15/12/2016 Asia Business Report

before to stand in solidarity with a variety of groups

And the top story here in the UK: The Brexit Secretary,

David Davis, has told MPs he would accept a transitional

arrangement as Britain leaves the European Union,

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

The US central bank finally delivers its rate hike this year. We look at

the impact on Asia-Pacific economies. And if you are keen about

a healthy diet, this superfood is trending in the West. But farmers in

Taiwan have been growing this grain for more than 1000 years. Good

morning Asia, hello world. Glad you could join us for this edition of

Asia Business Report. I am Rico Hizon and we kick off with the US

Federal Reserve, the central bank has finally done it, raising the

cost of borrowing by 0.25% to 0.75%. The rate hike is a vote of

confidence in the economy. My colleagues and I are recognising the

considerable progress the economy has made towards our dual objectives

of maximum employment and price stability. Over the past year, 2.2 5

million net new jobs have been created, and employment has fallen

further and inflation has moved closer to our longer run goal of 2%.

We expect the economy will continue to perform well. With the US central

bank sounding confident about the US economy, should investors take that

as a signal for more rate hikes next year? Our correspondent in

Washington. That is the key question going into today's meeting. Everyone

is wanting to know what would the Federal Reserve say about future

rate hikes? We now know a little more than we did going into this

meeting. They have said that they foresee three potential rate hikes

in 2017. The question is how accurate that is. If we look back

one year ago, they estimated four rate hikes in 2016, and here we are

and there has been only one. What they are considering, what they are

talking about, is the impact of Donald Trump presidency. What will

that mean for monetary policy going forward? Janet Yellen in her press

conference said that certainly fiscal policy, in other words

government action, would be one of the factors that they would be

looking at as they go forward. Let's have a quick look now at our Asian

markets, you have the Nikkei 225 up slightly in mid-morning trade, by 67

points. The all ordinaries down by 0.8%, and we are awaiting the Hang

Seng index in Hong Kong, two minutes into the trading day. We will have

the updated numbers later on in the programme. As for currencies, the US

dollar shot up more than 1.5% against the Japanese yen, and now

hovering at around ten month highs, the highest level since February of

this year. So what this rising US interest rate means for Asia-Pacific

economies, we are joined by our Asia-Pacific correspondent. Earlier

we talked about Australia and Japan and how the rate rise will be

impacting them. What about Hong Kong and the second largest economy in

the world, China? Well, we have already seen moves from Hong Kong

this morning. They have raised their base rate I25 basis points, to match

that of the United States. Remember, the US dollar so we usually expect

like this. What does it mean for the small island of Hong Kong,

especially in a place where property prices are so high? When interest

rates go up, it becomes even more expensive for many Hong Kongers to

own a home there. It is a very politically difficult time in Hong

Kong, to say the least. There is a lot of disenchantment, a lot of

frustration, with China's slowing down and higher US interest rates on

the cards, that could have an impact on the political situation there as

well. In the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar, so with the

appreciation of the US dollar, it will make life in Hong Kong more

expensive. But what about Donald Trump taking office in about a month

or so? He may be calling China currency manipulator and slapping

such huge tariffs on Chinese goods. We have already seen signs from the

central bank in China today with regards to the yuan, they have

weakened the midpoint for the yuan, and now it is sinking against the US

dollar to levels we haven't seen in the offshore market since June 2008.

China is in a really difficult position. It doesn't want the yuan

to get too weak, it is apparent exports, but neither does it wanted

to be too strong, so we will have to watch it very closely. Thank you for

your insights on Hong Kong and China. Moving on to other business

news making headlines, search engine Yahoo has said more than 1 billion

users may have had their data stolen in a hack which dates back to 2013.

That is separate from its previously disclosed region, which Yahoo said

affected 500 million users. 2000 British Airways cabin crew have

voted to go on strike over a pay dispute, and that is about 50% of

the airline's in-flight staff. The strike could start next week but the

union has not confirmed if the industrial action would affect

travellers over the holiday season. An apt promising to make the world a

more beautiful place has made its share debut on the Hong Kong stock

exchange. The Chinese company is Hong Kong's biggest technology IPO

in a decade. But will it make investors smile? That is the big

question. And some good news for Meitu's

shareholders. They kicked off trade minutes ago, and they are up right

now by 3% on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the Hang Seng is down by

nearly 1%. Love it, hate it never heard of it, there is no denying

quinoa has taken the health food world by storm in recent years. The

superfood hails from South America mock or so we thought. As part of

our series Taste of Asia, our correspondent found out farmers were

growing at thousands of years ago, and it is making a comeback. Of

years, Taiwan's Indigenous people grew this crop. It is a type of

quinoa, that trendy grain like plant grown in South America. But when the

Chinese settled here, Rice became the crop of choice. TRANSLATION: We

began growing again four years ago when we were trying to rebuild our

community. We reminisced about how things were in the past. We

remembered in our childhood that it was always part of our landscape,

and it was very beautiful. But we didn't know it was so nutritious.

When we found out later, we thought wow, our ancestors were lucky. They

were eating the best food. Taiwan's quinoa is also a so-called

superfood. Compared to rice, wheat and oats it is packed with a lot

more calcium, dietary fibre and iron. Some research shows it is even

more nutritious than its South American counterpart. Demand has

soared for the tie is crop, and retail prices have tripled to about

$30 for a 600 g bag. This season's crop has just been planted. It is

only a few centimetres tall but by harvest time early next year it will

fetch high prices. This will fetch much needed income to tribal

communities like this one. But more importantly, it is also bringing

back its young people from the cities. TRANSLATION: I used to work

in the cities, but I feel better being back here. We can look after

the elderly people and tend the fields. This way, our language and

culture can also be passed on. Farmers in Taiwan planting more

quinoa, now it makes up about one third of their income. TRANSLATION:

Indigenous people have tended to be introverted and restrained in the

past. We didn't dare compare our food with what is on the market

today. But later, when we realised our quinoa has three times the iron

contained in stake, this became a source of pride for us. It gave us

confidence. After all, something so good had come from our tribal areas.

We thought we should confidently share the wisdom of our ancestors

with the world, and use it to revive our tribal villages. Thank you so

much for investing your time with us. I am Rico Hizon. Sport Today is

up next.