The Asia Eight

Daily must-reads from the world’s most dynamic region

January 19, 2021

1 TOP STORY: Live-stream revolution may not be digitised

2 ATF TV: Preparing for vaccines and a shapeshifting virus

3 ASIA MARKETS: HSI and Nikkei climb; CSI300 declines

4 NEWS: Trump turns his sites onto Chinese drones

5 NEWS: Safety fears ignored, allies back China shots

6 NEWS: The illegal loan apps behind suicides in India

7 NEWS: New bonds created to fund FTZ development

8 ATF BIG PICTURE: Evergrande's solution to its woes

01 Top Story China live-stream revolution in doubt

State regulators moved to exercise greater control of live broadcasts on e-commerce sites last year after complaints of fraud and substandard products, but the sector has survived and changes seem to have pushed online selling in better directions

02 ATF TV Recovery amid vaccines and mutations

Rajeev De Mello, Managing Director at Deep Learning Investments in Singapore, examines how a key weapon in the fight against the pandemic will affect the global recovery and how investors can safeguard themselves against new outbreaks

03 Asia Markets

HSI climbs 2.7% to 29,642.28 and Nikkei 225 adds 1.4% to 28,633.46; CSI300 falls 0.8% to 3,566.38

04 Trump targets drones

Outgoing president orders the removal of Chinese drones from US govt operations as he prepares to leave the White House

05 Allies back China shots

Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech have signed deals many countries, including Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, to supply inoculations

06 India's deadly loan scams

Shady services operating outside the ambit of regulators and state laws are indulging in abusive, fraudulent and illegal activities including money laundering and extortion, driving many hapless Indian borrowers to suicide

07 New FTZ bonds launched

Chen Gangming, general manager of CCDC, China's central clearing house, said it would support the opening of the bond market and boost the base for interconnection – by backing onshore and offshore markets and support for FTZ bond issuance

08 ATF Big Picture