04/07/2014 Asia Business Report

identified the location of shale bearing rock. Time for the latest

business news live from Singapore. Asian stocks rise after a strong

jobs report spurs a record rally on Wall Street. And, from living room

to boardroom, research is claimed playing videogames can help improve

your business skills. Welcome to this Friday edition of

Asia Business Report. We are seeing positive gains in Asian stock

markets this morning, following encouraging news from the US jobs

market. Japan, Korea, Australia, they are all flat to higher after

the US reports that its unemployment rate fell to a six`year low of 6.1%.

It spurred US stocks to new highs, with the Dow Jones industrial

average breaking through the key 17,000 point level for the first

time ever. But if the rally sustainable? Our reporter was in New

York. Not everyone expected this kind of a

jump. Most estimates were around 200,000 jobs added to the economy,

and many didn't think the unemployment rate would change much.

This comes as really good news, and we have been looking for the Dow

Jones to go up about 17,000 for a couple of days, but it was the very

positive jobs report that pushed it up into that territory. Despite what

we are seeing in the economy, a lot of jobs have been created. A lot of

the jobs that are being created are in fact part`time jobs, and there is

still the problem of what Janet Yellen, the chairperson of the

Federal Reserve, called the shadow unemployment. That is people who

aren't looking for work at all. They have dropped out of even searching

for a job, and that is a particular problem here in the US. Although we

are seeing a lot more people that are being employed, we are not

getting the kinds of jobs that they want.

Earlier, I asked an economist, Tony Nash, for his take on the data. I

think it is more of a cause for relief than celebration. It is very

good news, and hopefully the start of a good trend in the US economy.

It is a cause for relief, but we know that the first`quarter GDP

contracted 3%, so there is a real concern, particularly here in Asia,

with a lot of investors watching the US and manufacture is counting on US

markets, so to what extent does the US continue to influence what

happens here? It still does in a big way. Exports from Asia still go to

the US as a large share of the export market. Many companies

contribute a lot in terms of direct investment, and things for the large

economies in Asia. There is a huge overlap between the benefits for

those countries. Unfortunately, but what we are seeing is the rate of

growth in countries like China to the US declining, while it grows

almost 10% in the other direction. It was something like 14% last year,

it is 6% this year. Those rates of growth of exports from Japan, China

and other places are slowing this year. Tony Nash from Delta

economics. In other business news, China and South Korea's presidents

have agreed to sign a free`trade deal by the end of year. They also

plan to allow direct trading of their currencies in order to deepen

economic ties. The announcement came during a trip by the Chinese leader,

Xi Jinping, to South Korea, which ends today. Of course electronics

may stop producing LCD TVs in Europe `` Aquos. Sharp is expecting to

focus on Asian and American markets. They recently posted their annual

first profit in three years. Samsung says it is going to stop making

plasma TVs. Panasonic, Hitachi, Sony and others have already given up on

them, which are bigger than LCD screens and use more electricity.

Samsung says it will concentrate on making curved and ultra`

high`definition TVs. Next week, air India joined a coalition of more

than two dozen carriers around the world, Star Alliance. It is a big

move, given it was previously turned down for not being scratch. It

continues to deal with huge debts and a history of labour unrest. It

also faces a rising number of competitive rivals. The importance

of the national carrier is that it provides connectivity that others

don't. Look at the biggest airline of this country, they provide

connectivity to about 30 destinations in the country. Air

India provides connectivity to 63 places in the country. If there was

no national character, who would connect these places? You are the

only country where the government has pumped in so much money to value

out. Critics have asked the question repeatedly that you have got a lot

of taxpayer money, and why should air India be entitled to that? What

is your reaction? All owners of companies pump in money, somebody's

money has to go into a company for it to run successfully. In this

case, it is government money that is being pumped in, after all the

transport companies. Whether it is a bit state transport companies, look

at the power companies which are run by the government. It is taxpayer

money ultimately that goes into it. Too much is made of this in the case

of air India. What is your turnaround plan for air India? Had

you plan to restructure the company? Costs are the most important thing.

If the company does not cut costs we cannot keep going infinitely. We

have been trying to do that, and we have made substantial savings as far

as employee costs are concerned. Our productivity has gone up 29% in the

last three years. The second important thing is the induction of

the 787, which will cut down on fuel bills. That should make a difference

to our economics. The third important thing is basically that we

can see that a network is rational. You can catch more of that interview

with the managing director of air India this weekend. For those of you

out there who love plain computer games, you will are probably sick

and tired of people telling you you are wasting your time. Researchers

in Singapore have found that some games could help you develop the

skills you need for a successful career.

Problem`solving, planning and decision`making, these are highly

sought`after skills in any boardroom. You can learn these by

going to business school or climbing away up the ladder. But a new study

done here at the technological University suggests playing

videogames can develop these skills as well. With the now as Michael

Pattison, the senior author of the study. You have highlighted this

game. How does this develop your mental abilities? Unlike most games,

in this game, before you start you need to plan what you are doing

next. Most games, give fire when you see an enemy, but in this game I

have to plan, OK, what is the sequence I can do in order to get

the candy into the creature's now. In the business world we often have

a steel where we plan what we will say next. The situation may change,

we need to be more reactive to situations. This is a game in which

a strategy that worked in the previous level won't work in the

next level. How relevant is this when there are not the same

pressures you face in a boardroom? One element of this game is that if

you keep trying you will be successful. That can work in

business. If you are designing a new product, and the manufacturing

didn't work the first time, you can try a different approach. Sometimes

it may seem stressful and you might not think you can get through, but

if you keep persisting you will survive, and if you don't succeed

you learn how to deal with failure, because in the game many times you

fail. Like in a boardroom, your pitch may not be successful but you

can find a different boardroom, so it teaches mental toughness. The bad

news for gamers is that not all videogames will help you develop

these Pacific skills. The important thing is to play complex puzzle

games if you want to think more creatively on your feet `` specific

skills. As cash transactions come more

common, large cash amounts will be harder to find. This is a specimen

of Singapore's $10,000 note. It will be taken off the printing presses

from the 1st of October, in a move to lower with the risk of money

laundering. In the US, the biggest note currently printed is the $100

bill, while in the UK the highest denomination is only ?50, worth 85

US dollars. In Switzerland, the biggest banknote you will find his

1000 Swiss francs, which is worth about $1125. Thank you for watching.

A bridge has collapsed in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte,

killing at least two