for wine develops. Preparing for a dinner party isn't
:07:57. > :08:02.always easy, especially for this woman, who wants to serve an unusual
:08:03. > :08:06.dish called Fish head curry. It is popular in Singapore, but like many
:08:07. > :08:10.Asian specialties it is difficult to pair with wine. So, she is turning
:08:11. > :08:16.to a bespoke intranet site to ask producers for help. I'm not a wine
:08:17. > :08:20.connoisseur myself, I'm more of a social drinker, so it is great to
:08:21. > :08:27.help you with planning dinner parties for my friends. Asia's first
:08:28. > :08:32.for wine is growing, fuelled by demand from China, South Korea and
:08:33. > :08:39.Japan, sales across the region amount to $7 billion per year. Here
:08:40. > :08:44.in Asia, red wine is a lot more popular than white, even in the
:08:45. > :08:47.tropics. One reason for that is that the colour red is seen as more
:08:48. > :08:50.suspicious, so the demand for red over white is something that
:08:51. > :08:57.produces looking to increase their market share here need to keep top
:08:58. > :09:03.of mind. 29 -year-old Paul is the founder of a website where producers
:09:04. > :09:08.from around the world can showcase and sell their products for free.
:09:09. > :09:12.With global intranet sales now worth $5 billion a year, he says it is
:09:13. > :09:18.crucial for them to connect with buyers online. Was consumption of
:09:19. > :09:23.wine is relatively low, use of social media is very high. This is
:09:24. > :09:30.how people want to be marketed towards. 15 wine makers and
:09:31. > :09:35.distributors now use the website. At this restaurant, one of the world's
:09:36. > :09:39.biggest producers, staff are looking to add new wines to their online
:09:40. > :09:44.store, because last year's sales in Singapore rose 4%. This was just by
:09:45. > :09:49.being part of the website for a month. Our consumers tend to be
:09:50. > :09:58.younger, and they tend not to be engaged in the more traditional
:09:59. > :10:04.media forms, like print. Despite Asia's preference for red, back at
:10:05. > :10:11.Kelly's apartment, they are having white wine with their curry, since
:10:12. > :10:21.she got the recommendation. This highlights the potential of the
:10:22. > :10:29.internet in changing Asian palates. Make sure you look at our revamped
:10:30. > :10:36.Asia business news homepage. Happy lunar New Year. I Rico Hizon,
:10:37. > :10:38.goodbye for now.