:00:17. > :00:23.Is expected growth from Japan. Are things looking up for the land of
:00:24. > :00:25.the rising sun? And hi-tech attractions. Our traditional
:00:26. > :00:39.institutions like museums are working to attract new fans. Good
:00:40. > :00:43.morning Asia, hello world. It is Wednesday. Glad you could join us
:00:44. > :00:48.for this edition of Asia Business Report. We kicked off with Japan and
:00:49. > :00:53.the latest growth numbers reveal that the economy expanded in the
:00:54. > :00:57.three months until March by 1.7%. That is better than what many were
:00:58. > :01:03.expecting. The boost came from growth in exports and government
:01:04. > :01:09.spending. Does this mean that the Japanese economy is moving away from
:01:10. > :01:13.a slump? I spoke to Martin Schultz from the Fujitsu Institute in Tokyo.
:01:14. > :01:20.What do you make of these numbers? The economy avoided a recession.
:01:21. > :01:25.Exactly. These numbers are really extremely welcome. Japan is clearly
:01:26. > :01:29.not in recession, and we are in a slightly positive trend, as we were
:01:30. > :01:33.hoping for. These numbers are actually much stronger than most
:01:34. > :01:39.were expecting. The only little problem is that a lot of that didn't
:01:40. > :01:43.come just from the private economy, from additional export. It came a
:01:44. > :01:48.lot from additional government spending. A little problem that is
:01:49. > :01:55.quite a lot in terms of government spending, because Japan has racked
:01:56. > :01:59.up a fair amount of debt from the government's efforts to prime the
:02:00. > :02:07.economy. Can this spending continue without a plant sales tax hike from
:02:08. > :02:11.8% to 10%? It is quite likely -- planned sales tax hike. One of the
:02:12. > :02:15.lessons from last year is that monetary policy is not as effective
:02:16. > :02:18.as it was before and it might have reached some limits. What we will
:02:19. > :02:22.probably see throughout this year is that the bank of Japan will remain
:02:23. > :02:25.expansionary, buying government bonds, and the government will
:02:26. > :02:30.probably start to spend even more than they did before to support the
:02:31. > :02:36.economy. So basically we get now an expansionary fiscal policy as well,
:02:37. > :02:40.finance to the central bank. How does the interest rate negative
:02:41. > :02:43.policy of the Bank of Japan play in the world this? It was supposed to
:02:44. > :02:53.help the economy and weaken the yen, but the yen has strengthened rather
:02:54. > :02:56.against the US dollar. Exactly, the impact of monetary policy,
:02:57. > :03:00.particularly when Japan moved to negative nominal interest rates, was
:03:01. > :03:09.not as positive as hoped for. Actually there was a negative
:03:10. > :03:12.reaction on many sites. Banks just feel that household savings are
:03:13. > :03:18.being taxed by the government so the next steps will probably be more
:03:19. > :03:21.quantitative easing, more buying government bonds, and the government
:03:22. > :03:27.will use this to spend more on investment, on the demand on
:03:28. > :03:30.healthcare, on education. Which is quite a bit positive in the current
:03:31. > :03:34.environment. Keeping fingers crossed that this indeed will help the
:03:35. > :03:39.Japanese economy from its slump. Martin Schulz from the Fujitsu
:03:40. > :03:45.Institute, thank you for your insights. In other news: making
:03:46. > :03:51.headlines, the United States has slapped steelmakers with import
:03:52. > :03:55.duties on rolled flat steel. The US says the Chinese products were being
:03:56. > :04:02.sold in their market with unfair subsidies. According to the US
:04:03. > :04:06.Department, the latest duties will increase the import price fivefold.
:04:07. > :04:12.Cold rolled steel is pro- merrily used in car body panels, appliances,
:04:13. > :04:18.shipping containers, and construction -- primarily. The US
:04:19. > :04:23.has removed most of its sanctions against Myanmar for another year.
:04:24. > :04:26.Restrictions against some companies have been lifted but several dozen
:04:27. > :04:30.individuals and companies remain blacklisted. President Barack Obama
:04:31. > :04:34.said concerns remained over obstacles to fool civilian control
:04:35. > :04:40.of the government, continuing conflict and human rights abuses
:04:41. > :04:45.committed by security forces. Apple boss Tim Cook has arrived in India
:04:46. > :04:50.for his first visit since he took over the technology giant. It is the
:04:51. > :04:53.fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, and with iPhone sales
:04:54. > :05:01.dipping in China, Apple hopes India can be its next the market. So far
:05:02. > :05:07.though it has not made much in road. So why is it struggling? Our
:05:08. > :05:11.correspondent reports from Mumbai. Look around the phone shop here and
:05:12. > :05:14.you won't find many of these. 24 million smartphone handsets were
:05:15. > :05:19.sold in India in the first three months of this year but less than 2%
:05:20. > :05:23.of them were Apple iPhones and the reason for that are these pricetags.
:05:24. > :05:28.Most smartphones in India cost between $100 and $200. The latest
:05:29. > :05:41.iPhone in a shop like this cost close to $1000. So the Indian makers
:05:42. > :05:45.such as Lava are cleaning up in a market dominated by low-cost phones.
:05:46. > :05:50.But Apple is not giving up just yet. If you look at the top end of the
:05:51. > :05:54.market, it is clawing back market share from its big rival, the
:05:55. > :06:00.Samsung Galaxy. Its plan to open the first Apple Store in India is a nod
:06:01. > :06:07.to the brand's appeal and a growing number of middle-class Indians can
:06:08. > :06:12.afford the products. Asia's biggest internet company, the Chinese giant
:06:13. > :06:16.Tencent, is set to unveil its latest profits which are expected to be
:06:17. > :06:21.positive. It has been reported the company is planning to raise $4
:06:22. > :06:25.billion through a bank loan. They will fund further acquisitions. Our
:06:26. > :06:29.Hong Kong correspondent has more. Tencent is listed right here at the
:06:30. > :06:33.Hong Kong stock exchange, and on many days of the year it is one of
:06:34. > :06:39.the most actively traded stocks. And with net income expected to rise as
:06:40. > :06:43.much as 30% on last year, that interest isn't likely to diminish
:06:44. > :06:51.any time soon. Now, its most popular, best known offering is
:06:52. > :06:54.called WeChat, and it is building that out to be a wide-ranging
:06:55. > :07:01.platform for mobile games, social media as well as even e-commerce and
:07:02. > :07:05.advertising on WeChat is a new and highly anticipated source of
:07:06. > :07:09.revenue, adding to continued strength in mobile games which
:07:10. > :07:12.accounts for about half of its overall business. And such is the
:07:13. > :07:17.confidence among investors that according to news reports when
:07:18. > :07:22.Tencent approached banks for a $2 billion loan, there was so much
:07:23. > :07:27.interest that it decided to raise the amount to $4 billion. Tencent
:07:28. > :07:39.has declined to give any other detail about that possible loan. But
:07:40. > :07:46.we do know that along with Alibaba and Baidu, Tencent may well be
:07:47. > :07:49.benefiting from investors from abroad who are seeking safety from
:07:50. > :07:56.slow stock markets and a weak economy. It may not be the most
:07:57. > :08:00.obvious of competitive markets, but art galleries and museums are
:08:01. > :08:04.constantly trying to find new and imaginative ways to turn a profit.
:08:05. > :08:09.Today, for international museum day, we have been to one venue here in
:08:10. > :08:19.Singapore which is trying to grab the imagination of an increasingly
:08:20. > :08:26.sophisticated hi-tech audience. Welcome to the Crystal Universe, an
:08:27. > :08:31.art installation that uses more than 170,000 LED lights to give the
:08:32. > :08:35.illusion of stars moving in space. If you would rather not spend around
:08:36. > :08:40.1 million US dollars to buy and install it, it is now providing what
:08:41. > :08:47.this museum says is an interactive experience to challenge the digital
:08:48. > :08:51.video entertainment market. We were thinking about Future World as an
:08:52. > :08:54.amazing encapsulation of our artistic mission, but also as a
:08:55. > :08:58.project which would bring in big numbers, both of tourist said that
:08:59. > :09:03.local audiences. And the trick when you are a museum that has to have
:09:04. > :09:06.one foot in the commercial space and another foot clearly in the cultural
:09:07. > :09:13.spaces is to balance those two perspectives. Created by Japanese
:09:14. > :09:19.artists and technicians, around 500,000 hi-tech art lovers saw the
:09:20. > :09:23.exhibition in the less than five months it were shown in Japan. They
:09:24. > :09:29.are calling it a sensory digital playground. Really cool, because I
:09:30. > :09:35.like how when they scan it it comes up on the screen. There is not a lot
:09:36. > :09:38.of museums that I like this, which makes it different from other
:09:39. > :09:42.museums. And I quite like how it is very interactive and kids can also
:09:43. > :09:50.play with it and it is not, like, boring. Whether bringing technology
:09:51. > :09:57.to the art world is just a passing trend or something more substantial,
:09:58. > :10:04.those involved in installations like this believe it is all part of the
:10:05. > :10:10.creative journey. Let's have a quick look now at the markets. A mixed day
:10:11. > :10:15.so far for the regional forces. The Nikkei is currently flat, lower due
:10:16. > :10:20.to the better than expected GDP numbers. Australia is also in
:10:21. > :10:27.negative territory by 38 points. Thank you so much for investing your
:10:28. > :10:35.time with us, I am Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next.
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