03/02/2014 Asia Business Report

been charged with the murder of her seven-week old boy. She was -- he

died a day after being taken to hospital.

Now for all the latest business news.

Thailand's collections are disrupted by protesters, leaving millions

unable to vote. Will this cost the country into political limbo. As

millions celebrate Chinese New Year, we take a look at the investment

projections. We start off with Thailand, which

held elections on Sunday, despite a boycott from the opposition party.

The election commission was unable to tally the result after

anti-government protesters forced hundreds of polling stations to shut

down. Affecting more than 6 million voters. A new date is expected to be

set to pass the ballot. Earlier I spoke with Tony Nash and asked if we

could see any resolution to the conflict. The good part is that

there was no violence. It was not extreme. We are not looking at the

military coup. What the opposition is hoping for is that the

Constitution Court comes into the election commission and the close

the vote invalid or that the corruption commission proceeds with

corruption allegations and prosecution against Yingluck

Sinawatra. With those options that you have put on the table, how will

investors perceive all of this? They will see things slow down for a

while. The best option that people have is that it is a waiting game.

They are hoping that protest fatigue sets in. As protest fatigue sets

in, that is the best friend. With more political gridlock, as you

say, will investors remain on the sidelines, or will they see this as

an opportunity to come in and look into the economy and investment

opportunities? It depends. There is a milestone that they need to see in

the next two weeks. If the corruption commission say that there

are going to persecute the government or Yingluck Sinawatra

this -- specifically, that milestone first. That is before major action

on investment takes place. The airline sector in India has seen

a jump in bookings after slashing FS. But it comes at a time when many

of the domestic carriers are running at massive losses.

Getting up for a holiday. This woman is searching for hotels in goal,

where she will be flying for a weekend with a friend. She had no

plans are going for a short break. Then she saw that airlines were

selling tickets at a huge discount. She could not resist. It was the

reason. I would love to go every month, but that is not feasible. If

you take a bus or a train, that wastes a time of travelling. The

tickets have become expensive. Domestic airlines had a sale

offering cheaper tickets for travel between February and April. Online

travel portals see that bookings on some routes struggled to in the same

period. But can Indian airlines afford to offer tickets at such low

prices? In 2013, the combined loss of all domestic Indian airlines was

over $1 billion. So why are they offering such huge discounts if they

are not making profits? Every year between January-March is the school

and university exam season. That means less people are flying. They

offering cheaper tickets, airlines hope that they can tempt passengers

and fill in more seats. India already has five national domestic

carriers. And several airline groups are planning to start flights in

India. While it has been growing every year, most Indian airlines are

still struggling to make money because of the lower fares, the high

taxes and operational costs. Globally, aviation has been a

notoriously difficult industry to make money. And squeezing every

dollar out of passengers helps the chances. But the recent ticket sales

and arrival of new airlines into the market means that India will no

doubt see more airfare battle is in 2014. -- battles.

Markets in China and Hong Kong remain shut down for the bigger New

Year celebrations. It is the year of the horse, according to the Chinese

zodiac. Many people will visit an expert to get one's fortune. I spoke

to an analyst about the animal index that predicts investment trends. We

looked at the Fortune shot of the year. It has a strong presence of

fire. We are expecting the market to go strong. So we are producing

markets galloping higher. Especially in the first half. It is going to be

big run. Which particular companies are going to do well? Sectors like

the wood and fire sectors. Companies in fashion, retail, soft commodities

and Internet technologies. Which particular companies will

underperform? From our perspective, the sector is going to struggle.

Companies in property, construction, resources, they should be more

cautious. And the report specifically predicts sins are they

not only turning on Japan's nuclear power stations, but eventually

confirming reports that the nation is pursuing nuclear weapons. How did

the index arrived at this conclusion? -- Shinzo Abe A. It is

particularly light-hearted predictions. We are predicting that

he is going to have a challenging year. It is a wealth of fire

element. Fire combined with the gang metal could indicate a new form of

energy. We are looking possibly at nuclear. But also from a

geopolitical position. Another common sight during the

Chinese beer are lion dance groups, which are believed to bless

businesses with good fortune. -- Chinese New Year. They are paid as

much as $4000 for their services. We caught up with a popular troupe in

Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese lion dance brings good

fortune to businesses. But over the years they have perfect it into

quite an arts. This is one of the top line dance trips in the country.

They are going to do some incredible acrobatics. Sitting next to me is

one of the lion heads. You can see his pants. A lot of people are very

excited and are drawn most specifically to watch this

particular performance. Are you excited? Yes. The lion dance is

amazing. I hope that I can get an orange. That will bring me good

luck. I would not eat it on the spot. The cost of living is going

up, Chinese New Year is like Christmas, people spend a lot of

money, have you noticed that at all? Somewhat. This year I am spending

less than the previous year. It is more towards family time rather than

spending money. How much less are you spending? 50%. Have businesses

held back on hiring dancing groups? Yes. Every month they cut the

budget. This particular performance lasted for about 15 minutes and it

cost over $1000. If that sounds like a lot of money, consider how many

people they attract just to watch this particular performance. This is

also seen as a blessing for all of the businesses in the shopping mall.

In this particular year where people are cutting back on spending,

businesses want as much luck and fortune as they can get.

In the Asian markets, stocks are struggling this Monday after reports

over the weekend showed that China's factory growth fell to a

low. That is for this edition of the Asia Business Report. The Super Bowl

is currently under way. More up next.

You are watching BBC News. Here are the headlines: The Oscar-winning

actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found