12/12/2016 Asia Business Report


12/12/2016

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Investors in South Korean markets shrug off concerns over the

:00:16.:00:19.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Seoul, over the weekend demanding the immediate resignation of the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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external events rather than domestic events? We know that domesticly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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scheduled for delivery in 2018. Staying with aviation, passengers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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households, safer communities and smarter government support for the

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most vulnerable. This will be a government supporting economic

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

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

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

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legalise casino gambling in principle. Shinzo Abe is pushing to

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

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

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

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have already established their gaming industries over the past

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

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

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gambling destination. I think that Japan has a unique opportunity

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

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

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actually legalise casino gaming that would ultimately allow Japanese

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

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

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

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

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

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

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were to legalise casino gaming with unfettered access for Japanese

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

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

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

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

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legalise casino gaming with the idea they would allow Japanese citizens

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

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

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

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practical as well as league reasonably priced but they want to

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

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

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

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marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive. I've never heard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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stocks doing well because of the rising oil prices I mentioned

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

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