:00:00. > :00:12.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore:
:00:13. > :00:23.Will bail or won't they? We look at expectations that the Fed will raise
:00:24. > :00:30.the cost of borrowing next month -- will they? And we take you to the
:00:31. > :00:38.tiny Pacific island of Kiribati to see how they're trying to claim a
:00:39. > :00:41.little more of a big fish. Good morning Asia and hello world. Thank
:00:42. > :00:47.you for joining us for Asia Business Report. There are wide expectations
:00:48. > :00:52.that the US Federal Bank interest rate hike is just around the
:00:53. > :00:55.corner, possibly as soon as mid-December. But the bank's Board
:00:56. > :01:01.of Governors had a special meeting overnight to discuss the discount
:01:02. > :01:04.rate which banks paid for borrowing directly from the Federal Reserve.
:01:05. > :01:07.There has been no announcement on that so far but earlier I spoke to a
:01:08. > :01:13.correspondent about what it means for next month's meeting. It is a
:01:14. > :01:18.harmless way of signalling to the market that a rate hike is coming
:01:19. > :01:24.up. There are two basic rates, the discount rate is one where the
:01:25. > :01:33.second-tier banks borrow from, then there is the Fed fund bank where the
:01:34. > :01:39.rest borrow from. Know what is really borrowing from the discount
:01:40. > :01:47.rate right now -- no one. You have the European Central Bank, the Bank
:01:48. > :01:53.of Japan and the people's Bank of China -- People's, and the Fed seems
:01:54. > :01:57.like it is going in the opposite direction raising rates? The US is
:01:58. > :02:02.looking healthy and pockets but you do have these other central banks.
:02:03. > :02:05.The board of governors in the US, a number of them are going out and
:02:06. > :02:11.saying very different things which is causing confusion in the markets
:02:12. > :02:13.as well. The discount rate meeting today with a real chance for the Fed
:02:14. > :02:20.to make a statement about what they're going to do. Would all of
:02:21. > :02:28.these banks loosening their monetary policy, could this delayed the Fed
:02:29. > :02:33.-- delay the Fed from raising interest rates in December? It
:02:34. > :02:37.could. They put together a laboratory and in all their
:02:38. > :02:43.quarters. Their quantitative easing measures? Yes but they don't have a
:02:44. > :02:51.Leverkusen to get out of it and that worries many were watching the
:02:52. > :02:57.markets -- they don't have a plan. If you look at the global economy,
:02:58. > :03:01.60% of transactions globally are in US dollars, so it affects
:03:02. > :03:05.everybody. It doesn't really matter if the Fed raises the cost of
:03:06. > :03:11.borrowing by a quarter of a percent weighs will it have an impact on US
:03:12. > :03:17.and Asian economies -- a quarter of a percent? Will it have an impact on
:03:18. > :03:21.US and Asian economies? It is more the trends that people worry about
:03:22. > :03:27.because there are many governments in this region and Africa that
:03:28. > :03:34.borrow in US dollars. Even in some places, people have financed their
:03:35. > :03:37.homes and mortgages in US dollars. This impact government finances and
:03:38. > :03:48.personal credit and business lines of credit. So the cost of operating
:03:49. > :03:51.becomes more expensive. Shares in Pfizer and Allergens have fallen in
:03:52. > :04:01.the wake of their $160 billion merger deal -- Allergen. US
:04:02. > :04:06.presidential hopefuls have joined in criticizing the merger that would
:04:07. > :04:10.make them the world's biggest drug seller. Widgets at stake for the US
:04:11. > :04:17.is of dollars in corporate tax revenue aspect what is. Now we go to
:04:18. > :04:22.our correspondent. Pfizer snapping up Allergen is the biggest
:04:23. > :04:34.pharmaceutical takeover -- Allergan. Pfizer would become the
:04:35. > :04:39.world's largest drugmaker with an average revenue of $64 billion per
:04:40. > :04:43.year. But there is another motivation. The newly merged Pfizer
:04:44. > :04:49.can shift its legal base from the US to Ireland in what is known as an
:04:50. > :04:55.inversion, a move that effectively slashes its tax rate. In the US,
:04:56. > :04:59.corporations are taxed at 35%, among the world's highest rates. In
:05:00. > :05:01.Ireland it is around a third of that at 35%, among the world's highest
:05:02. > :05:04.rates. In Ireland it is around a third of that a 12.5%. Washington
:05:05. > :05:14.has called in versions unpatriotic and has tried to crack down on the
:05:15. > :05:19.practice. -- inversions. The price of iron ore is on the brink of
:05:20. > :05:22.hitting a 10-year low as demand from China continues to weaken. It was
:05:23. > :05:30.trading at less than 45 US dollars per ton on Monday. 1.8% from the
:05:31. > :05:34.closing of the previous day but prices could dive even further.
:05:35. > :05:39.Prices could fall below $40 per ton by the end of the year. The steep
:05:40. > :05:44.decline in the demand for commodities in China has seen
:05:45. > :05:51.shipping companies posting huge losses in the third quarter. This
:05:52. > :05:54.company also published orders for -- cancelled orders for three new bulk
:05:55. > :06:01.carriers. It has been the toughest year for the market in more than
:06:02. > :06:04.three decades. This Hong Kong brokerage firm confirmed its chief
:06:05. > :06:09.executive has been missing since last Wednesday. Shares in the
:06:10. > :06:15.company fell by as much as 17% after the news. The firm's parent company
:06:16. > :06:22.is listed in Shanghai and is one of the biggest stock brokerage
:06:23. > :06:29.companies in China. Alibaba founder Jack Ma is reportedly in talks to
:06:30. > :06:38.buy a stake in The South China Morning Post. If it is confirmed, it
:06:39. > :06:44.would be a welcome addition to Alibaba's growing media empire. Many
:06:45. > :06:47.people may not have heard of the tiny island nation of Kiribati, but
:06:48. > :06:54.there was a good chance you could have eaten tuna from its waters --
:06:55. > :06:58.is. The land area is smaller than greater London but it's fishing
:06:59. > :07:01.grounds cover an area bigger than India. Its economy struggles partly
:07:02. > :07:05.because most of the welts from its tuna flows out of the country. Now
:07:06. > :07:13.just tried to keep more of that at home. Now we go to our
:07:14. > :07:19.correspondent. Not every fishing venture in Kiribati has ended in
:07:20. > :07:24.success. But fish provide a substantial part of the diet and
:07:25. > :07:29.catching them is central to the culture here. Further out to sea,
:07:30. > :07:32.fishing could be the key to the country's economic future. It is a
:07:33. > :07:38.tiny country with huge fishing grounds and it is doing its best to
:07:39. > :07:43.make the most out of them. These workers are unloading about eight
:07:44. > :07:46.tons of massive yellowfin and bigeye tuna, taking great care as they go,
:07:47. > :07:52.because a bruised face isn't worth quite as much. This is Kiribati's
:07:53. > :07:56.attempt to move up the value chain. They hope that by processing the
:07:57. > :08:02.fish here in the country, they can keep more wealth and more jobs at
:08:03. > :08:06.home. At present, Kiribati mostly sells the right to fishing in its
:08:07. > :08:11.waters to other countries. By negotiating access fees as a block,
:08:12. > :08:14.the country's island nation has quadrupled its revenues over the
:08:15. > :08:21.past few years but the potential income from processing is a much
:08:22. > :08:27.bigger fish. If we process all the fish caught in our waters, our GDP
:08:28. > :08:31.would trouble many times over. All the fish is now being taken to
:08:32. > :08:36.Bangkok to be cleaned. Imagine all the jobs it is creating over there
:08:37. > :08:41.but not here. So our objective, and I think it is fair, is that we want
:08:42. > :08:46.to processing, we want to have greater participation in the
:08:47. > :08:52.industry. Not just to be the source of the raw material. Kiribati only
:08:53. > :08:59.keeps a 5% slice of the value of its fish. Kiribati Fish Limited is
:09:00. > :09:06.attempted to change that by keeping jobs in the country which topped
:09:07. > :09:17.that implement at 35%. -- which has unemployment at. It does face very
:09:18. > :09:23.real challenges. It is a mere minnow compared to processing facilities
:09:24. > :09:29.overseas and her isolation creates problems to. It means there is more
:09:30. > :09:34.cost on labour and freight because the location is very far from the
:09:35. > :09:37.market. So we have to include all these costs into the product prices
:09:38. > :09:43.happy this makes the product more expensive. Even with these
:09:44. > :09:50.challenges come of this tuna could be the best economic output
:09:51. > :09:55.country's future -- even with these challenges, this tuna could be the
:09:56. > :10:01.best economic possibility for the country. Markets are dragging their
:10:02. > :10:02.feet in midmorning Tuesday trade. US stocks fell overnight amid
:10:03. > :10:11.heightened expectations that the central banks would raise rate
:10:12. > :10:25.prices next month. The Hang Seng just opened for trading. That is the
:10:26. > :10:27.Asian stock market action at this hour. Thank you for investing your
:10:28. > :10:28.time with us. Goodbye for