:00:12. > :00:22.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest
:00:22. > :00:23.
:00:23. > :00:26.financial news with Sally. Can the turnaround at Sony continue?
:00:26. > :00:33.Investors await the latest quarterly results amid calls from one
:00:33. > :00:43.shareholder for the company to be split up. Does Europe need another
:00:43. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :00:53.interest rate cut? Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock.
:00:53. > :01:03.Also in the programme, unexpected growth at China's big manufacturers.
:01:03. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:14.We'll have the details. What do these two have in common? Or at
:01:14. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:23.least, these three? The answer is Sony. 'Smurfs 2' is the latest
:01:23. > :01:28.release from Sony Pictures, owned by the corporation behind the Xperia
:01:28. > :01:32.smartphone, Bravia TVs and, of course, the PlayStation. In the next
:01:32. > :01:35.results, some analysts are only expecting it to break even in the
:01:35. > :01:38.three months to June. That would be a big let-down from the previous
:01:38. > :01:42.quarter when it made almost a billion dollars, returning to profit
:01:42. > :01:45.for the first time in five years. That could add weight to calls by
:01:45. > :01:52.one leading investor for the company to be split up, as Rupert Wingfield
:01:52. > :02:02.Hayes reports from Tokyo. Can the little blue men from Belgian
:02:02. > :02:03.
:02:04. > :02:13.rescue Sony? Sony pictures is hoping papa smirks and the game can do
:02:14. > :02:20.
:02:20. > :02:28.better than some of its other stars this summer. -- papa Smurf. That
:02:28. > :02:38.dahlias have prompted their largest shareholder to call for the division
:02:38. > :02:40.
:02:40. > :02:47.to be sold off. They have accused the company of treating its
:02:47. > :02:57.entertainment division like a redheaded stepchild. Sony's boss
:02:57. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:10.disagrees. He believes Sony's entertainment divisions are vital.
:03:10. > :03:15.
:03:15. > :03:25.After years of losses and poor product losses. Sony 's smart
:03:25. > :03:35.phones... The launch of the PlayStation four. As soon as we hear
:03:35. > :03:41.
:03:41. > :03:44.from Sony, we will update you. It's been the longest recession to hit
:03:44. > :03:48.Europe since records began two decades ago but is it finally coming
:03:48. > :03:51.to an end? That's the key question for the European Central Bank as it
:03:51. > :03:54.makes its policy decision later today. Interest rates are at a
:03:54. > :03:56.record low of 0.5%. ECB chief Mario Draghi said the Bank discussed
:03:56. > :03:59.cutting them even further last month. Since then there have been
:03:59. > :04:03.some encouraging signs. The number of people out of work in the
:04:03. > :04:06.countries that share the Euro fell by 24,000 in June. That was the
:04:06. > :04:09.first monthly fall in over two years. However, to put that in
:04:09. > :04:12.perspective, there are still 19 million unemployed in Europe. That's
:04:12. > :04:17.one snapshot of what is happening in the region. Bronwyn Curtis is Chair
:04:18. > :04:27.of the Society of Business Economists. What will the ECB do
:04:28. > :04:30.
:04:30. > :04:37.today? They have to keep interest rates low in Europe. The
:04:37. > :04:47.unemployment rate is still going a little higher. It's great, but it is
:04:47. > :04:47.
:04:47. > :04:52.not enough to get those debt levels down. It's probably going to be half
:04:52. > :05:02.that because the call will start to slow down. It is a real problem
:05:02. > :05:10.
:05:10. > :05:19.-- core. They'll have to put more liquidity in. It does look as though
:05:19. > :05:24.they will start withdrawing liquidity from the US. In the
:05:24. > :05:31.meantime, when you're looking at some of the key economies in the
:05:31. > :05:36.eurozone that we are concerned about, Greece, Portugal, Italy, when
:05:36. > :05:45.you look at the politics, what's going on in these countries, it's
:05:45. > :05:53.getting very difficult. Allegations about Mariano Rajoy. Things seem
:05:53. > :06:02.unstable. It's getting more and more difficult. These governments, you
:06:02. > :06:12.talked about Greece, Spain, they are all hanging on by a thread. Its
:06:12. > :06:14.
:06:14. > :06:24.austerity. People are getting tired of it. It doesn't look as though any
:06:24. > :06:25.
:06:25. > :06:34.of the banks are going to have to collapse. Things are OK. Thank you
:06:34. > :06:44.very much. She will return shortly. Let's move on. We have some good
:06:44. > :06:47.
:06:47. > :06:49.news. A bit of relief on financial markets coming from China. An
:06:50. > :06:52.official survey of manufacturing activity, known as the Purchasing
:06:53. > :06:55.Mangers Survey or PMI, shows growth picked up slightly in July from
:06:55. > :07:00.June. Most analysts were expecting a contraction in factory output. Let's
:07:00. > :07:10.go straight to Rico Hizon in our Singapore bureau.
:07:10. > :07:11.
:07:11. > :07:21.Put this in perspective. Any number below 50 indicates a
:07:21. > :07:27.
:07:27. > :07:37.contraction in factory activity. The official figure was just up a little
:07:37. > :07:51.
:07:51. > :07:58.bit from the month before. You also have sums -- have some sceptics. We
:07:58. > :08:08.have that private reading of the mainland private factories. It was
:08:08. > :08:10.
:08:10. > :08:16.at an 11 month low. 48 .7. That is indeed a contraction. It could
:08:16. > :08:22.potentially be the solution in entering the sector's problems. At
:08:22. > :08:32.the moment, China's economy is not out of the woods.
:08:32. > :08:32.
:08:32. > :08:35.We continue to watch that closely. Turning to bricks and mortar, if you
:08:35. > :08:38.are looking to own real estate, Singapore is the fourth most
:08:38. > :08:40.expensive city in the world, after Hong Kong, London and Monaco. And
:08:40. > :08:46.now the Singaporean government has decided to introduce tougher
:08:46. > :08:49.measures to cool the property market. In today's instalment of our
:08:49. > :08:55.global series on housing, Sharanjit Leyl takes a look at the efforts to
:08:55. > :09:02.control Singapore's spiralling prices.
:09:02. > :09:07.He lives with his wife and daughter in this five bedroom, 7000 square
:09:07. > :09:17.feet penthouse in Central Singapore. He thinks it would cost about $11
:09:17. > :09:20.
:09:20. > :09:28.million if he were to sell it. He plans to stop buying any more here.
:09:28. > :09:36.They've stabilised the property market. When they say they are going
:09:37. > :09:43.to stabilise it, they will. At the same time, I will hold on to the
:09:44. > :09:52.portfolio I have here. government has tried to bring down
:09:52. > :09:58.house prices by raising the stamp duty. Coupled with expectations of
:09:58. > :10:05.rising interest rates and rising mortgage payments, has people
:10:05. > :10:09.worried that prices will fall. Developers bank on more demand from
:10:09. > :10:15.buyers. There has been so much demand that property prices hit a
:10:15. > :10:19.record high in the last quarter. They are paid measurement in place
:10:19. > :10:24.for the last four years. They have put in even tougher ones in the hope
:10:24. > :10:33.they will work. These include trying to stop borrowers from making
:10:33. > :10:43.monthly payments. A hint of concern that Singapore might experience a US
:10:43. > :10:43.
:10:43. > :10:49.style mortgage meltdown. We have to look out for the right
:10:49. > :10:59.opportunities. We have been fairly prudent to our approach in investing