:00:00. > :00:13.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:14. > :00:23.The guessing game continues as America's central bank stands on
:00:24. > :00:27.interest rates. And cash is king. Ahead of historic
:00:28. > :00:37.elections in Myanmar, we find out if there is space for a modern
:00:38. > :00:42.financial services. Good morning, Asia. Glad you could
:00:43. > :00:50.join us for this addition of Asia Business Report. There is no move,
:00:51. > :00:54.the Federal reserve has kept interest rates at historic lows yet
:00:55. > :01:02.again. Shares on Wall Street reacted positively to the news. And now you
:01:03. > :01:09.have the markets from Australia and Japan opening for trading. Currently
:01:10. > :01:20.mixed. Currently slightly below for Sydney. Why? And is there any clue
:01:21. > :01:30.as to if they will be hiked by the end of the year? Many are sceptical
:01:31. > :01:37.about the timing. I asked what the reaction would be in the region.
:01:38. > :01:43.The probability in terms of market anticipation has increased to 45%
:01:44. > :01:48.from 34%. What really is key in terms of what we do see is an
:01:49. > :01:53.improvement in the US labour market. All eyes on payroll data on the
:01:54. > :02:00.sixth of November and the fourth of December. Many Asian investors are
:02:01. > :02:06.waiting for these key numbers. How much do you think is the slowdown in
:02:07. > :02:13.the Chinese economy playing into the decision-making process of the Fed
:02:14. > :02:17.board members? When you look through the statements, a couple of key
:02:18. > :02:25.points. The labour market is still crucial. What was removed from the
:02:26. > :02:29.statement was the market price action we saw in August. There was
:02:30. > :02:35.this reference about monitoring global economic and financial
:02:36. > :02:47.developments. It is almost behind us in times of the critical mass. Less
:02:48. > :02:51.of a concern at this point in time. Let us do away with the guessing
:02:52. > :02:56.game. Why doesn't it just raise the cost of borrowing? We have been
:02:57. > :03:02.talking about this for 1.5 years now. When they do actually increased
:03:03. > :03:12.interest rates, it is likely global sentiment will improve. And all this
:03:13. > :03:26.uncertainty has weakened a lot of the emerging Asian currencies. Some
:03:27. > :03:35.we have not seen since 1998. Until December, how should they position
:03:36. > :03:42.and manage investment portfolios? A lot of the macro challenges for
:03:43. > :03:49.China and so on are being factored in terms of earnings guidance. They
:03:50. > :03:55.are booking across the story, not just focusing on headline GDP
:03:56. > :04:02.numbers, looking at all the data and being very selective and thinking
:04:03. > :04:06.about the long-term. Other business news making
:04:07. > :04:11.headlines, Samsung recording its latest results and its profits
:04:12. > :04:17.surging by nearly 30%. That is thanks to a new smartphone lineup.
:04:18. > :04:21.Its performance had been affected by increasing competition from Apple
:04:22. > :04:26.and cheaper Chinese smartphone products. Some good news from
:04:27. > :04:30.neighbouring Japan. Factories have been busy in the month of September
:04:31. > :04:37.with output rising 1%. That is thanks to brisk production of
:04:38. > :04:42.electronic devices. In just over a week, Myanmar, one of
:04:43. > :04:46.the poorest nations of South East Asia, will have a historic election
:04:47. > :04:50.after 50 years of isolation. The economy is slowly opening up. The
:04:51. > :04:58.lifting of sanctions has helped power growth by more than 8%. It has
:04:59. > :05:06.created opportunities for more modern financial services. But some
:05:07. > :05:10.things in the largely cash -based society are hard to change.
:05:11. > :05:19.Early-morning in this market, you can smell it, as in the air.
:05:20. > :05:25.Everybody has something to sell. People haggling over prices. Just
:05:26. > :05:29.like in most of Myanmar, all of the transactions are taking place in
:05:30. > :05:37.cash. In this society, cash is still king. At banks across the country,
:05:38. > :05:41.money literally sits piled up in the Flora. Debit and credit cards are
:05:42. > :05:47.still rare. Most people pay for even big-ticket items like a house or a
:05:48. > :05:52.car in cash. Myanmar is trying to introduce more modern conventional
:05:53. > :05:59.forms of banking that most of us in Asia are pretty used to, like ATM
:06:00. > :06:05.cards. It is a pretty hard sell. Most people still only crossed the
:06:06. > :06:09.kinds of services. Making a deposit into your account simply means
:06:10. > :06:16.bringing the cash into the bank. This woman sells handicraft and has
:06:17. > :06:27.just brought in the equivalent of $160,000. That is a month worth of
:06:28. > :06:30.earnings. In stacks. TRANSLATION: We do not really use ATMs or cards. I
:06:31. > :06:37.have always brought my cash to the bank. Most of the people I deal with
:06:38. > :06:44.also use cash and not familiar with transfers. They do not understand
:06:45. > :06:53.how to use ATMs. What would you do if you had to move 1 million? In
:06:54. > :07:00.Myanmar, it is as easy as I get on the back of a pickup truck. --
:07:01. > :07:08.throwing it. In stacks, of course. No armed guards, no fuss, just a lot
:07:09. > :07:13.of cash on the mood. -- move. A lot of cash indeed. Whether it is
:07:14. > :07:18.driverless cars or more efficient hydrogen fuel cells or electric
:07:19. > :07:22.powered vehicles, major manufacturers are bringing out their
:07:23. > :07:30.newest concepts at the Tokyo motor show this week. We asked why it is
:07:31. > :07:35.so difficult to get straight answers about vehicles that have plagued
:07:36. > :07:41.Japan's automotive industries. I have been trying to get somebody
:07:42. > :07:46.who took to -- talk to me about the issue for months. It appears that
:07:47. > :07:51.there is a conspiracy of silence surrounding this issue. Why? I do
:07:52. > :08:00.not think there is a conspiracy of silence. I think they are dealing
:08:01. > :08:16.with car manufacturers from our own side. Our concern is making sure. It
:08:17. > :08:26.is in order to make sure it is so beautiful. Our diesel cars really
:08:27. > :08:36.finished and is this a vindication of the policy going on electric? It
:08:37. > :08:45.is going to go through a tough time. There is a lot of testing, which is
:08:46. > :08:54.fine. Other people are getting back confidence on diesel. It is going to
:08:55. > :09:00.be a difficult time. It is going to be on the downtrend rather than the
:09:01. > :09:09.uptrend. Frankly, we have been on the electric car from the beginning.
:09:10. > :09:26.There are low emission, so do is nothing to test. The emissions are
:09:27. > :09:37.going to get much stricter. Last time we talked, Kyoto was showing
:09:38. > :09:41.off their newest concept. -- Toyota. Elon musk has called hydrogen fuel
:09:42. > :09:47.cell cars silly. You were pretty critical. Do you still think
:09:48. > :09:53.hydrogen is not the way to go? I did not say that. I think the technology
:09:54. > :09:58.is extremely interesting. But I think it is too early. When I see
:09:59. > :10:02.the problems we are facing because of lack of infrastructure for
:10:03. > :10:16.electric cars, which is very common, you can imagine, where
:10:17. > :10:22.people are going to charge the cars. Before we go, a quick look at the
:10:23. > :10:32.regional markets at the moment. Asia is cautious in trading. But there
:10:33. > :10:33.are hints of a possible rate hike. Thank you for investing your time
:10:34. > :10:36.with us. Goodbye for now.