31/05/2017 Asia Business Report

The US has for the first time successfully tested its defence

system against an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Officials say it launched the ground based interceptor

The test comes amid increased tensions with North Korea.

The test comes after Pyongyang fired its ninth missile this year.

Bangladesh coastal communities are assessing the damage in the wake

US singer Ariana Grande has announced she'll return

to Manchester to hold a benefit concert for the victims

She'll be joined by other pop acts such as Coldplay,

Proceeds will go to the "We Love Manchester" emergency fund.

That's all from me, stay with BBC News.

Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for not knowing the figures

for Labour's childcare policy, during a BBC interview.

He later clarified the policy saying it would cost

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

How well has India's economy whether the cash ban on big notes? We find

out when the government releases economic growth figures later today.

And we are nearly halfway to the year. For investors it has been a

steady climb upwards, but could there be trouble spots ahead?

Welcome to Asia Business Report. We start with India, and the latest

economic growth figures due later today. GDP data generated in the

March quarter should offer clues on any more effects from the

controversial cash ban. The South Asian economy has been expanding at

a rate of around 7%, lower than previous quarters due to this sudden

withdrawal of two of the most commonly used banknotes late last

year. So, our businesses there feeling the pinch? Our team and by

when to find out... -- in Mumbai. FUNKY MUSIC

It is difficult for us to get to the 7% plus growth rate in the economy

because there has been at least a partial breakdown in the world

economy. Incomes haven't risen. People are holding back on any

expenses which is bad for business in general.

In the last few years, and especially the last few months, it

has been very bad for the market. Adding fuel to the fire has been the

mother to say. Things have gone down by 18% in terms of growth -- di

monetisation. The auto industry, we have been

working on since 1958, is doing well. There were ups and downs,

partly because of demonetisation, but the Indian economy is robust. We

are confident of that and we are further investing so we achieve

this. In news just in, there has been a rebound in factory output in

different macro culture plan. It rose 4% in April on the previous

month that the fastest pace in six years. Analysts say the jump

suggests the economy is making a strong start in the second quarter

boosted by overseas demand for products. In contrast, South Korea's

production fell by more than 2% in April, that comes in spite and and

Alpert arise. To share way says it is operating at full schedule after

hundreds of flights were cancelled at the weekend after an IT meltdown.

Shares in its parent company closed 1.5% lower. Some estimates say that

this problem could cost BA more than $150 million. What is lowering one

of the biggest players in food and agricultural business Cheika girl?

They trade -- Cargill. The chief Asia-Pacific executive for Cargill,

I ask him why it was such an important market for the firm. Asia

is very important for three reasons. Worst of all, a favourable

demographic, rising urbanisation which fits well in our portfolio. We

know Cargill is a firm supporter of free trade but with the demise of

trade packs like the DPP, how is it that it has limited your goods?

Cargo has been in business for 50 years. We favour global trade but at

the same time there are tendencies for nationalisation. We wonder how

to adjust the system to that. For those who continue to push and

promote local trade as well. With local production, you talk about

agriculture for a lot of your products, but there are concerns

around accusations of deforestation linked to you, and land clearance in

Brazil, despite Terrance not to do so. In Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia,

there is clearance for palm oil. What do you say to these

accusations? We are explicit that we want to feed the globe in a

sustainable and global way. Deforestation is a problem. We

wanted to half deforestation by 2020, we said that in 2014. And

completely stop it by 2030. We work closely with other people in the

supply chain to live up to our commitment. You are a big supporter

of China's one belt one road for these giant infrastructure projects

that do not necessarily protect the environment. Why do you support it?

Because, as mentioned, we want to feed the world in a sustainable way

and in a responsible way. We need to address both. That is the end of

your two minutes, thank you for joining us!

US stocks closed out the final trading session for the month of

May. They were flat, nearly halfway through the year. Driving big gains

on Wall Street. Let's have the luck... Buoyed by optimism that the

US president will roll out tax cuts that favour businesses and boost

profits for corporate America. Some of that enthusiasm trickled into

Asia. This was tempered by North Korea and several missile launches,

raising worries about security in the region. Not many investors are

convinced that China can maintain growth momentum. My guest told me

that this year, it has been an incredible year for investors...

Across the world we have seen double-digit returns, in particular

in this region, quite a nice performance of Asian markets close

to 20%. That is something that we have been a bit surprised about. In

terms of magnitude and pace. It was clearly driven I very good earnings

growth so far. The question is how sustainable it will be in the second

half of the season. And some challenges as we have seen in

geopolitical risks and others. What big concerns to watch out for? We

need to watch out for North Korea and the situation there. And on the

political side, I think that Europe but aside most of the election that

we have seen so far in Europe, it has been more leaning towards the

pro-European side. We have also seen quite a nice rally in European

equity markets. If we look at the USA so far, to be honest, we haven't

seen anything delivered yet from Trump in terms of infrastructure and

spending, more and more importantly in terms of his corporate tax cuts.

We know interest rates are on the up. But closer to home, how worrying

are China's economic problems? We saw credit ratings downgraded by

Moody 's. Will it filtered through to the rest of Asia? In the last few

years, we have seen correction in the first half of 2015 and 2016 was

driven by Chinese concern. Afterwards, we haven't really heard

anything from China. From a market perspective I would say it is a

positive sign but if you look at the depth of GDP numbers in China at

260%, relatively high, we should not forget that most of those debts are

held by domestic investors, hence the volatility we see in other

markets and not so evident, like in China. The downgrade may be the

first signal that the government is supposed to work against this.

Actually, they have done so over the last few months already. Growth has

come down substantially so they have tightened up a lot in terms of

leveraged. Going in the right direction, we need to see more of

this over the next few quarters. In news Justin, the Vietnamese Prime

Minister is meeting President Trump for dinner in Washington. He has

forecast he will ring in news and services up to $17 million. There is

have a look at the markets before we go. Asian markets, if we look at

those, they are fairly flat at the moment. And have been so in the last

few days. Quiet as there has been a lot of holidays. That's all for this

edition of Asia Business Report, thank you for watching.

The US military says it has successfully test fired

an interceptor designed to bring down an intercontinental ballistic

missile, as concerns grow over North Korea's ambitions.