Afp Business Asia

Unknown to the general public just three years ago, Jensen Huang is now one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in the world as head of chip giant Nvidia.The unassuming 62-year-old draws stadium crowds of more than 10,000 people as his company’s products push the boundaries of artificial intelligence.Chips designed by Nvidia, known as graphics cards or GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), are essential in developing the generative artificial intelligence powering technology like ChatGPT.Big tech’s insatiable appetite for Nvidia’s GPUs, which sell for tens of thousands of dollars each, has catapulted the California chipmaker beyond $4 trillion in market valuation, the first company ever to surpass that mark.Nvidia’s meteoric rise has boosted Huang’s personal fortune to $150 billion — making him one of the world’s richest people — thanks to the roughly 3.5 percent stake he holds in the company he founded three decades ago with two friends in a Silicon Valley diner.In a clear demonstration of his clout, he recently convinced President Donald Trump to lift restrictions on certain GPU exports to China, despite the fact that China is locked in a battle with the United States for AI supremacy.”That was brilliantly done,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a governance professor at Yale University.Huang was able to explain to Trump that “having the world using a US tech platform as the core protocol is definitely in the interest of this country” and won’t help the Chinese military, Sonnenfeld said.- Early life -Born in Taipei in 1963, Jensen Huang (originally named Jen-Hsun) embodies the American success story. At nine years old, he was sent away with his brother to boarding school in small-town Kentucky.His uncle recommended the school to his Taiwanese parents believing it to be a prestigious institution, when it was actually a school for troubled youth.Too young to be a student, Huang boarded there but attended a nearby public school alongside the children of tobacco farmers. With his poor English, he was bullied and forced to clean toilets — a two-year ordeal that transformed him.”We worked really hard, we studied really hard, and the kids were really tough,” he recounted in an interview with US broadcaster NPR.But “the ending of the story is I loved the time I was there,” Huang said.- Leather jacket and tattoo -Brought home by his parents, who had by then settled in the northwestern US state of Oregon, he graduated from university at just 20 and joined AMD, then LSI Logic, to design chips — his passion.But he wanted to go further and founded Nvidia in 1993 to “solve problems that normal computers can’t,” using semiconductors powerful enough to handle 3D graphics, as he explained on the “No Priors” podcast.Nvidia created the first GPU in 1999, riding the intersection of video games, data centers, cloud computing, and now, generative AI.Always dressed in a black T-shirt and leather jacket, Huang sports a Nvidia logo tattoo and has a taste for sports cars.But it’s his relentless optimism, low-key personality and lack of political alignment that sets him apart from the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Unlike them, Huang was notably absent from Trump’s inauguration ceremony.”He backpedals his own aura and has the star be the technology rather than himself,” observed Sonnenfeld, who believes Huang may be “the most respected of all today’s tech titans.”One former high-ranking Nvidia employee described him to AFP as “the most driven person” he’d ever met. – Street food -On visits to his native Taiwan, Huang is treated like a megastar, with fans crowding him for autographs and selfies as journalists follow him to the barber shop and his favorite night market.”He has created the phenomena because of his personal charm,” noted Wayne Lin of Witology Market Trend Research Institute.”A person like him must be very busy and his schedule should be full every day meeting big bosses. But he remembers to eat street food when he comes to Taiwan,” he said, calling Huang “unusually friendly.”Nvidia is a tight ship and takes great care to project a drama-free image of Huang. But the former high-ranking employee painted a more nuanced picture, describing a “very paradoxical” individual who is fiercely protective of his employees but also capable, within Nvidia’s executive circle, of “ripping people to shreds” over major mistakes or poor choices.

A glitch in Malaysia’s self-service border control machines has hit tens of thousands of travellers, the immigration department estimated Saturday, causing delays at the capital’s airport and land crossings. Among major gateways affected since Friday afternoon are Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s two main terminals, as well as southern land crossings with Singapore. “It should be more than tens of thousands of travellers who have to wait longer at the manual counters to clear immigration,” estimated Zakaria Shaaban, director-general of Malaysia’s Immigration Department. Zakaria was unable to give a precise number of people affected when asked by AFP.”We don’t have many manual counters over in Johor because we have converted most of them into autogates,” Zakaria said, referring to the southern state neighbouring Singapore. Malaysian daily The Star said the breakdown has been described as the “worst ever”, involving over 200 machines and affecting only foreign passport holders. Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority warned people intending to travel to Malaysia to expect delays. “Those who are already at the land checkpoints and need to U-turn can approach officers for assistance,” it said in a Facebook post.Since June 2024 travellers from 63 countries, as well as accredited diplomats and their families, have been allowed to use Malaysia’s self-service machines for immigration clearance.The Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency said initial investigations found the “technical disruption” was due to a data integration issue. “This caused the delays in the cross-checking process within the MyIMMS (immigration) system,” it said in a statement.”All manual counters have been fully activated and additional personnel have been deployed to manage the flow of visitors and control the queues at the best capacity,” the agency added.

US and European stock markets stalled or trimmed gains on Friday after a bullish week buoyed by US data and upbeat company earnings.New York — whose S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite struck record highs on Thursday — made little further headway, while the Dow slid.In Europe, London’s blue-chip FTSE was up though just under its all-time record reached on Tuesday. Paris was flat and Frankfurt slipped a little on profit-taking.Asian markets closed higher except for Tokyo, which was dragged down ahead of weekend upper-house elections that could spell trouble for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.The week’s strong performance in equities showed that worries were largely being set aside for now when it comes to US President Donald Trump’s threats of higher tariffs from August 1 if governments do not agree on trade deals.”With the president toning down his rhetoric, markets are quick to forget tariff risks and concentrate on the positives including a resilient US economy,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading firm XTB.The overall optimism was fueled by data suggesting the US economy was still well, with no persuasive indication that the tariffs were causing a surge in inflation.A June consumer price index report released this week “does not reveal tariff-induced price increases, but a closer look shows clear signs” they could be building, said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.”We expect (US) annual core inflation to approach 3.5 percent by year-end and the Fed to hold the policy rate at the 4.25-4.50 percent target range,” he said, referring to the US central bank.One Federal Reserve governor, Christopher Waller, on Thursday argued for a July rate cut, saying he expected tariff increases to cause a one-time bump to prices. On Friday, Waller flagged risks in the labor market.But overall, Fed policymakers have remained cautious as they gauge the right timing for further interest rate reductions.Trump this week denied he was planning to sack Fed boss Jerome Powell, whom he had been urging to reduce US borrowing costs to boost the world’s top economy.A meeting in South Africa of G20 finance ministers on Friday pointedly stressed that “central bank independence is crucial” around the world.In corporate news, American Express followed big US banks in reporting better results than expected in the second quarter.Results from streaming giant Netflix also outperformed, although its share price slipped Friday as investors weighed whether it had been overvalued.In London, British luxury brand Burberry said sales had not fallen as much as analysts expected, “which is a sign that the company’s new strategic direction could be working,” said XTB’s Brooks. Its shares rose nearly six percent.On the downside, shares in GlaxoSmithKline slid more than four percent after the British pharmaceutical giant reported a US regulatory setback for its blood cancer drug Blenrep.Oil prices initially rose after fresh EU sanctions aimed at crimping Russia’s crude exports, to pressure Moscow over its war on Ukraine. But then they fell back.- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 44,342.19 points (close)New York – S&P 500: FLAT at 6,296.79 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 20,895.66 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,992.12 (close)Paris – CAC 40: FLAT at 7,822.67 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.3 percent at 24,289.51 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 39,819.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 24,825.66 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,534.48 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1627 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3414 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: UP at 148.73 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.67 pence from 86.43 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.4 percent at $69.28 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $67.34 per barrelburs-bys/sst

The G20 finance ministers stressed Friday that central banks must remain independent, after months of escalating attacks by US President Donald Trump on Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell.It was the first communique under South Africa’s G20 presidency and marked a rare consensus for a bloc jolted by the drastic trade policies of its richest member, the United States.”Central banks are strongly committed to ensuring price stability… and will continue to adjust their policies in a data-dependent manner,” the group, whose members account for more than 80 percent of the world’s economic output, said after a finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa.”Central bank independence is crucial to achieving this goal,” it said in the statement, also signed by the United States.Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Powell for not lowering interest rates more quickly, calling the central banker a “numbskull” and “moron”.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not attend the two-day meeting in the port city of Durban, with Washington instead represented by acting undersecretary for international affairs Michael Kaplan.Bessent also skipped a similar meeting in February and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio snubbed a meeting for G20 foreign ministers.Trump insists the Fed should boost the US economy by cutting rates from the current range, 4.25 to 4.5 percent.The US central bank has meanwhile adopted a wait-and-see attitude, holding rates steady as it continues its plan to bring inflation to its long-term target of two percent.On Friday, Trump ramped his criticism of Powell, whose term ends in May 2026, calling him “one of my worst appointments”.The attack followed suggestions the 72-year-old banker could be dismissed for “fraud” over his handling of a renovation project at Federal Reserve headquarters.- ‘Difficult’ environment -Since returning to power in January, Trump has upended global trade rules, announcing a host of drastic stop-start tariffs that has unnerved investors and governments around the world, including the G20 — a grouping of 19 nations and the European Union and African Union.The US tariffs are due to jump from 10 percent to various higher levels for a list of dozens of economies, including the EU, come August 1. A separate 50-percent duty on copper imports will also come into force.The G20 said there was a need to strengthen cooperation and acknowledged the World Trade Organization needed reform “to be more relevant and responsive in light of today’s realities”.Washington is due to succeed Pretoria as G20 chair at a summit in November in Johannesburg, although Trump’s attendance remains uncertain.”The fact that we were able to reach a joint communique among other things outlining the global economic challenges or uncertainty coming from trade tensions shows that also US is willing to have constructive engagement,” said EU Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis.The discussions, at a luxury resort on the east coast, had focused on how to “preserve rules-based multilateral trading system”, Dombrovskis added.Reaching consensus was no small feat, acknowledged South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.”It has been a difficult one in this environment. To achieve what we have done in that environment, I think is a huge success,” he told journalists.The International Monetary Fund said “high levels of policy uncertainty” had dominated the talks and urged countries to resolve trade tensions.The leaders have set an objective of “finding a balanced and practical solution” on a global minimum tax of 15 percent, aimed at stopping international corporations from slashing their tax bills by registering in nations with low rates.Anti-poverty charity Oxfam said G20 inaction would amount to betrayal.”The money is there — it’s time to tax the super-rich and fossil fuel excessive profits,” it said.Last month, the Group of Seven nations agreed to exempt US multinational companies from the OECD-negotiated tax, in a win for Trump’s government, which pushed hard for the compromise.

European and Asian stocks markets closed out the week broadly higher Friday following Wall Street’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed down slightly, while Europe’s main indices gained around midday.”The positive tone to risk sentiment is continuing… after a week of record highs for global equities,” noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index also reached an intraday record high earlier this week, topping 9,000 points on Tuesday.”Tariffs dominated market sentiment at the start of this week, but as the focus turns to President Trump’s health, tariff risks could recede,” Brooks added.The White House on Thursday said Trump had been diagnosed with a common, benign vein condition following speculation about his heavily bruised hand and swollen legs.The 79-year-old in January became the oldest person ever to assume the presidency.The dollar dropped Friday as traders bet on the Federal Reserve cutting US interest rates.Trump this week denied he was planning to sack Fed boss Jerome Powell, who has been urged by the president to reduce US borrowing costs to further boost the world’s top economy.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China. Hong Kong stocks were among the biggest winners Friday thanks to tech leaders.On the downside, shares in GlaxoSmithKline slid more than six percent after the British pharmaceutical giant reported a US regulatory setback for its blood cancer drug Blenrep.- Key figures at around 1045 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,977.21 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,840.46 Frankfurt – DAX: FLAT at 24,376.67Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 39,819.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 24,825.66 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,534.48 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1643 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3445 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.56 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.57 pence from 86.43 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $70.05 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $66.79 per barrel

Markets headed into the weekend on a broadly positive note Friday, as investors took up New York’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings from some of Wall Street’s big names.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices once again doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline, indicating the world’s top economy remains in good health. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China. Hong Kong stocks were among the biggest winners thanks to tech leaders, while there were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta. London, Paris and Frankfurt extended Thursday’s gains, but Seoul, Mumbai and Wellington dropped.Tokyo was also in the red as nervous investors eyed Sunday’s vote, with opinion polls suggesting Ishiba’s ruling coalition could lose its majority in the upper house, having lost control of the lower house last year.A poor show for the premier — who has been battered by a cost-of-living crisis — could put pressure on him to step down and likely usher in a period of uncertainty in the world’s number four economy.”Cost-of-living concerns have dominated the campaign for this weekend’s upper house election,” wrote Stefan Angrick, head of Japan and frontier markets economics at Moody’s Analytics.”Ishiba’s government has boxed itself in, promising only some belated and half-hearted financial support that will do little to improve the demand outlook.”Adding to the premier’s problems was news that rice prices had soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, having rocketed 101 percent in May and 98.4 percent in April.Public support for his administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, with people also angry at his failure to reach a deal to avoid the worst of Trump’s tariffs.”While Ishiba’s base applauds his refusal to bow to Trump’s every tweet, the unwillingness to give even an inch on low-hanging fruit like a partial tariff rollback or mild defense spending boost suggests a man more committed to defiance than diplomacy,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.”It’s tempting to say the trade friction was out of Ishiba’s control… But markets, like politics, don’t reward stubborn idealism. They reward adaptability. And on that score, Ishiba has failed to hedge his leadership risks.”- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 39,819.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 24,825.66 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,534.48 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,992.54Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1637 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3438 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: UP at 148.65 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.59 pence from 86.43 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $67.86 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $69.79 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)

North Korea has barred foreigners from a newly opened beach resort, the country’s tourism administration said this week, just days after Russia’s top diplomat visited the area.The sprawling seaside resort on its east coast, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s pet project, opened to domestic visitors earlier this month with great fanfare in state-run media.Dubbed “North Korea’s Waikiki” by South Korean media, the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone appears to be lined with high-rise hotels and waterparks, and can purportedly accommodate some 20,000 people.State media previously said visits to Wonsan by Russian tour groups were expected in the coming months.But following Lavrov’s visit, the North’s National Tourism Administration said “foreign tourists are temporarily not being accepted” without giving further details, in a statement posted on an official website this week.Kim showed a keen interest in developing North Korea’s tourism industry during his early years in power, analysts have said, and the coastal resort area was a particular focus.He said ahead of the opening of the beach resort that the construction of the site would go down as “one of the greatest successes this year” and that the North would build more large-scale tourist zones “in the shortest time possible”.The North last year permitted Russian tourists to return for the first time since the pandemic and Western tour operators briefly returned in February this year.Seoul’s unification ministry, however, said that it expected international tourism to the new resort was “likely to remain small in scale” given the limited capacity of available flights.Kim held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Wonsan last week where he offered Moscow his full and “unconditional” support for its war in Ukraine, KCNA reported.Lavrov reportedly hailed the seaside project as a “good tourist attraction”, adding it would become popular among both local and Russian visitors looking for new destinations. Ahead of Lavrov’s recent visit, Russia announced that it would begin twice-a-week flights between Moscow and Pyongyang.

China has a “plentiful” toolbox to avoid an economic slump in the second half of the year, its commerce minister said Friday as he admitted it faced a “very severe and complex situation”.Growth hit 5.2 percent in the second quarter, official data showed Tuesday, but analysts have warned that more must be done to boost sluggish domestic consumption as exports face the knock-on effects of global trade turmoil.Retail sales rose far less than expected last month and were much weaker than May, suggesting efforts to kickstart consumption have fallen flat.”We are still facing a very severe and complex situation. Global changes are unstable and uncertain. Some of our policies will provide some new responses according to the times and circumstances,” Wang Wentao told journalists at a news briefing.”Our toolbox is plentiful, and we will be fully prepared.”Asked specifically about China’s reliance on exports, Wang suggested the government was preparing policies to “further stimulate the momentum of our consumption development”.”China’s economy is improving, and the long-term fundamentals have not changed, the consumption market’s characteristics of great potential, strong resilience and vitality have not changed,” he said.Wang also namechecked Beijing-based toymaker Pop Mart, whose Labubu monster dolls have become a must-have item internationally, adorning the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Dua Lipa.”We are also promoting new forms of consumption… for example Pop Mart, these kinds of new trends, new fashions and styles… the Labubu phenomenon has swept the world,” he said. – US decoupling ‘impossible’ -Beijing is battling to shift towards a growth model propelled more by domestic demand than the traditional key drivers of infrastructure investment, manufacturing and exports.That desired transformation has become more urgent since Donald Trump came to office. The US president has imposed tolls on China and most other major trading partners, upending trade norms and endangering Beijing’s exports at a time it needs them more than ever to stimulate economic activity. The two superpowers have sought to de-escalate their row after reaching a framework for a deal at talks in London last month, but observers warn of lingering uncertainty.Wang said Friday that despite “storms and rain”, Washington remained an important trading partner.Even though China-US trade has declined proportionally for each country, overall bilateral trade has remained stable, Wang said.In a sign of progress, US tech giant Nvidia said this week that it would resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports.China’s commerce ministry acknowledged the US decision in a statement Friday afternoon, even as it called for Washington to “abandon its zero-sum mentality”.”China believes that the United States should… continue to cancel a series of unreasonable economic and trade restrictive measures,” the statement read.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has met with Chinese leaders this week in Beijing, telling journalists Wednesday that his firm was “doing our best” to serve the country’s vast semiconductor market.Wang praised recent visits by Huang and other US executives on Friday, noting that the solid economic and popular basis for US-China cooperation “makes artificial decoupling and severing supply chains impossible”, he said.Yet an inconsistent tune has “severely impacted and disrupted normal trade cooperation between China and the United States”, said Wang.Since Trump’s first term, “the trend of the trade frictions provoked by the United States has had ups and downs”, he said.

Asian markets headed into the weekend on a broadly positive note Friday, as investors took up New York’s latest record highs sparked by healthy US retail data and upbeat earnings from some of Wall Street’s big names.The readings helped divert attention away from Donald Trump’s tariffs saga, with dozens of countries yet to cut deals with the US president two weeks before his August 1 deadline.However, Japanese investors were a little more anxious after news that rice prices once again doubled in June, compounding problems for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of weekend elections in which the grain has been a hot topic.The Nasdaq and S&P scaled fresh peaks Thursday after figures showed US retail sales rose more than expected last month and reversed May’s decline, indicating the world’s top economy remains in good health. Another modest jobless claims report provided extra assurance.That came on top of forecast-topping earnings from streaming behemoth Netflix, which further fanned buying in tech firms that followed Trump’s decision to allow chip giant Nvidia to export its H20 semiconductors to China.Hong Kong stocks led most of Asia higher thanks to tech leaders, while there were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta. Seoul and Wellington dropped.Tokyo was also in the red as nervous investors eyed Sunday’s vote, with opinion polls suggesting Ishiba’s ruling coalition could lose its majority in the upper house, having lost control of the lower house last year.A poor show for the premier — who has been battered by a cost of living crisis — could put pressure on him to step down and likely usher in a period of uncertainty in the world’s number four economy.”Cost-of-living concerns have dominated the campaign for this weekend’s upper house election,” wrote Stefan Angrick, head of Japan and frontier markets economics at Moody’s Analytics.”Ishiba’s government has boxed itself in, promising only some belated and half-hearted financial support that will do little to improve the demand outlook.”Adding to the premier’s problems was news that rice prices had soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, having rocketed 101 percent in May and 98.4 percent in April.Public support for his administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, with people also angry at his failure to reach a deal to avoid the worst of Trump’s tariffs.”While Ishiba’s base applauds his refusal to bow to Trump’s every tweet, the unwillingness to give even an inch on low-hanging fruit like a partial tariff rollback or mild defense spending boost suggests a man more committed to defiance than diplomacy,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.”It’s tempting to say the trade friction was out of Ishiba’s control… But markets, like politics, don’t reward stubborn idealism. They reward adaptability. And on that score, Ishiba has failed to hedge his leadership risks.”- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 39,778.85 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 24,741.54Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,530.73Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1628 from $1.1600 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3435 from $1.3415Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.45 yen from 148.60 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.54 pence from 86.43 penceWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $67.55 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: FLAT at $69.54 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,484.49 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,972.64 (close)

Rice prices in Japan soared 99.2 percent in June year-on-year, official data showed Friday, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections this weekend.Public support for Ishiba’s administration has tumbled to its lowest level since he took office last year, partly because of frustration over the cost of living.One of the main sources of anger has been inflation and in particular the surging cost of rice, as well as scandals within the ruling party.The price of the grain already rocketed 101 percent year-on-year in May, having jumped 98.4 percent in April and more than 92.5 percent in March.Overall, Japan’s core inflation rate slowed to 3.3 percent last month from 3.7 percent in May, the data from the internal affairs ministry showed.The reading, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was slightly below market expectations of 3.4 percent.Excluding energy and also fresh food, consumer prices rose 3.4 percent, compared with 3.3 percent in May.Opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s election suggest the ruling coalition may lose its majority in the upper house.This could force Ishiba to resign after less than a year in office.In October, his coalition was deprived of a majority in the powerful lower house.It was the worst election result in 15 years for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955.- Tariff pressure -Ishiba is under additional pressure to reach a trade deal with the United States before new tariffs of 25 percent take effect on August 1.Japan’s important auto imports into the world’s biggest economy are already subject to painful levies, as are steel and aluminium.US President Donald Trump wants to get Japanese firms to manufacture more in the United States, and Tokyo to buy more US goods — notably gas and oil, cars and rice — to reduce the $70 billion trade deficit with the Asian powerhouse.Ishiba, who has sent his trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa to Washington seven times to try and broker a deal, was due to host US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday.Akazawa was also set to join the talks, and travel with Bessent to visit the World Expo in Osaka on Saturday, the Japanese government said.The Bank of Japan has been tightening monetary policy since last year as inflation crept up but worries about the impact of US tariffs on the world’s number four economy has forced it to take a slower approach.Factors behind the rising price of rice include shortages due to an intensely hot and dry summer two years ago that damaged harvests nationwide.Since then some traders have been hoarding rice in a bid to boost their profits down the line, experts say.The issue was made worse by panic buying last year prompted by a government warning about a potential “megaquake” that did not strike.The government has taken the rare step of releasing its emergency stockpile since February, which it typically only ever did during disasters.”Policy flip-flops, delayed pass-through from producer to consumer prices, and yen depreciation will keep price pressures elevated in the near term,” said Stefan Angrick at Moody’s Analytics.”With nominal pay gains stuttering, real wages won’t get the lift they need any time soon. And pay growth will likely slow further as US tariffs and tariff threats hit manufacturing and employment conditions,” he said in a note.”This leaves the Bank of Japan in a bind… We expect the BoJ will stay on hold for now, but not for long. A rate hike is likely by January and could come as early as December.”