:00:00. > :00:00.to sit the Common Entrance exams used by private schools. Now on BBC
:00:00. > :00:17.News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:18. > :00:25.Asian stock markets followed the week US manufacturing data.
:00:26. > :00:33.Fast food giant Yum! Brands looks at its biggest market.
:00:34. > :00:46.Welcome. The kick off with the market in Asia, where share prices
:00:47. > :00:54.are falling due to a worse than expected US manufacturing report.
:00:55. > :01:02.Marcus in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia are in negative territory
:01:03. > :01:05.-- markets. This follows a down day on Wall Street, which saw US stocks
:01:06. > :01:20.tumble the most since June last year. The Dow Jones and the S 500
:01:21. > :01:24.were down by more than 2%. My feeling now is that at the end of
:01:25. > :01:32.last year, markets, especially in the US, Japan, had gains and that
:01:33. > :01:36.led to invest exuberance, which left them vulnerable to a correction.
:01:37. > :01:40.This is what we have seen. It is probably just a correction.
:01:41. > :01:44.Obviously the emerging market worries that we have seen in some
:01:45. > :01:52.parts, like Turkey and Argentina, have helped trigger that. The bad
:01:53. > :01:56.weather has added to the woes. But, at the end of the day, this is
:01:57. > :02:02.probably just a correction. It may have a couple more percent to go but
:02:03. > :02:14.we have been selling and giving a good buying opportunity.
:02:15. > :02:16.Moving on. We have news just in. The Australian central bank has decided
:02:17. > :02:22.to keep the cost of borrowing steady, at 2.5%. We can cross to our
:02:23. > :02:28.Sydney correspondent. Why are they keeping rates on hold? Predicting
:02:29. > :02:32.interest rates in this country is a bit of a sport. A survey of
:02:33. > :02:38.economists in the last few days reflected a view that the reserve
:02:39. > :02:43.bank was likely to change interest rates. Economists were unanimous in
:02:44. > :02:52.their view that they would stay at the historic low of 2.5%. What the
:02:53. > :02:56.reserve bank is trying to do is assume a neutral position. Not too
:02:57. > :03:00.hot, not too cold, in order to guide the Australian economy through what
:03:01. > :03:05.will likely be a very challenging year, even the mining boom at the
:03:06. > :03:09.Australian economy has relied upon for the past decade or so is
:03:10. > :03:14.cooling. At the moment, it seems the reserve bank, in its first board
:03:15. > :03:20.meeting of the year, has decided that it is steady as she goes. Also,
:03:21. > :03:25.the Australian economy is still by jesting past interest rate cuts from
:03:26. > :03:32.the Reserve Bank of Australia -- digestive. This will have an impact
:03:33. > :03:36.on the economy? What we are seeing is that, in August of last year, the
:03:37. > :03:43.rates went to these historic lows, 2.5%. You would have to be over 50
:03:44. > :03:46.years of age in this country to remember a time and interest rates
:03:47. > :03:52.were this low. Economists are telling us that the housing,
:03:53. > :03:55.construction and retail sectors in this country are showing some decent
:03:56. > :04:00.signs of life, the cause of these low interest rates. But there is a
:04:01. > :04:04.feeling that the jobs market in Australia isn't responding so well,
:04:05. > :04:08.so perhaps there will be another interest rate cut later in the year.
:04:09. > :04:13.But of course only the reserve bank will know that. One thing that might
:04:14. > :04:17.stop the reserve bank cutting rates further in the next few months is
:04:18. > :04:22.inflation. Inflation in Australia has edged up over 2.5%. The game, we
:04:23. > :04:28.will have to wait and see. Thank you.
:04:29. > :04:32.Shares of Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo slumped more
:04:33. > :04:35.than 14% in Hong Kong, adding to losses from last week was
:04:36. > :04:52.announcement that it had bought Google's Motorola mobility handset
:04:53. > :04:59.unit for more than $3 billion. Sony called the report inadequate. Five
:05:00. > :05:13.brokerages have downgraded stock, after the company announced it had
:05:14. > :05:33.bought motor roller. Investors are not happy with these recent business
:05:34. > :05:37.decisions. Of course, last week, we had then by Motorola. A lot of the
:05:38. > :05:41.concern that is going on is, can they digestive all of these
:05:42. > :05:46.businesses? Some of them not being the most profitable. But our
:05:47. > :05:53.investors not really seeing the true value of these purchasers? In some
:05:54. > :05:58.cases. If you were to focus on Motorola, yes. If you look at it on
:05:59. > :06:02.paper, the business wasn't very profitable. But if you look at what
:06:03. > :06:07.Lenovo's long-term strategy was with that, they needed a way to get into
:06:08. > :06:14.the US. What Motorola provided was not just the channel relationships
:06:15. > :06:19.and operator relationships but the patents that they needed, or access
:06:20. > :06:22.to the patents. In order to help detect themselves as they go into
:06:23. > :06:28.that market. But what if these rumours are true, that they would
:06:29. > :06:36.want to buy part of Sony's business? Is that a good fit? Merret in
:06:37. > :06:41.theory, yes. There are a number of assets that Sony would bring to the
:06:42. > :06:47.table. -- in theory. On the consumer side, we haven't necessarily being
:06:48. > :06:51.seen as much of a premium brand. It would be interesting to have that
:06:52. > :06:56.aspect added. But, nonetheless, we are talking about a market where
:06:57. > :06:59.consumer PCs are just under fire from tablets and smartphones and
:07:00. > :07:09.that's why there are so many challenges. US regulators are said
:07:10. > :07:14.to approve the deal with Lenovo. Will it really happen? Could we see
:07:15. > :07:20.this deal not materialising? Should go through. When you look at when
:07:21. > :07:25.Lenovo a quiet part of the PC division many years ago, that went
:07:26. > :07:32.through. Many US government businesses, broadly, still continue
:07:33. > :07:37.to use Lenovo or IBM products. If anything, the server deal might be
:07:38. > :07:40.under scrutiny because, will you trust having your data sitting on
:07:41. > :07:44.back-end servers? Even that is likely to go through. Mobile phones,
:07:45. > :07:52.which you could argue as Telecom, could that be an issue? We will
:07:53. > :07:59.leave it there. Thank you. We will have to wait and see if this indeed
:08:00. > :08:02.will materialise. Lenovo buying part of Sony's business. Moving on to
:08:03. > :08:13.other business news making headlines. The world's biggest
:08:14. > :08:19.central bank has a new woman leading it, the first in its 100 years.
:08:20. > :08:23.Janet Yellen will unwind the stimulus programme without hurting
:08:24. > :08:28.economic growth, she says. Then the bank is stepped down last week after
:08:29. > :08:35.eight years in office. He has joined a Washington think tank. Shares of
:08:36. > :08:40.Yum! Brands, the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, rising by nearly 4% in
:08:41. > :08:49.late US trade, after the firm reaffirmed its forecast for next
:08:50. > :08:54.year. It posted weaker than expected profits after part of its food was
:08:55. > :08:59.said to be contaminated in China. It is now hopeful the worst might be
:09:00. > :09:07.over. More from Beijing. It is Chinese New Year in China. Are
:09:08. > :09:10.times when many families will be going out to eat. But it seems many
:09:11. > :09:16.people will be avoiding chicken at KFC. Concerns over avian flu means
:09:17. > :09:25.many people are dropping chicken from their diets, even though
:09:26. > :09:30.experts say there's no risk. Some Chinese poultry suppliers are
:09:31. > :09:34.accused of misusing antibiotics. We don't go to KFC because it is junk
:09:35. > :09:40.food and not good for children. So, we seldom eat it. TRANSLATION: I
:09:41. > :09:45.don't pay much attention to KFC because we really eating. But I am
:09:46. > :09:49.worried about food. Anything going into my mouth is important and I am
:09:50. > :09:55.worried about food safety. TRANSLATION: I don't often eat KFC.
:09:56. > :10:04.IDE it sometimes because it is convenient. KFC had less sales but
:10:05. > :10:08.it has a new advertising campaign called trust in every bite. They say
:10:09. > :10:13.they have tightened the supply chain in China. Analysts say it is vital
:10:14. > :10:18.that young brands turn to sales in China. The corporation is so heavily
:10:19. > :10:23.dependent on the Chinese market and on KFC in particular, it is vital,
:10:24. > :10:30.they say, that the new campaign work in order for the corporation's
:10:31. > :10:31.global finances to improve. Thanks for investing your time with
:10:32. > :10:44.us. Goodbye for now. The top stories this hour: The World
:10:45. > :10:48.Health Organisation has warned of a "tidal wave" of cancer sweeping the
:10:49. > :10:50.globe. It says more needs to be done to tackle the disease.
:10:51. > :10:53.A priest in the Central African Republic says in the past week at
:10:54. > :10:54.least 75 Christians have