:00:00. > :00:00.across England for Monday a storm imaging comes in. Dover sport has
:00:00. > :00:00.been closed because of extreme weather. Dover's port.
:00:00. > :00:17.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:18. > :00:23.India's latest growth numbers look set to confirm the country is
:00:24. > :00:28.growing faster than China, but does it trickled down to the real
:00:29. > :00:33.economy? And it is the first day of the bin New Year. So what does the
:00:34. > :00:40.Year of the Monkey mean for business -- Lunar New Year.
:00:41. > :00:46.Good morning, Asia, hello, world. Glad you could join us for Asia
:00:47. > :00:53.Business Report. Happy Chinese New Year. I'm Rico Hizon in Singapore.
:00:54. > :00:58.Later today we will be finding out how fast India's economy grew in the
:00:59. > :01:04.last three months of 2015. Most expect a continuation of the trend
:01:05. > :01:08.seen in the last year, growth above 7%. A pace that would confirm India
:01:09. > :01:14.is the fastest-growing large economy of 2015. But there is concern that
:01:15. > :01:18.the benefits of that growth are not filtering down to the so-called real
:01:19. > :01:22.economy. The car industry has traditionally been seen as a guide
:01:23. > :01:24.to how things are going. We were there to test the mood at the Delhi
:01:25. > :01:38.auto show. Fast cars, new launches, and a
:01:39. > :01:41.hopeful industry. After years of underperformance, the expectation
:01:42. > :01:48.here is that India's growing economy will finally read our business.
:01:49. > :01:59.IndyCar cells grew by more than 7.5% last year, faster then any of the
:02:00. > :02:05.world's, gets -- India castles. Hoping to cash in on this, have
:02:06. > :02:10.already spent hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars on factories
:02:11. > :02:15.like this one. In common with other brands, this factory is used
:02:16. > :02:20.primarily to make cars for export. It is also betting on more Indians
:02:21. > :02:26.buying cars. For now, it only has 1.5% share of the local market but
:02:27. > :02:31.is here for the long haul. The growth is outpacing the rest of the
:02:32. > :02:36.world and the auto industry seems to be following that trend. While
:02:37. > :02:40.people in cities are buying cars, any worried this rapid growth is
:02:41. > :02:45.affecting the two thirds of India's population that we've in urban
:02:46. > :02:49.areas. It is not just cars that are not being bought. Sales of
:02:50. > :02:54.motorbikes and small trucks in rural India have been weak. Back-to-back
:02:55. > :02:58.monsoons have left many farmers worse off, and wary of spending
:02:59. > :03:05.money. That has been felt by businesses like this one, the
:03:06. > :03:11.country's largest tractor maker. There was some liquidity. The ruling
:03:12. > :03:20.economy right now is a sleeping giant, one of the recent sales have
:03:21. > :03:26.not been searching is because there is a lot of ground still to cover.
:03:27. > :03:31.Cells are a good indicator of how people are feeling about the
:03:32. > :03:35.economy. Back at the car show, malefactors hope optimism about 2016
:03:36. > :03:39.will help the industry pick up speed -- manufacturers.
:03:40. > :03:47.It has been over a week since Japan's decision to push the cost of
:03:48. > :03:51.borrowing to negative. Their aim was to force companies to spend, but
:03:52. > :03:55.economists believe it will have limited impact with business
:03:56. > :03:59.investment not held back by high interest rates. As much as worries
:04:00. > :04:05.about the long-term outlook. What has been the early response to
:04:06. > :04:09.negative rates? Earlier I asked why we have not seen a sustained
:04:10. > :04:15.depreciation despite the initiative. What we're seeing in Asia is not
:04:16. > :04:21.everybody is in such good shape as India. There are big concerns, and
:04:22. > :04:25.that usually means the Japanese yen is becoming a safe haven currency,
:04:26. > :04:30.the dollar being awake does not help either. We have strong pressure this
:04:31. > :04:34.year on the yen and the bank of Japan wanted to show we have a new
:04:35. > :04:41.tour here. If this goes too far, we have a new tool and we will use it.
:04:42. > :04:48.Could this be wrong timing? No, the timing is quite good. This week we
:04:49. > :04:56.will have new data at showing prices double feather.
:04:57. > :05:04.it also means overall pressure. This is a
:05:05. > :05:06.will be used to have an impact on currency markets, and when the bank
:05:07. > :05:13.of Japan is just moving beyond the current limit of -0.1% or even
:05:14. > :05:16.further. But the main objective as well for implementing this negative
:05:17. > :05:23.interest rate policy was to force companies to spend. When do you
:05:24. > :05:31.think they will start spending? What we are seeing is that there is a
:05:32. > :05:35.strong focus on the exchange rate, on exports, on companies moving
:05:36. > :05:39.their business investment. But there you are focusing overseas
:05:40. > :05:43.investment. The domestic economy has limited growth potential, so the
:05:44. > :05:47.government is trying to help companies to invest in Asia in the
:05:48. > :05:51.longer-term, and this is a target. The exchange rate is important for
:05:52. > :05:58.that and they are focusing on it. Apart from this policy, other other
:05:59. > :06:00.options they can still implement to jumpstart the economy? -- are there
:06:01. > :06:03.other options? We will have elections this summer, and
:06:04. > :06:17.policymakers are reluctant to do big problem -- electorate. This will
:06:18. > :06:20.have an impact on the currency, buying even more time than the
:06:21. > :06:30.government the Labour side, reforms in health
:06:31. > :06:36.and agriculture, and necessary changes in the domestic
:06:37. > :06:40.economy. That is basically the idea. And in other business news: The
:06:41. > :06:44.foreign exchange reserves have fallen to their lowest level in more
:06:45. > :06:51.than three years as Beijing defends the one. China's foreign country
:06:52. > :06:57.reserve plans by about 100 billion US dollars in January -- currency
:06:58. > :07:02.reserves. It has been running down its fast currency holdings, which is
:07:03. > :07:09.more than 3 trillion US dollars in a bid to boost the UI's value. It is
:07:10. > :07:15.the Lunar New Year, and the first day of the Year of the Monkey. It is
:07:16. > :07:19.time for celebrating across Asia and an opportunity to look ahead to what
:07:20. > :07:23.the next 12 months will bring. We went out on the street in Singapore
:07:24. > :07:29.to see what's on in business are expecting. I feel in the year of the
:07:30. > :07:33.Fire monkey, I work in tech, said there will be a trend moving towards
:07:34. > :07:41.small businesses growing and social enterprise. I'm looking at the
:07:42. > :07:45.industry and I wish the Year of the Monkey would bring prosperity to the
:07:46. > :07:50.banking industry. I know there are challenges. In the Year of the
:07:51. > :07:56.Monkey, it should be quite challenging because of what is
:07:57. > :07:59.happening in the global markets. I work in performance coaching and
:08:00. > :08:05.innovation and believe that in the year of the Fire monkey, innovation
:08:06. > :08:08.will be continuously trending, not only in companies that outside of
:08:09. > :08:13.companies. I work in hospitality. For the Year of the Monkey, the
:08:14. > :08:23.economy now is not that good. I don't think people will travel that
:08:24. > :08:27.much. I am from the legal industry, and there has been a lull in the
:08:28. > :08:32.shipping industry right now, so I expect the Fire monkey to help us
:08:33. > :08:37.pick it up. Challenging times ahead, but still upbeat and positive. But
:08:38. > :08:45.what about an equity analyst who is doubling as an expert. Every year,
:08:46. > :08:50.they come up with the index. It is a tongue in cheek forecast for the
:08:51. > :08:58.lonely year. -- minute New Year. We can find out what this means for
:08:59. > :09:04.you, the investor. In Chinese culture, we love this animal, the
:09:05. > :09:09.Fire monkey, because we think the monkey has he managed to buck we
:09:10. > :09:14.don't like the monkey because of its mischievous behaviours. -- but
:09:15. > :09:19.sometimes we don't like. The Hang Seng index also has the
:09:20. > :09:27.characteristics of the monkey. It will be a rocky ride, and we believe
:09:28. > :09:35.there will be lots of ups and downs. In this year, each year, the
:09:36. > :09:42.animal, the Zodiac, and each element of the five elements rotate, and
:09:43. > :09:51.this year, you can see the monkey is sitting on top of sectors including
:09:52. > :09:59.the auto sectors and financial. We would suggest avoiding water related
:10:00. > :10:05.sectors. They often do not work well. Water related sectors include
:10:06. > :10:11.transport, gaming, consumer retail, and also healthcare. Volatile times
:10:12. > :10:16.ahead. Let's have a look at the markets. Many of them are closed for
:10:17. > :10:22.the Lunar New Year holidays, but those open for trading are in
:10:23. > :10:25.negative territory. Hong Kong, Singapore and China are closed today
:10:26. > :10:29.due to the Chinese New Year holidays. Thank you for investing
:10:30. > :10:34.your time with us. Happy New Year.