27/11/2017 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

The highest volcano alert in Bali.

The island's only airport is shut

and tens of thousands of residents

have been evacuated. India is in the

spotlight this week as we wait and

see if a GST is bed of -- benefiting

the economy. Hello and welcome to

Asia is in this report. We begin the

programme with a focus on the

Indonesian island of Bali where a

volcano has been dodging huge plumes

of smoke. The Indonesian national

disaster management agency has

placed the alert level on a tired --

Pies. The main airport has been

closed and flight diverted. The

volcano was moving towards a

full-scale corruption and people are

being told to keep out of a 12

kilometre radius evacuation area.

Cyber Monday has kicked off, giving

consumers around the world to take

advantage of special deals to lock

in a gift or pick up a gadget and

would either have wanted all here.

This cyber Monday looks bigger than

ever. Our business reporter joins us

now. Matt, I suppose you have been

shopping and if not, can you crunch

the numbers?

I have been crunching

numbers not just -- yet shopping.

Cyber Monday started in 2005 when

the National retail Federation in

the United States noticed people

returning from the long Thanksgiving

weekend. They are a work, they have

Wi-Fi, they do shopping. Retailers

noticed and offered one-time diva --

deals. If we look at the projections

for this year we can see how much

people are purchasing. They expect

about $6.6 billion in sales this

year alone. That is about 16.5% more

than last year which was already a

record. Brick and mortar versus

online, Black Friday versus cyber

Monday, it gets fuzzy because Black

Friday also has online sales. $5

billion worth. The line between the

two is getting thinner every year

but Mobile is the driving factor

here. Experts say the holiday season

is about people shopping on their

smart phone. One third of Black

Friday shoppers use their phones to

make the purchase. This will be big

here in Asia where we know people

are used -- comfortable using their

phones to make purchases. And what

are people buying? It is all about

big electronics. Things you need big

shopping carts. Cyber Monday is more

about the smaller items that you can

be -- have delivered to if you need

shoes for example, today is a good

day to do shopping.

Now, briefly, we

know this is a reflection of the

potentially relative health of the

US economy.

Absolutely. The latest

survey says that consumers

confidence is at a 17 year high.

They seem primed at the pump to do

the shopping. With prices at record

highs and unemployment relatively

low we could see some amazing

received this holiday season.

And

well, cybershopping is beckoning

right now. What is on the horizon as

we reach the end of November? Here

is a calendar for the week ahead.

Cyber Monday is today, a day when

online retailers dish out the best

deals as the holiday season draws

near. Jumping ahead to Thursday

there is a bunch of key dates to

take note of including growth

figures in the third quarter from

India and also on Thursday the bank

of Korea holds its monetary policy

meeting with talk of a possible rate

hike. Another event we keep an eye

on on the same day, crucial for the

energy market, OPEC and non- OPEC

will meet in Vienna to discuss the

extension of production restrictions

that is India's economic growth

picking up momentum?

Or pick up of

growth in the third quarter given

that industrial output has recovered

and business sentiment has

strengthened so definitely they are

on the mend from the low point of

July when the GST was implemented.

That was disrupted for both

processors did it I think the

economy is recovering now.

We saw

stocks as well doing quite well so

it does not seem to reflect what is

going on in terms of growth.

Overall

the economy is doing well and global

trade is strengthening. Of course it

is not that significant to the

Indian economy, it is more a

domestically all into the economy.

Overall, signs of a gradual

recovery. You say that global trade

is improving and for one other

export reliant economy like South

Korea, offer interest, interest

rates are coming out and

expectations are that they may raise

ratess for the first time since

2011.

Will they? I think they will

and that reflects the fact that

growth has been strong so I estimate

that South Korea's negative outlook

has now fully closed which means

that inflationary pressures will

start building up from here. It is a

good time to start normalising

interest rates, gradually.

And,

finally, oil prices. US oil prices

rose to their highest level in over

two years on Friday alone and we

have a big meeting of OPEC and non-

OPEC members. What do we expect.

We

believe there will be an extension

to the production cuts that are set

to expire in March. That means that

we will have next year, the global

oil market will be in a mild supply

deficit position which means that

global patrol in infantry 's will

start coming down. If there is no

extension, however, then the oil

market will be back on supply

surplus and that would bring prices

down. That is not what the

oil-producing countries want.

In

other business news, Bitcoin sets a

new record and jumps above the 9000

dollar mark. This comes less than a

week after the crypto currency

topped $8,000. The coin now has a

market cap of over $150 billion to

other crypto currencies have had a

strong week with a searing and

Bitcoin cache also up for the week.

Some analysts say the prices will

continue to rise as all of these

gain greater mainstream attention

despite warnings of an asset bubble.

India is the fastest growing mobile

phone market in the world and with

one of the country's because

companies that rely on, launching

its Geo network last year, can sit

-- competition has intensified. Geo

offers cut price rates and plenty of

freebies. We caught up with the

chairman and asked if the price war

is nearing an end.

From a

consolidation point of view, we have

gone from 12 to three operators

unbelievably fast consolidation.

Customers now only have three

choices to make. Hopefully they

choose us. I won't say the worst is

over because we have a very strong

and powerful new entrant with a

strong result to be a player in the

marketplace.

How about the flagship

company which is under heavy debt at

the moment and desperately needs

funds?

This is not... You keep on

wondering when you will be safe.

That will never be the case. There

will be disruption in technology,

new challenges that come to the

marketplace. Even in the middle of

aid price word -- war, money should

be directed to the right places.

Tomorrow if we need money, they can

come from shareholders, bond markets

in most of my dead as government

debt. I do not have a lot of bank

debt and banks are always willing to

give us more money.

Where is the

growth opportunity for you in the

telecom industry now?

The pie is

shrinking but our market share is

growing. We are determined to stay

at the number-1 position which we

have been for 22 years.

So now we

are shifting today, will that be the

new area of expansion?

It is leaps

and bounds. Al 4G expansion has been

great, we have nearly 100,000 base

stations every year. Data is where

the focus is but we have 25 million

customers, and a lot of stuff is

happening.

A quick look at the

markets, we see some gains. The All

Ordinaries is higher and a lot of

the other Asian markets are also

higher in trading. That is due to

the gains we saw on Wall Street.

With or near record highs for many

shares that closed last week and

part of this due to the good retail

sales we saw amazing shopping

numbers that we saw on Black Friday.

And that is lifting a lot of spirits

today. As well with salt oil prices

higher which leads to resource

stocks rising in Australia. Looking

at currencies with the currencies

gained to the euro is at a two month

high against the US dollar, due to

the that there were some strong

German economic data. And just

recapping, our main story this

morning. We are watching

developments from Mount Agung in

Indonesia. The