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☆ UK regulator may refer Adobe's $20 bln Figma deal to deeper probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 30 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator on Friday said Photoshop owner Adobe Inc's (ADBE.O) $20 billion buyout of cloud-based designer platform Figma may be referred to a deeper investigation as it could "reduce innovation". The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said unless the parties offer acceptable undertakings to address competition concerns, the deal would be referred to a Phase 2 investigation. CMA had said in May it was looking into the deal, announced in September last year. "Adobe has no meaningful plans to compete in the product design space," Adobe said in a statement. "We remain confident in the merits of the case as Figma's product design is an adjacency to Adobe’s core creative products."

Persons: We're, Sorcha O'Carroll, Adobe, Eva Mathews, Radhika Anilkumar, Chavi Mehta, Janane Venkatraman, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Adobe, Markets Authority, CMA, Regulators, Big Tech, Activision, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Zeekr, Geely Automobile's (0175.HK) electric brand, said on Wednesday that two of its all-electric luxury cars are available for pre-order in the Netherlands and Sweden, joining a growing number of Chinese EV makers launching vehicles in Europe. Deliveries for the Zeekr 001 estate and the Zeekr X SUV are set to begin in the autumn, the company said. Pricing for the Zeekr 01 starts at 59,490 euros ($65,076) including taxes, while the Zeekr X starts 44,990 euros. "Our plan is that through 2026 we will cover the majority of western Europe," he told Reuters. Other Chinese EV makers including BYD, Xpeng and Aiways have all launched sales in Europe, seeking to gain market share while many consumers are still new to EVs.

Persons: Geely Automobile's, Spiros Fotinos, Europe's, Fotinos, Nick Carey, Johan Ahlander, Sameer Manekar, Janane Venkatraman, David Evans Organizations: HK, EV, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Netherlands, Sweden, Europe, Gothenburg, Spiros, Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, China, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bengaluru

☆ China's EV maker Zeekr opens orders for two luxury cars in Sweden, the Netherlands
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

June 28 (Reuters) - China's EV maker Zeekr, a unit of Geely Automobile (0175.HK), said on Wednesday two of its all-electric luxury SUVs are now available for pre-order in the Netherlands and Sweden. Deliveries are set to begin in the autumn, the company added. Zeekr will open its flagship stores in Stockholm and Amsterdam by the end of this year, it said. Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sameer Manekar, Janane Organizations: Zeekr, Geely Automobile, HK, Thomson Locations: Netherlands, Sweden, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bengaluru

☆ Indian government meets Foxconn, Samsung, Reliance to improve PLI scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Shivangi Acharya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsNEW DELHI, June 28 (Reuters) - The Indian government met large global firms such as Foxconn (2354.TW), Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) to find ways to boost manufacturing in the country with its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. The PLI scheme, introduced in late 2020, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's main industrial policy to boost manufacturing. The government has so far announced incentives for 14 sectors including electronics and technology products, pharmaceutical drugs, and drones, among others, drawing investments totalling 625 billion Indian rupees ($7.62 billion) until March 2023, per the statement. Investments under the PLI scheme are expected to rise further to 2.74 trillion rupees as it runs its course, according to government estimates. With more than 1.97 trillion rupees earmarked for incentives, payouts totalled 29 billion rupees until fiscal 2023 across eight industries.

Persons: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Piyush Goyal, Narendra, Shivangi Acharya, Janane Organizations: REUTERS, Samsung Electronics, Reliance Industries, India's Trade, Dell, Nokia Solutions, Investments, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, DELHI, New Delhi

☆ GSK's RSV vaccine shows long-term efficacy in late-stage trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 21 (Reuters) - GSK (GSK.L) on Wednesday said its vaccine for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which recently won EU approval, showed strong long-term protection in older adults in a late-stage trial. The British drugmaker said a 'Phase III' trial showed vaccine efficacy against RSV-lower respiratory tract disease and severe disease over two full RSV seasons, including in participants with underlying medical conditions. GSK's shot, called Arexvy is designed to protect people aged 60 and over from RSV, which typically causes cold-like symptoms, but is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and the elderly. European regulators approved the shot earlier this month for the disease which causes thousands of hospitalisations and deaths annually. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: British drugmaker, Eva Mathews, Janane Organizations: GSK, Thomson Locations: British, Bengaluru

☆ Australia's Perpetual says 'tech outage' affected some funds in cyber incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 21 (Reuters) - Australian Perpetual (PPT.AX) on Wednesday confirmed an extended tech outage over an IT security incident, affecting some of its funds, though the fund manager reaffirmed that all its client investments and its own systems were unaffected and secure. "Perpetual's listed products, institutional mandates, Pendal, Perpetual Corporate Trust, Perpetual Wrap clients, and all of our international asset management businesses are not affected," a Perpetual spokesperson said. In Perpetual's case, one of its third-party unit registry systems was compromised, impacting clients' access to its main investor login portal myPerpetual, the company said in a statement. The outage impacted about 45,000 clients and was limited to its Asset Management and Wealth Management divisions' Investment Funds, WealthFocus, and select products distributed in Australia, it added. Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Pendal, Roushni Nair, Varun Organizations: Wednesday, Trust, Medibank, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Investment Funds, Thomson Locations: Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Disney to offer free mobile streaming of cricket in India like rival JioCinema
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 9 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) Hotstar will offer free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices, a move similar to its top rival JioCinema, as it aims to court more users in the cricket-crazy country. Hotstar on Friday said it will offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men's Cricket World Cup tournaments at no cost to users. The company lost the streaming rights for the highly popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament to Reliance Industries' (RELI.NS) JioCinema earlier this year. JioCinema, which made the tournament free to watch, clocked a record 1.47 billion digital views in the first weekend of the tournament. While JioCinema is preparing to start charging users for its content, it plans to keep IPL streaming free, Jyoti Deshpande, president of Reliance's media and content business, told Bloomberg in an April Interview.

Persons: Walt Disney, Hotstar, JioCinema, Jyoti Deshpande, Munsif Vengattil, Priya Sagar, Janane Venkatraman, Jason Neely Organizations: Walt Disney Co's, Asia Cup, ICC Men's Cricket, Indian Premier League, Reliance Industries, Research, IPL, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: India, Hotstar, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ Indian shares open flat on rising odds of Fed, RBI rate pause
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BENGALURU, June 6 (Reuters) - Indian shares were little changed at the open on Tuesday, after logging gains in the previous two sessions, amid rising hopes of a rate hike pause by the U.S. Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week. The blue-chip Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index was up 0.04% at 18,600.80 as of 9:15 a.m. IST, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.08% to 62,738.35. Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bharath Rajeswaran, Janane Organizations: U.S . Federal, BSE, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Bengaluru

☆ Japan's Nikkei closes at 33-year high; firm Wall Street lifts appetite
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Nikkei index (.N225) jumped 2.2% to end at 32,217.43, its highest close since July 1990 and posted its biggest daily gain since Jan. 18. "The market was supported by the gains in the U.S. market on Friday. That helped keep the money flowing into risk assets in Japan," said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities. Hence, when U.S. shares rise, there is no reason for not buying Japanese stocks, Kamada added. All but one of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33-sector sub-indexes rose, with machineries (.IMCHN.T) rising 3.12% to lead the gains.

Persons: Shigetoshi Kamada, Kamada, Fanuc, Junko Fujita, Janane Venkatraman, Sohini Organizations: Nikkei, Bank of Japan, Tachibana Securities, The Bank of, Reserve, Tokyo, Screen Holdings, Tokyo Stock, Utilities, Tokyo Electric Power Holdings, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, U.S, Japan, The Bank of Japan, Washington, Philadelphia

☆ Meta to test limiting some news access on Facebook, Instagram in Canada
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 1 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) on Thursday said it will begin tests on its social media websites Facebook and Instagram that will limit some users and publishers from viewing or sharing some news content in Canada. The testing period will run for several weeks, the social media giant said, adding that the minor percentage of Canadian users enrolled in testing will be notified if they attempt to share news content. The test comes in response to Canada's proposed "Online News Act". "When a big tech company... tells us, 'If you don't do this or that, then I’m pulling the plug' – that’s a threat. Google rolled out similar tests earlier this year blocking news content for some Canadian users as a test run for a potential response to the online news bill.

Persons: Canada's, Meta, Pablo Rodriguez, I’ve, Rodriguez, Rahat Sandhu, Mrinmay Dey, Steve Scherer, Janane Organizations: Inc, Facebook, Canadian Heritage, Reuters, Google, Thomson Locations: Canada, Bengaluru

☆ EV maker Faraday Future launches limited edition FF 91 2.0 for $309,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 30 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle (EV) startup Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFIE.O) launched its limited edition FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance vehicle on Tuesday, priced at $309,000. The company said the model is limited to 300 units globally and that it has opened reservations in both U.S. and China. The startup also launched the regular FF 91 2.0 Futurist model and added that it was available for preorder, without revealing price details. The launch comes after several delays in the production of its flagship electric car, FF 91 Futurist. In March, the company said it had begun production at its California factory, after raising doubts late last year about Faraday's ability to continue as a "going concern" and the delivery timeline for FF 91.

Persons: Akanksha, Janane Organizations: Futurist Alliance, Thomson Locations: China, California, Bengaluru

☆ India's TCS receives $1.83 bln-worth advance purchase order from BSNL
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] A private security guard stands at the exit gate of the headquarters of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Mumbai, India October 13, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh AndradeBENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) on Monday said it received an advance purchase order valued over 150 billion rupees ($1.83 billion) to deploy a 4G network across the country from Indian state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL.NS). ($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Foot Locker slumps as weak demand, heavy discounts drive annual outlook cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Deborah Mary Sophia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 19 (Reuters) - Foot Locker Inc's (FL.N) shares closed down 27% on Friday as the footwear retailer cut its annual sales and profit forecasts amid a sharp drop in demand and a hit from heavy discounts aimed at clearing excess inventories. The company also missed analysts' estimates for first-quarter results and named former Kohl's Corp (KSS.N) executive Mike Baughn as its new finance chief, effective June 12. Foot Locker doubled down on discounts to drive demand, which coupled with an increase in theft-related inventory losses led to a 400-basis point hit to the company's quarterly gross margins. Foot Locker now expects full-year comparable sales to fall between 7.5% and 9.0%. The company also forecast annual adjusted per-share earnings between $2.00 and $2.25, compared with its previous outlook of $3.35 to $3.65.

☆ Foot Locker slumps as weak demand, heavy discounts drive annual forecast cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 19 (Reuters) - Shares of Foot Locker Inc (FL.N) plunged 25% premarket on Friday, after the footwear retailer cut its annual sales and profit forecasts reeling under a sharp drop in demand and a hit from heavy discounts aimed at clearing excess inventories. This dented sales at a wide range of companies, including big-box retailer Target Corp (TGT.N) and home improvement chain Home Depot (HD.N). Foot Locker doubled down on promotions and markdowns to drive demand at its stores, which, coupled with a rise in theft-related inventory "shrink", dealt a 400-basis-point hit to its quarterly gross margin. It also expects adjusted earnings of between $2.00 to $2.25 per share, much lower than the $3.35-$3.65 range estimated previously. Excluding items, Foot Locker earned 70 cents per share, which was also below estimates of 81 cents per share.

☆ HDFC Bank to open more than 675 branches in semi-urban, rural areas in fiscal year 2024, bank official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Siddhi Nayak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, May 4 (Reuters) - HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS), India's largest private lender, is planning to open more than 675 branches in the semi-urban and rural geographies across the country in 2023-24, a senior bank official said on Thursday. The move is part of the lender's new programme targeting customers in semi-urban and rural areas, helping the bank meet some of its Priority Sector Lending (PSL) targets. PSL requirements, which include lending to weaker segments of the economy, are linked to an organisation's loan book. Of this, around 52% of the bank's branches are in the semi-urban and rural areas. Going forward, HDFC Bank aims to double business in semi-urban and rural areas - both by assets and liabilities - in the next two-to-three years, Vohra said.

☆ UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey sees improving buyer confidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 27 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc (TW.L) said on Thursday buyer interest has risen over the past few months, helped by an improvement in sales and mortgage rates, even as the group remained cautious over broader economic woes. Daly, however, said the company remained cautious over continued macroeconomic uncertainty. Taylor Wimpey said its total order book value - a key measure that gauges near-term demand - stood at about 2.38 billion pounds ($2.97 billion) in the reported period, up from 2.15 billion pounds seen in the first two months of the year. Taylor Wimpey's bigger rival Persimmon (PSN.L) said on Wednesday trading over recent weeks had offered some signs of encouragement, with cancellation levels normalising and sales rates steadily improving since the start of the year. ($1 = 0.8019 pounds)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Unsecured loans – mostly personal loans and credit cards – do not carry any collateral and therefore pose higher risk. Indian banks have been growing their unsecured lending portfolio as the pandemic-induced stress began to ease. "Risks in unsecured lending has been on the RBI's radar," said a senior official at a private bank. This has pushed up the weighted average lending rate of banks by 95 bps in the same period. "It is trying to identify early warning signals in unsecured lending to not be caught off guard later."

☆ India's HCLTech sees smaller-than expected FY revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 20 (Reuters) - HCLTech (HCLT.NS), India's No.3 IT services exporter, on Thursday forecast lower-than-expected revenue growth for the current fiscal amid worries of recession in major markets like the United States and Europe and global banking turmoil. HCLTech said it expects revenue to increase 6%-8% in the financial year ending March 2024 on constant currency basis, missing average analysts' estimates of 10.42%, according to Refinitiv IBES data. HCLTech's weak outlook followed disappointing earnings from market leader Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and No.2 Infosys Ltd's (INFY.NS) forecast of single-digit revenue growth this financial year. European clients were delaying decisions, HCLTech had said back in January, well before the current turmoil. It expects EBIT margins of 18% and 19% for FY 2024.

☆ Infosys drags down Indian shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Bharath Rajeswaran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, April 17 (Reuters) - Indian shares sank more than 1% on Monday after Infosys tumbled 15% and sparked a selloff in IT stocks following the country's No. 2 IT services exporter's weak results and forecast. The slide comes after the two indexes logged a winning steak for the past nine sessions in a row. The IT index (.NIFTYIT) sank 6.5% and was on track for its biggest one-day loss since March 2020. The Nifty midcap 100 index (.NIFMDCP100) and Nifty smallcap 100 (.NIFSMCP100) were both off about 0.2%.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 (.FTSE) edged 0.1% lower, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) was flat as of 0814 GMT. "Gains in homebuilders is being counteracted by ex-dividend moves today," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group. Even as concerns over a potential U.S. recession have weighed on investor sentiment, defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals as well as commodity-linked stocks have kept FTSE 100 afloat recently. Shares of Lloyds Group (LLOY.L), Unite Group (UTG.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) among others were down between 1.7%-3% as the stocks traded ex-dividend. Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Asia likely to grow 5% faster than developed economies by year-end - Morgan Stanley
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Asia's economic growth could outpace developed countries' by 5% by end-2023 driven by China's easing of COVID-19 curbs, strong domestic demand and interest rates staying in less-restrictive territory, said Morgan Stanley economists. The recent banking stress in the U.S. and Europe strengthens the case for Asia's outperformance, MS Asia economists, led by Chetan Ahya, said in a note dated Tuesday. "Lending standards will tighten in the U.S. and Europe, and, in turn, weigh on domestic demand," wrote Ahya. A 5% higher growth than developed markets would be the strongest since 2017, MS notes. Additionally, China's reopening distributes benefits to the rest of the region, while Asia's other three large economies – Japan, India and Indonesia – all have economy-specific factors driving domestic demand, MS said.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) lost 0.1% as of 0807 GMT. Oil and gas (.FTNMX601010) added 0.8% as crude prices gained against the dollar, lifting oil giants BP Plc (BP.L) and Shell Plc (SHEL.L) 0.6% and 1.0%, respectively. "The FTSE 100 is falling in line with the positive sentiment we saw at the start of the week, overlooking the China-Taiwan tensions," said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM. While concerns over a potential recession in the U.S. amid persistent inflation have weighed on sentiment recently, the FTSE 100 has been on a positive streak, helped by commodity stocks and defensives including pharmaceuticals. Shares of West Africa-focused oil producer Tullow Oil (TLW.L) slid 2.9% on Jefferies' downgrade to "underperform" from "hold."

☆ India's TCS beats Q4 profit view on strong deal momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company's net profit rose 14.8% to 113.92 billion rupees ($1.39 billion) in the three months ended March 31, from 99.26 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 110.13 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data. TCS said its order book for the Jan-March period stood at $10 billion, up 28% sequentially, with an "all-time high number of large deals." Revenue from operations rose about 17% to 591.62 billion rupees. ($1 = 82.0700 Indian rupees)Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's JSW One Platforms raises $25 million from Mitsui & Co in series A round
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 10 (Reuters) - India's JSW One Platforms, a unit of conglomerate JSW Group, on Monday, said it raised 2.05 billion rupees ($25.02 million) from Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd (8031.T) in its series A funding round. The funding will strengthen its market presence and further enhance tech capabilities, JSW One Platforms said in a statement, adding that the investment values the company at over 27.50 billion rupees. The business-to-business e-commerce firm, rolled out by JSW Group in 2021, services the supply chain needs of industrial and construction companies in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) space. Mitsui, in the same statement, said it believes the investment will lead to a restructuring of the supply chain in India. JSW One Platforms added that it will use the funds to strengthen its market presence and enhance tech capabilities.

ASIC on Thursday cancelled the Australian financial services licence of Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Binance Australia Derivatives (Binance), in response to a request from the company. “Our targeted review of these matters is ongoing, including focus on the extent of consumer harms.”The financial services licence authorised Binance to issue derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. Noting many cryptocurrency products and services are not regulated by ASIC, Longo said the regulator supported a "regulatory framework" for the asset class. Binance said in a statement it had decided to pursue a "more focused approach" in Australia after "recent engagement with ASIC". The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is battling regulatory suits and probes around the world.

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