:00:00. > :00:25.China's factories have churned out the highest output in six months.
:00:26. > :00:29.Beijing's stabilising the economy. Reports that one of China's
:00:30. > :00:30.best-known businessmen has returned home after assisting with an
:00:31. > :00:44.investigation. Good morning. Great to have you with
:00:45. > :00:50.us. I am Rico Hizon in Singapore. The chairman of the Chinese
:00:51. > :00:57.conglomerate has returned home after mysteriously disappearing last
:00:58. > :01:01.week. Sometimes described as China's Warren Buffett, he was
:01:02. > :01:08.assisting authorities with an investigation. Let's hear from our
:01:09. > :01:14.Hong Kong correspondent. It is still a mystery what this was about. That
:01:15. > :01:18.is right. Certainly, the latest, from the Chief Executive of that
:01:19. > :01:25.group, in a conference call with investors yesterday, he gave more
:01:26. > :01:30.details about him, but also sought to play down this incident. Of
:01:31. > :01:33.course, the entire financial community in China was shocked last
:01:34. > :01:40.week when a magazine broke the news he had seemingly disappeared. It
:01:41. > :01:44.might have been that he was in police custody. Many questions still
:01:45. > :01:50.about what investigation he might have been helping with. Last week,
:01:51. > :01:56.an executive told me that he himself was not being investigated. Only
:01:57. > :02:02.assisting. They confirmed that in a press release on Friday night. A few
:02:03. > :02:08.more details, let me share them with you, what was said, according to the
:02:09. > :02:13.Reuters news agency, a quote, we trust that the chairman is a wise
:02:14. > :02:15.man and will actively fulfil his duties to assist the investigation
:02:16. > :02:23.as soon as possible is. That is according to the company president.
:02:24. > :02:27.-- possible. He also said the company itself is not in crisis. The
:02:28. > :02:33.financial situation is very healthy. Rico Hizon, this comes at an
:02:34. > :02:36.interesting time for the company. The group is a well-known Chinese
:02:37. > :02:45.conglomerate and is really scouring the world for acquisitions. To date,
:02:46. > :02:48.it has spent $30 billion on foreign acquisitions and intends to do much
:02:49. > :02:52.more. In many ways, this company has to be much more transparent about
:02:53. > :02:57.what is happening relative to other Chinese companies who have also been
:02:58. > :03:02.affected by these types of investigations. We will have to
:03:03. > :03:09.leave it there, thank you so much for updating us on that chairman.
:03:10. > :03:14.Hong Kong. Alibaba will pay more than $265 billion for The South
:03:15. > :03:18.China Morning Post. The deal was announced on Friday. The value of
:03:19. > :03:22.the agreement has just been revealed in a statement to the Hong Kong
:03:23. > :03:27.stock exchange. The sale of a newspaper to a Chinese company has
:03:28. > :03:30.brought about concerns about the independence. A health check over
:03:31. > :03:37.the weekend with new economic reports coming in. Stronger than
:03:38. > :03:44.normal. A a six-month high of the growing at an annual 6.2%. -- A new.
:03:45. > :03:51.The strongest expansion this year. Is this a positive sign? We have
:03:52. > :03:58.this man's viewed. There is reason for optimism. -- view. We see them
:03:59. > :04:05.coming out of this economic recession, but we think the first
:04:06. > :04:09.quarter will be difficult again. It will be difficult. The numbers are
:04:10. > :04:19.in the ballpark expected. That is positive. The month of November, you
:04:20. > :04:26.had, what you call, Singles' Day. Millions of people shopping on
:04:27. > :04:31.line. The likes of Alibaba made tons of money. $30 billion. The biggest
:04:32. > :04:40.retail event in the world. Yes, that helps. But these are year-on-year
:04:41. > :04:46.numbers. It was 14 billion Vizier and 10 billion last year. -- this
:04:47. > :04:49.year. They are healthy. They are good signs. They are clearing out
:04:50. > :04:58.his Elche inventories. It will take time to clear this out. -- this
:04:59. > :05:03.inventory. What about what might happen in the US this week. How will
:05:04. > :05:08.this impact economies and China in particular? The interest rate hike
:05:09. > :05:15.itself will affect China's currency. It recalibrated its position on
:05:16. > :05:21.Friday. That means, as the US hikes the interest rates and the dollar
:05:22. > :05:24.becomes more valuable and appreciates, China may devalue their
:05:25. > :05:29.currency slightly. They may break that pair with the US dollar. That
:05:30. > :05:38.may make China more affordable to people outside of it quite also, the
:05:39. > :05:43.falling oil prices. -- it. We are not quite there yet on the
:05:44. > :05:45.commodities numbers. They will still continue to fall for a little while.
:05:46. > :05:52.In the first half, they will continue to fall. That will impact
:05:53. > :05:57.their import goods as well. If you have a falling Chinese currency, a
:05:58. > :06:02.depreciating Chinese currency, and falling commodities prices, then,
:06:03. > :06:08.Chinese exports should start to look up at some point in the second
:06:09. > :06:13.quarter. Tony Nash. Confidence in Japan. Holding steady in the three
:06:14. > :06:18.months till December. Some fear it may not last. Their index reveals
:06:19. > :06:31.sentiment that they stood at plus 12. From the Fujitsu Research
:06:32. > :06:34.Institute. We had a major deterioration in sentiment during
:06:35. > :06:39.the summer and after that during Fall we had major slowdowns in Asia
:06:40. > :06:48.affecting some companies. The companies are flat. -- fall. We
:06:49. > :06:52.think it is basically not that bad. That is the sentiment. The outlook
:06:53. > :06:57.for next year is much more tricky. Much of the good news, low oil
:06:58. > :07:01.prices and a push from the micro policy side is out of the charts.
:07:02. > :07:07.Next year, it might be, well, not that easy. We also saw a turnaround
:07:08. > :07:12.in the GDP numbers for the July-September quarter. It was one
:07:13. > :07:18.of growth. But the service is sector is also reflecting weak domestic
:07:19. > :07:26.consumption. Domestic consumption has settled. It is settled. In
:07:27. > :07:29.Japan, they are ageing gradually, they are preparing, not getting over
:07:30. > :07:35.the top because of market policies, but they are not cutting back that
:07:36. > :07:37.much. We saw major change in terms of investment outlook and what
:07:38. > :07:43.companies are doing. That is where sentiment becomes important.
:07:44. > :07:47.Companies did not buy the overall big impact of a slowdown in Asia.
:07:48. > :07:52.They are protected by the comparatively weak yen. They have
:07:53. > :08:01.settled and a growing again. They can invest in smaller economies.
:08:02. > :08:07.Briefly, steady among manufacturers, has Japan already pulled out of a
:08:08. > :08:13.recession? Yeah. Definitely. Martin Schulz. In the wake of the financial
:08:14. > :08:18.crisis of 2008, interest rates were cut globally to produce growth. But
:08:19. > :08:24.the US bank is looking set to raise the cost of borrowing for the first
:08:25. > :08:26.time since the crash. Annual rate increases will be small and gradual,
:08:27. > :08:33.but they will still have some knock-on effects. We report on how
:08:34. > :08:40.this could affect India's economy. Here on the Bombay stock exchange
:08:41. > :08:45.and Mumbai, the shares have fallen more than 5% in 2015. And, the
:08:46. > :08:50.moment the interest rates go up in the US, they are likely to fall
:08:51. > :08:54.further. That is because if the US offers better returns through higher
:08:55. > :08:57.rates it is a good chance that investors will move more of their
:08:58. > :09:04.money there and out of Indian businesses that are generally seen
:09:05. > :09:07.as riskier. It is not just Indian shares that are falling. The value
:09:08. > :09:12.of the Indian currency is at its lowest against dollar in more than
:09:13. > :09:16.two years. That is because investors are selling emerging currencies,
:09:17. > :09:22.including India's and buying dollars. That means imported
:09:23. > :09:34.products become more costly. Expect to see imported items all costing
:09:35. > :09:38.more. India's biggest import is oil. The country has done well out of the
:09:39. > :09:45.dramatic fall in crude prices over the last two months, but the oil's
:09:46. > :09:52.priced in dollars, that could get passed on through higher petrol and
:09:53. > :09:56.diesel prices. -- price. What does this mean for businesses? Rising oil
:09:57. > :10:03.prices will affect transport prices. Imported raw materials like
:10:04. > :10:06.this will become more expensive, squeezing profit margins. Another
:10:07. > :10:12.problem is that many Indian companies have high levels of dollar
:10:13. > :10:19.debt. Rising interest rates will increase their costs, making them
:10:20. > :10:26.more profitable. It is not all bad news. If you are an exporter, a
:10:27. > :10:31.weaker rupee means that you can have greater export payments. It will be
:10:32. > :10:38.decided here at the central bank of the country. They have already cut
:10:39. > :10:44.interest rates to 6.7% this year. More cuts to make borrowing cheaper
:10:45. > :10:47.and encourage more growth. The bank's governor is likely to be
:10:48. > :10:52.hesitant to cut rates further as will it even less attractive for
:10:53. > :10:56.foreign investors. When the US rate hike comes, it will not be a
:10:57. > :11:01.surprise that the impact on India is not fully understood. Thank you for
:11:02. > :11:16.investing your time with us. I am Rico Hizon. Goodbye for now.
:11:17. > :11:20.Shaker Ahmer, the last British man to be released from Guantanamo Bay,