13/06/2017 Asia Business Report

I'm Babita Sharma with BBC World News.

Britain's Prime Minister has apologised to her party's MPs

for the Conservatives' performance in the General Election.

Theresa May said she'd got them into "this mess" and would get them

She also said she would serve them as party leader for as long

Hong Kong is being lashed by heavy rain and strong winds

as Tropical Storm Merbok makes landfall on China's south coast.

Waves of up to six metres have been reported.

And this story is trending on bbc.com.

It's the tale of a 94-year-old Indonesian banana seller

After a video was posted on-line showing him in distress,

donations poured, in and almost $3,000 has been raised so far.

That's all from me for now. Stay with BBC News.

The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, apologises to her MPs

for losing her government's majority in last week's election.

The uncertainty looks likely to delay the Queen's Speech

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

To hike or not to hike. We will look at the rate decision of the Federal

bank and its impact on Asia. And why is rechargeable gear becoming

popular among the gaming community? Good morning, Asia. Hello, world.

Welcome to another edition of Asia Business Report. It's a Tuesday. I'm

Rico Hizon. We kicked off with the US Federal Reserve. Investors will

be keeping a close eye on this week's meeting from the Central Bank

for any clues for the rest of the year. The outlook will further rate

rises is nowhere near certain. The chief economist told me why the US

Central Bank is expected to raise the cost of borrowing by another

quarter of this week. It is pretty unanimous that they will raise

rates. That has been the clear forward guidance. If they don't, it

will be a shock to the markets. The interesting thing the markets are

looking for is any forward guidance going forward. In view, given the

economic fundamentals of the US economy, is this the right time to

raise interest rates, or should they stay put for now until it is right

time. It is a bit tricky. Core inflation has been going down. The

Federal Reserve is confused with the recent data. At the same time,

though, the labour market continues to tighten. At some point, that

typically leads to inflation. They need to get away from the emergency

very low rates. At some point in the future they will be a recession.

Mixed economic data. The Federal Reserve supposed to wait until the

next meeting? They have to wait. In terms of forward guidance, I don't

expect any big news at this meeting. They will want to see a bit more

data before they actually provide more news, for instance, on the

balance sheet reduction plans, the details. What about Asian central

banks? Which ones will stay put and which ones will hike? Nearly every

Central Bank is on hold this whole year. The only one at the moment

hiking is the Philippine Central Bank. And even then we are not sure.

The risk with this FOMC is that Janet Yellen and the FOMC sound more

hawkish than the markets. Next year they are forecasting three rate

hikes! In other business news making headlines, GE's chairman and Chief

Executive is retiring after 16 years. This comes after GE has been

under pressure to slash costs and boost profits in the core industrial

business. A high level shakeup at the joint-venture between Fuji Film

and Xerox. The chairman and three executives are stepping down after

accounting problems in Australia and New Zealand. Fuji Film says

irregularities were larger than thought at $240 million. Apple and

Toshiba will join. They are also in talks with the owner of Google,

Alphabet, and Microsoft. Toshiba is selling off its chip unit to cover

huge losses. Iron ore and steel losses have climbed back after

Monday. They are the largest steel producer, China, doing half of

global output. The US claims China has been dumping steel products on

their market, hurting their own steel makers. They recently had put

more duties on Chinese steel. But China says it is slashing

production. What can we make of these claims? China all along is

saying it has not been dumping. That is because its products have pricing

competitiveness. Are they cutting capacity across the board for both

crude and finished steel, or just finished? Normally, they are both

affected when we say one. But now we are talking about capacity, not

production. Chinese authorities are trying to get things going. We have

seen a consolidation in 2015 and 2016. 17? They have been working on

that. What about in terms of prices, iron ore and steel? Will iron ore

prices continue to fall? That is a tricky question. Recently, iron ore

has fallen from $94 in February to $56. That is because Chinese makers

are using more scrap. Be more scrapped you use, the more pressure

on iron ore prices as well. Razor is a cult brand for gamers in

Singapore. They want either a mouse or a headset, like my son, and want

to pay a premium. Do their products live up to the hype? We met there

spokesman. -- their. I have always been passionate about

gaming. I play games all the time, even when I was a lawyer. Even today

I am still a huge game. I have always been a gamer. We started by

asking ourselves, like any other gamer, how in the world can we get

an unfair advantage over our competitors? I think you can see

from my set-up I'm a huge fan of Razor. There is no way to describe

it. The first thing I would do is go crazy if I got to meet them.

It is such a high premium. They are searching for the brand.

Technically, there is not much difference than a Lenovo or Dell

laptop. They are a great brand We have to celebrate a brand that is so

strong. Many lenders are jealous of this brand. You can even see

T-shirts for Razor. However, there is also the question of hype to talk

about. It is about winning all of the time. They are

about. It is about winning all of the time. They are not the only

company trying to cash in on gaming. The industry has become a global

juggernaut, generating $91 billion of revenue last year. $41 billion

was spent on mobile gaming, with hits like Pokemon Go leading the

charge. PC gaming brings in 36 billion US dollars. There will be a

leading industry event soon. Microsoft and Sony are at E3. What

can we expect? We have already heard from Microsoft, who have already

launched their Xbox1X we have heard. Sony wants to keep up momentum,

greatly outselling the Xbox at the moment. It might do that with more

titles, something that Xbox does not yet have copied we will also hear

from Nintendo. Since last year, they have had a remarkable turnaround in

fortunes. It has been a remarkable year for them. BBC News. We will now

have a quick look at what is happening to Bitcoin. Two weeks ago,

$2000! Now it is trading above $3000 for the first time. That is 5000%

since the start of 2017. Another cryptocurrency is surging on Monday,

record levels of $407. That is Ethyrium. A quick look at the

markets. They are currently awaiting Asian trade. I am Rico Hizon. Thank

you for watching. Goodbye for now. This is BBC News. The British Prime

Minister, the reason may, has apologised to her MPs for