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Oct 7, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Stella Yifan Xie |Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- Liang Qicheng, a 29-year-old from Beijing, was wandering down Hong Kong's waterfront Avenue of Stars and snapping selfies with a friend. She was visiting the city on a four-day trip last week, during China's string of National Day holidays. But she was keeping her spending in check: She stayed at a bed and breakfast rather than a hotel, and she was not planning any big shopping sprees.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Peggy Ye |Kensaku Ihara
HONG KONG -- China economists lowered their forecasts for the nation's 2024 gross domestic product in the latest quarterly survey by Nikkei and Nikkei Quick News, underscoring the pressure facing authorities in the country as they fight to stimulate growth. The average projection by 28 local experts on China's economy points to GDP growth of 4.8% on the year, down from 4.9% in the previous survey compiled in July.
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kensaku Ihara |Peggy Ye |Kenji Kawase
HONG KONG -- China's regional banks are moving faster than big institutions in disposing of nonperforming real estate loans, while the government urges them to lend more to support a weak housing market. Bank of Zhengzhou in Henan province announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to sell assets worth 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to an asset management company mostly funded by the provincial government and state-owned enterprises.
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Aug 31, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kenji Kawase |Kensaku Ihara |Peggy Ye
HONG KONG/MACAO -- Revenues in Macao's casino business are climbing back toward pre-pandemic levels, but clouds of uncertainty are gathering as authorities clamp down on unlicensed money changing operations that play a key role in the industry. The latest interim results of six Hong Kong-listed casino operators demonstrate the sector's renaissance.
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Aug 15, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kensaku Ihara |Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- Major Hong Kong apparel maker Giordano International announced a new business strategy centered on a comeback in the mainland Chinese market on Thursday, as new management tries to bring its earnings back on track. The decision comes as China's economy is struggling on waning consumer confidence.
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Jul 30, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Kenji Kawase |Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- Hang Lung Properties, one of the largest real estate developers in Hong Kong, saw its stock price plunge by double-digits on Tuesday after it reported disappointing earnings. The Hong Kong-listed shares were trading around their previous close in the morning session, but after the company announced its latest financials during the lunch break, the price dropped by as much as 15%. Hang Lung's stock finished the day at 5.64 Hong Kong dollars, down 12%.
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Jul 4, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- China's brisk growth in the first quarter helped put the government's full-year target within reach, but economists still expect a slowdown in the coming months and years due to the country's property crisis and escalating trade tensions. The latest survey by Nikkei and Nikkei Quick News, which included 30 local experts, shows a consensus forecast of 5.1% year-on-year growth in China's gross domestic product in April to June. This follows a strong 5.3% increase in the first quarter.
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Jun 23, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- Stagnant initial public offerings and geopolitical tensions have created a challenging venture capital environment in China, forcing companies and investors to look elsewhere for opportunities. During the first six months of the year, the total value of mainland China's IPOs has plummeted 84% on the year to 32.5 billion yuan ($4.48 billion), while only 44 companies went public, down 75%.
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Jun 17, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Cissy Zhou |Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong government is shifting its investment strategy as part of a comprehensive effort to transform the city into a tech hub as geopolitical pressure builds and its traditional growth drivers of finance and property face challenges. Last week, the government-owned Hong Kong Investment Corp. (HKIC) announced its first public investment in SmartMore, an artificial intelligence company dual-headquartered in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
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Jun 12, 2024 | 
asia.nikkei.com | Peggy Ye
HONG KONG -- QuantumPharm, a Chinese AI-driven drug research company known as XtalPi and backed by Tencent, began trading in Hong Kong on Thursday. The company is the first to list in Hong Kong under a new rule specifically implemented to attract strategic startups as the U.S.-China rivalry widens into emerging technologies like biotech and pharmaceutical research.
