0:00:00 > 0:00:03Earlier, Oxfam's deputy chief executive, Penny Lawrence, resigned.
0:00:03 > 0:00:06Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Wall Street closes higher, but our investors nervous about what comes
0:00:19 > 0:00:23next? We will hear from a large fund
0:00:23 > 0:00:27manager. And how companies are helping clean up the oceans by
0:00:27 > 0:00:39cutting down on plastic waste. Good morning, Asia, hello world. It
0:00:39 > 0:00:44is a Tuesday. Glad you could join us for another exciting addition for
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. We kick off with the markets.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52We saw Wall Street closing higher overnight with the Dow Jones adding
0:00:52 > 0:01:001.7% and the broader S&P 500 hired by 1.4%. That Mackay by. We have
0:01:00 > 0:01:05seen one of the wildest runs in US stock market history. In Asia,
0:01:05 > 0:01:14markets followed Wall Street moved, it is that make it sell trade. The
0:01:14 > 0:01:21Nikkei and be indexed and South Korea. I spoke to Shaun Taylor about
0:01:21 > 0:01:26what he has been watching for in the market right now.The way we are
0:01:26 > 0:01:30looking at inflation is we see it in the US getting it to about 1.8 by
0:01:30 > 0:01:35the end of the year. It will be two steps forward, one step back, and
0:01:35 > 0:01:40continuing that pattern. The fancy a more confident they will reach the
0:01:40 > 0:01:452% target, finally. And probably we will have a rate rise in March at
0:01:45 > 0:01:49the next meeting. It is not unexpected. If you look at the
0:01:49 > 0:01:53behaviour of the bond market over this period it has been reasonably
0:01:53 > 0:01:59stable relative to when we have had passed selloffs. This is an equity
0:01:59 > 0:02:03issue, values had got reasonably high, the market had done very well
0:02:03 > 0:02:08in January, particularly some of the risky markets like emerging markets
0:02:08 > 0:02:13and Asia, and was due a pause. When people are on the short volatility
0:02:13 > 0:02:17trade it comes off very quickly and they have to close their positions,
0:02:17 > 0:02:23it does cause some volatility.What is your advice to right now for your
0:02:23 > 0:02:30investors in this market volatility? We would be more cautious on the
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Treasury is going forward. Interest rates are clearly going up and that
0:02:33 > 0:02:39will affect treasuries across the globe. We are very confident still
0:02:39 > 0:02:47on corporate credit and we are excited about equities earnings are
0:02:47 > 0:02:52still getting upgraded. You will see downgrades normally in the US.
0:02:52 > 0:03:01Jussie we have seen upgrades of 4.8%. In 1.2 on revenues -- this
0:03:01 > 0:03:06year we have seen.Shaun Taylor. President Trump has promised what he
0:03:06 > 0:03:12is calling the biggest and boldest infrastructure investment in US
0:03:12 > 0:03:15history. Announcing his budget plans, he said he wanted to spend
0:03:15 > 0:03:28$1.5 trillion in roads, highways, ports, and airports.Joe Mellor from
0:03:28 > 0:03:32New York. We have been hearing about this month on and months and months.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The Trump Administration has promised a big announcement on
0:03:35 > 0:03:38infrastructure since at least the summer of last year. And here it is.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The basic premise behind it is something all parties basically
0:03:41 > 0:03:47agree on, it is that America's roads, bridges, railways, they are
0:03:47 > 0:03:50travelling in the investment. It was a big campaign promise of Donald
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Trump to pour money into infrastructure. On that almost
0:03:54 > 0:03:57everyone is a line. Then a glider where the money will come from.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Today's announcement does not really remedy that. There is only 200
0:04:02 > 0:04:05billion coming from Washington itself, from federal funds. That is
0:04:05 > 0:04:10a drop in the ocean from anyone's standards. The rest, Donald Trump
0:04:10 > 0:04:16said today, has to come from the private sector or cities or states.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21The cities and states say they don't have the money and it is much harder
0:04:21 > 0:04:24for them to borrow money than the Federal government. They are much
0:04:24 > 0:04:27more restricted when it comes to that. They are arguing they are
0:04:27 > 0:04:31never going to be able to make up the shortfall that will get them to
0:04:31 > 0:04:35$1.5 trillion in investment.In other business news making
0:04:35 > 0:04:39headlines, Amazon is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs after
0:04:39 > 0:04:43several years of major growth. The layoffs were reported by the Seattle
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Times, which said the actions focused on streamlining the
0:04:48 > 0:04:52company's consumer retail business. The firm employed more than 560,000
0:04:52 > 0:04:58full and part-time workers at the end of December. There will Epernay
0:04:58 > 0:05:06new $3.4 billion Cesena in Macau just in time for the Chinese New
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Year holiday. It marks the biggest investment in the Territorian. It
0:05:10 > 0:05:18comes after uncertainty after condition of its licensors. 20
0:05:18 > 0:05:22century Fox has promised to keep Sky News in depending continue funding
0:05:22 > 0:05:25the loss-making channel for five years, as it tries to overcome
0:05:25 > 0:05:31regulatory concerns over its takeover. The deal, if approved, is
0:05:31 > 0:05:37worth $15 billion. Starting today, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange
0:05:37 > 0:05:43Coincheck will allow people to withdraw money from its portal. Just
0:05:43 > 0:05:51over two weeks ago hackers stole $530 million worth of digital money.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56More on this issue and the unfolding developments behind Coincheck, I am
0:05:56 > 0:06:01joined by Mariko Oi. Have the withdrawals started?It has
0:06:01 > 0:06:05actually. I was just looking at Twitter. Some of the users saying
0:06:05 > 0:06:11they have started to receive money. That is only the Japanese yen and
0:06:11 > 0:06:14not cryptocurrency. Not because of their falling prices. Some of them
0:06:14 > 0:06:19are not happy. They are basically sitting on huge losses, ballooning
0:06:19 > 0:06:26losses, if you like. This theft has highlighted how vulnerable the
0:06:26 > 0:06:30exchanges. It shocked the nation which are so far embraced
0:06:30 > 0:06:34cryptocurrencies, unlike neighbours like South Korea and China which
0:06:34 > 0:06:37have been cracking down on. Last year, Japan became the first country
0:06:37 > 0:06:43to nationally regulate these exchanges. So far there have been 16
0:06:43 > 0:06:46others awaiting clearance. Since this Pack two weeks ago the
0:06:46 > 0:06:52regulator has been looking into all these exchanges and Coincheck has to
0:06:52 > 0:06:57submit by the end of the day to show how to improve security.More
0:06:57 > 0:07:00transparency. But we have seen every falling cryptocurrency since the
0:07:00 > 0:07:06beginning of the year. My colleague and business reporter Mariko Oi. The
0:07:06 > 0:07:11plastic. It is one of the favourite packaging materials in the world. It
0:07:11 > 0:07:15is cheap and efficient for transporting goods, but only a
0:07:15 > 0:07:20fraction of it is recycled. And as an increasing number of consumers to
0:07:20 > 0:07:23man's green alternatives, some companies have been dreaming up
0:07:23 > 0:07:32fresh ways to combat waste. At least 8 million tons of plastic
0:07:32 > 0:07:37ends up in the ocean each year. One of the biggest culprits is the
0:07:37 > 0:07:42consumer goods industry, plastic packaging is often used just once
0:07:42 > 0:07:47before being thrown away.Only 10% of plastic in the world is actually
0:07:47 > 0:07:51recycled. That leaves 90% either been buried or burned or lost into
0:07:51 > 0:07:58the environment.Now a number of companies are trying to stem the
0:07:58 > 0:08:06tide. British firm Recycling Technologies think this machine can
0:08:06 > 0:08:10be a game changer. It takes difficult items like food wrappers,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15toothpaste tubes, coffee cups, and binliners, some very high to
0:08:15 > 0:08:19bridges, and breaks down the plastic to its raw material. At the end of
0:08:19 > 0:08:24the process you get something like this, an oil that can be sold back
0:08:24 > 0:08:29to petrochemical companies to be made back into plastic once again.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33We are building a facility in Swindon to make 200 machines per
0:08:33 > 0:08:39year, each machine will do 7000 tons plastic. That is 1.4 million tons of
0:08:39 > 0:08:43recycling capacity being added into the system every year. We would be
0:08:43 > 0:08:47able to quadruple the capacity of European recycling in the next
0:08:47 > 0:08:54years.Many plastics can currently only be recycled ones. A company who
0:08:54 > 0:08:57makes household cleaning products once its products to be recycled
0:08:57 > 0:09:01again and again.The most sustainable system we could have a
0:09:01 > 0:09:06plastic usage is if everyone used transparent bottles, because then
0:09:06 > 0:09:10all bottles would be recycled back and any bottle could be recycled
0:09:10 > 0:09:15into any other bottle.Plastic is a lightweight, durable, and cheap, and
0:09:15 > 0:09:18crucially it keeps food fresh. But some companies are finding
0:09:18 > 0:09:25alternatives. SAP Rutba 's use packaging that disappears
0:09:25 > 0:09:30completely.This is compostable material. In about six month it will
0:09:30 > 0:09:33fully decompose, meaning all of the nutrients are returned to the
0:09:33 > 0:09:37natural cycle.Small companies look for ways to tackle the problem
0:09:37 > 0:09:42plastic waste, the more we do at the price will come down. Some firms
0:09:42 > 0:09:52find they can do without plastic after all. And the let us have a
0:09:52 > 0:09:56look at the markets. Currently better than expected. The Nikkei up
0:09:56 > 0:10:04by 117 points. The Hung Phan and open about ten minutes ago and it is
0:10:04 > 0:10:09surging by 390 points. The All Ordinaries index gaining 6.5 points.
0:10:09 > 0:10:16So far all good, all in positive territory. The three major indices
0:10:16 > 0:10:19rebounded overnight with broad-based schemes across the sector. The Dow
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Jones industrial average and two trading days, Friday and Monday, up
0:10:23 > 0:10:29by more than 700 points. Overnight gaining 1.7%. The NASDAQ up