:00:00. > :00:00.been charged with the murder of her seven-week old boy. She was -- he
:00:00. > :00:00.died a day after being taken to hospital.
:00:00. > :00:18.Now for all the latest business news.
:00:19. > :00:22.Thailand's collections are disrupted by protesters, leaving millions
:00:23. > :00:29.unable to vote. Will this cost the country into political limbo. As
:00:30. > :00:37.millions celebrate Chinese New Year, we take a look at the investment
:00:38. > :00:43.projections. We start off with Thailand, which
:00:44. > :00:47.held elections on Sunday, despite a boycott from the opposition party.
:00:48. > :00:50.The election commission was unable to tally the result after
:00:51. > :00:54.anti-government protesters forced hundreds of polling stations to shut
:00:55. > :01:01.down. Affecting more than 6 million voters. A new date is expected to be
:01:02. > :01:06.set to pass the ballot. Earlier I spoke with Tony Nash and asked if we
:01:07. > :01:14.could see any resolution to the conflict. The good part is that
:01:15. > :01:16.there was no violence. It was not extreme. We are not looking at the
:01:17. > :01:23.military coup. What the opposition is hoping for is that the
:01:24. > :01:27.Constitution Court comes into the election commission and the close
:01:28. > :01:33.the vote invalid or that the corruption commission proceeds with
:01:34. > :01:38.corruption allegations and prosecution against Yingluck
:01:39. > :01:46.Sinawatra. With those options that you have put on the table, how will
:01:47. > :01:50.investors perceive all of this? They will see things slow down for a
:01:51. > :01:58.while. The best option that people have is that it is a waiting game.
:01:59. > :02:11.They are hoping that protest fatigue sets in. As protest fatigue sets
:02:12. > :02:16.in, that is the best friend. With more political gridlock, as you
:02:17. > :02:20.say, will investors remain on the sidelines, or will they see this as
:02:21. > :02:29.an opportunity to come in and look into the economy and investment
:02:30. > :02:35.opportunities? It depends. There is a milestone that they need to see in
:02:36. > :02:39.the next two weeks. If the corruption commission say that there
:02:40. > :02:45.are going to persecute the government or Yingluck Sinawatra
:02:46. > :02:56.this -- specifically, that milestone first. That is before major action
:02:57. > :03:01.on investment takes place. The airline sector in India has seen
:03:02. > :03:05.a jump in bookings after slashing FS. But it comes at a time when many
:03:06. > :03:15.of the domestic carriers are running at massive losses.
:03:16. > :03:18.Getting up for a holiday. This woman is searching for hotels in goal,
:03:19. > :03:24.where she will be flying for a weekend with a friend. She had no
:03:25. > :03:28.plans are going for a short break. Then she saw that airlines were
:03:29. > :03:35.selling tickets at a huge discount. She could not resist. It was the
:03:36. > :03:43.reason. I would love to go every month, but that is not feasible. If
:03:44. > :03:52.you take a bus or a train, that wastes a time of travelling. The
:03:53. > :03:55.tickets have become expensive. Domestic airlines had a sale
:03:56. > :04:00.offering cheaper tickets for travel between February and April. Online
:04:01. > :04:06.travel portals see that bookings on some routes struggled to in the same
:04:07. > :04:13.period. But can Indian airlines afford to offer tickets at such low
:04:14. > :04:19.prices? In 2013, the combined loss of all domestic Indian airlines was
:04:20. > :04:24.over $1 billion. So why are they offering such huge discounts if they
:04:25. > :04:27.are not making profits? Every year between January-March is the school
:04:28. > :04:33.and university exam season. That means less people are flying. They
:04:34. > :04:40.offering cheaper tickets, airlines hope that they can tempt passengers
:04:41. > :04:49.and fill in more seats. India already has five national domestic
:04:50. > :04:56.carriers. And several airline groups are planning to start flights in
:04:57. > :04:59.India. While it has been growing every year, most Indian airlines are
:05:00. > :05:05.still struggling to make money because of the lower fares, the high
:05:06. > :05:09.taxes and operational costs. Globally, aviation has been a
:05:10. > :05:12.notoriously difficult industry to make money. And squeezing every
:05:13. > :05:20.dollar out of passengers helps the chances. But the recent ticket sales
:05:21. > :05:25.and arrival of new airlines into the market means that India will no
:05:26. > :05:32.doubt see more airfare battle is in 2014. -- battles.
:05:33. > :05:36.Markets in China and Hong Kong remain shut down for the bigger New
:05:37. > :05:43.Year celebrations. It is the year of the horse, according to the Chinese
:05:44. > :05:49.zodiac. Many people will visit an expert to get one's fortune. I spoke
:05:50. > :05:57.to an analyst about the animal index that predicts investment trends. We
:05:58. > :06:03.looked at the Fortune shot of the year. It has a strong presence of
:06:04. > :06:09.fire. We are expecting the market to go strong. So we are producing
:06:10. > :06:19.markets galloping higher. Especially in the first half. It is going to be
:06:20. > :06:26.big run. Which particular companies are going to do well? Sectors like
:06:27. > :06:35.the wood and fire sectors. Companies in fashion, retail, soft commodities
:06:36. > :06:42.and Internet technologies. Which particular companies will
:06:43. > :06:50.underperform? From our perspective, the sector is going to struggle.
:06:51. > :06:57.Companies in property, construction, resources, they should be more
:06:58. > :07:01.cautious. And the report specifically predicts sins are they
:07:02. > :07:05.not only turning on Japan's nuclear power stations, but eventually
:07:06. > :07:09.confirming reports that the nation is pursuing nuclear weapons. How did
:07:10. > :07:16.the index arrived at this conclusion? -- Shinzo Abe A. It is
:07:17. > :07:21.particularly light-hearted predictions. We are predicting that
:07:22. > :07:34.he is going to have a challenging year. It is a wealth of fire
:07:35. > :07:38.element. Fire combined with the gang metal could indicate a new form of
:07:39. > :07:49.energy. We are looking possibly at nuclear. But also from a
:07:50. > :07:52.geopolitical position. Another common sight during the
:07:53. > :07:56.Chinese beer are lion dance groups, which are believed to bless
:07:57. > :08:03.businesses with good fortune. -- Chinese New Year. They are paid as
:08:04. > :08:11.much as $4000 for their services. We caught up with a popular troupe in
:08:12. > :08:16.Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese lion dance brings good
:08:17. > :08:21.fortune to businesses. But over the years they have perfect it into
:08:22. > :08:26.quite an arts. This is one of the top line dance trips in the country.
:08:27. > :08:31.They are going to do some incredible acrobatics. Sitting next to me is
:08:32. > :08:40.one of the lion heads. You can see his pants. A lot of people are very
:08:41. > :08:42.excited and are drawn most specifically to watch this
:08:43. > :08:51.particular performance. Are you excited? Yes. The lion dance is
:08:52. > :08:54.amazing. I hope that I can get an orange. That will bring me good
:08:55. > :09:02.luck. I would not eat it on the spot. The cost of living is going
:09:03. > :09:10.up, Chinese New Year is like Christmas, people spend a lot of
:09:11. > :09:18.money, have you noticed that at all? Somewhat. This year I am spending
:09:19. > :09:22.less than the previous year. It is more towards family time rather than
:09:23. > :09:32.spending money. How much less are you spending? 50%. Have businesses
:09:33. > :09:49.held back on hiring dancing groups? Yes. Every month they cut the
:09:50. > :09:53.budget. This particular performance lasted for about 15 minutes and it
:09:54. > :09:57.cost over $1000. If that sounds like a lot of money, consider how many
:09:58. > :10:01.people they attract just to watch this particular performance. This is
:10:02. > :10:05.also seen as a blessing for all of the businesses in the shopping mall.
:10:06. > :10:09.In this particular year where people are cutting back on spending,
:10:10. > :10:13.businesses want as much luck and fortune as they can get.
:10:14. > :10:17.In the Asian markets, stocks are struggling this Monday after reports
:10:18. > :10:23.over the weekend showed that China's factory growth fell to a
:10:24. > :10:29.low. That is for this edition of the Asia Business Report. The Super Bowl
:10:30. > :10:39.is currently under way. More up next.
:10:40. > :10:46.You are watching BBC News. Here are the headlines: The Oscar-winning
:10:47. > :10:47.actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found