12/12/2016 Asia Business Report

Investors in South Korean markets shrug off concerns over the

President's impeachment vote. And what a 100-year-old company is

doing to stay relevant in these days of fast changing tastes and trends.

Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report, I'm Sharanjit Leyl. We start

with South Korea where the index has started the week reasonably flat,

that's after lawmakers last Friday voted to impeach President Park

Geun-hye. About 200,000 protesters took to the streets in the capital,

Seoul, over the weekend demanding the immediate resignation of the

President but this hasn't been having too much of an impact on the

markets in Seoul this year, although of course we've seen some impact on

the Korean currency. Earlier I spoke with a market strategist and I asked

for her views on investing in South Korea. For the Korean market, it has

moved according to how the external economies, like the US, have been

working, and also with Donald Trump. Are you saying it is more to do with

external events rather than domestic events? We know that domesticly

policies have been stalled, there's been reports that a currency swap

deal with Japan has been stalled over the last few months since the

crisis emerged because the Japanese don't know who to speak to. Talk the

economic policy roadmap for 2017 has been delayed until the end of this

month. How long do you expect the volatility to continue? I think you

have to see what the constitutional court has to say about this, they

have 80 days to see if this is going to be passed. We have more clarity

despite the impeachment being voted through. In that sense we want to

see what the domestic policies will do from here on in and what will

happen. But in the meantime it is going to create a vacuum. We know

the Korean wonk is the other thing that has been impacted, falling 4%

in the last two months, we know a week currency can be good, so what

could it mean? Once again I think it is because of the US dollar and it

is really all about the emerging Asian currencies. In terms of how it

is going to help the country, it depends because ultimately for Korea

it is a lot of these intermediate groups that go to China without a

strong pickup over there, Korea itself will see a significant boost

as well. Turning to commodities, oil prices have jumped in early Asian

trade to their highest levels since 2015. You can see they are up almost

5%. This comes after OPEC and on OPEC producers reached their first

deal since 2001 to jointly curb output -- non- OPEC. It is aimed at

easing a global supply glut that has lasted for more than two years. The

Russian cuts will take effect in January next year. The IMF chief

Christine Lagarde will go on trial later today for her Royal in... She

was then France's Finance Minister. She's been accused of negligence for

signing of an out of... -- role in. Iran air has signed a deal to buy a

key passenger planes from Boeing. It is the biggest US Iran deal since

the 1979 Islamic revolution. Boeing said the deal was worth $16.6

billion. It has been approved by the US government. The first planes are

scheduled for delivery in 2018. Staying with aviation, passengers

will be able to fly from London to Australia non-stop for the first

time when Qantas launches its new service from March, 2018.

Australia's national carrier says it will connect Perth in the west of

the country to the UK capital using Boeing 78 and-9 Dreamliners. This is

what the Qantas chief Alan Joyce said about the service -- seven

eights and -9. -- 787. Back in the 1940s it took you for days, now we

will get you there with no stops in 17 hours. Form or you can go to our

website, BBC.com. New Zealand has confirmed its Finance Minister Bill

English is the country's new Prime Minister. -- for more. That's one

week after John Key resigned after eight years in the role. For the new

Prime Minister will be sworn in later today. -- the new Prime

Minister. In the coming months and years we will build roads, public

transport, schools and houses to support a strong economy and the

growing population. We will also focus on better incomes for our

households, safer communities and smarter government support for the

most vulnerable. This will be a government supporting economic

growth and insuring the benefits of growth are widely shared. New

Zealand's new Prime Minister, Bill English. Lawmakers in Japan's upper

house parliament are expected to discuss a bill this week that would

legalise casino gambling in principle. Shinzo Abe is pushing to

allow casino gambling to help create new jobs as well as boost

investment. If it goes through, Japan will be competing with other

Asian spots like Macau, Singapore as well as the Philippines, all of whom

have already established their gaming industries over the past

decade. Asia's casino boom has been led in large part by gamblers from

China. Earlier a gaming consultant weighed in on Japan's odds as a

gambling destination. I think that Japan has a unique opportunity

because it is an advanced economy in Asia, you have a domestic market

there, although it's unclear whether the Japanese government would

actually legalise casino gaming that would ultimately allow Japanese

citizens to participate in it. But the reality is, if you look at

Japan's position geographically and its position in terms of its travel

hub status, the airport in Tokyo for example, it does have tourism flows,

having large-scale integrated casino resorts, that makes strategic sense

for the government. There's a domestic market but how big would it

be and where would the punters come from? If the Japanese government

were to legalise casino gaming with unfettered access for Japanese

citizens to participate in, it could be a huge multibillion dollar market

right off the get go. The reality is Japanese consumers do seek out

leisure entertainment experiences, they've been a big piece of the

historical Las Vegas tourism profile, and so if Japan were to

legalise casino gaming with the idea they would allow Japanese citizens

to participate, it would be a huge market. Shoemaker barter is a

century-old brand which is well-known throughout Asia. But its

long history also poses challenges. Barta's shoes are known to be

practical as well as league reasonably priced but they want to

target the younger generation. -- as well as reasonably priced. I spoke

to them to find out how they are keeping one step ahead of the

competition. Today the marketplace, not today, every day, the

marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive. I've never heard

any industry say our marketplace has become less competitive, it doesn't

happen any more. The art is being diligent about competition and being

aware but if you do it too much you start doing what I call mosquito

management, everyday running to the next source of light, and then you

lose your soul and the basic tenants of your strategy. The best way for

us to stay focused and on track on the strategy is to stay focused on

our core consumer. It even has a name, our consumer is called Angela.

We have to define her very clearly. Bata is considered an old-fashioned

and very staid brand, how do you keep it exciting for the new

generation? I come from a fast moving consumer business. If you

read are used to a brand of shampoo, if the lineup is not involving light

you want to, you are not going to drop and go to something else

overnight. -- if you are used to. As a brand and as a product we need to

deliver what people expect, but we need to move and expand cautiously

and gradually. The Chief Executive of Bata, a very busy store. The King

at the markets before we go because gains across-the-board, most markets

taking their cues from the US, which we saw at another record high on

Friday -- looking at. Anticipation ahead of what many anticipate as a

done deal when it comes to an interest rate hike in the US this

week, but we also seeing Australian market is doing well with resources

stocks doing well because of the rising oil prices I mentioned

earlier. That's it for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for