As U.S.-China relations remain tense, Southeast Asia becomes the darling for investors and tech companies from both sides as they seek overseas expansion. Behemoths like Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance have elbowed into the region. Some set up shop, while others formed alliances and took stakes in local startups. Now five prominent investors originating…
The inflow of Asia’s Chinese and Indian migrants is outpacing migrants from Latin America, says a report by the Pew Research Center. Chinese and Indians have the largest share of new legal immigrants and illegal migrants, said the August 20 report, titled “Key Findings About U.S. Immigrants”: In 2018, the top country of origin for…
Small- to medium-sized businesses are one of the most important parts of Southeast Asia’s economy, but many have trouble securing growth capital from traditional financial institutions. Validus wants to fix the financing gap with its peer-to-peer lending platform, which connects accredited lenders with SMEs. The Singapore-based startup announced today that it has raised $20 million…
American stock markets plunged on Wednesday, after the World Health Organization officially declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. In Asia, meanwhile, almost all the major stock indexes were also trading lower the morning after the WHO’s announcement, with the Asia Dow Index down 4% by midday. Morning trading in East Asian markets was ongoing…
Asian stocks rose on Friday, with Japan’s benchmark index reaching new five-month highs amid reports that the Federal Reserve was pledging more liquidity to prop up the financial markets. Asian Markets Rise Stocks across the Asia-Pacific region rose in the final session of the week. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei rallied 0.4% and was on track for…
Stocks in the Asia Pacific region diverged on Thursday, as investors assessed the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) latest policy decision, which maintained the status quo on a long-running stimulus program designed to boost growth and inflation. Asian Stock Markets Diverge Japanese stocks were the clear-cut winners on Thursday, as investors dissected new developments around monetary…
Stocks in the Asia Pacific region traded mixed on Wednesday, as investors gauged prospects for monetary policy after the Federal Reserve took action in re-balancing the money markets. Asian Markets Mixed There was no clear-cut direction in Asian equities on Tuesday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.1% to 22,012.72. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei hovers…
Trade hopes fuel risk-on rally in Asian equities on Friday. | Image: Shutterstock Asian stocks advanced on Friday after an apparent thawing in U.S.-China trade tensions fueled investors’ appetite for riskier assets. In the process, the Chinese yuan stabilized at three-week highs against the U.S. dollar. Asian Market Update Markets across the Asia-Pacific region reported…
Wavecell, a cloud-communications platform for companies in Southeast Asia, announced today that it has been acquired by 8×8 in a deal worth about $125 million. The acquisition will help San Jose, California-based 8×8 expand in Asia, where Wavecell already has offices in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong. Wavecell’s cloud API platform, which…
