Business

Major U.S. stock indexes ended essentially flat Friday after a day of mostly listless trading. Even so, the S&P 500 closed out the week with its fifth straight weekly gain. The benchmark index squeaked out a tiny gain that was good enough for its 35th record high this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also notched a slight gain, giving ...

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday with many world markets closed for Christmas holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.6% to 23,924.92, while the Kospi in South Korea edged 0.1% higher to 2,191.71. The Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.3% to 2,989.56. India’s Sensex lost 0.2% to 41,380.45. In Southeast Asia, benchmarks were mixed, while Taiwan was flat. ...

Ansar Ahmed Ullah: SyedaC fashion label celebrated its second anniversary with a bang on Monday, 23 Dec at the Business Development Centre in Greatorex Street, Banglatown, East London. SyedaC’s founder & designer Syeda Choudhury said her main aim is to promote Bangladeshi fabrics, such as muslin, jamdani, silk, khadi, cotton, thath, banarasi and katan in western countries, empowering skills of ...

Chinese authorities recently announced that the country would remove a ban on imports of Japan’s deboned beef under 30 months old starting Dec. 19. The ban was imposed amid outbreaks of mad cow disease in 2001, according to a statement jointly released by the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Inspection and quarantine requirements ...

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea are holding a trilateral summit in China this week amid feuds over trade, military maneuverings and historical animosities. Most striking has been a complex dispute between Seoul and Tokyo, while Beijing has recently sought to tone down its disagreements with its two neighbors. Economic cooperation and the North Korean nuclear threat are ...

The government has approved a US private equity firm’s takeover of UK defence and aerospace company Cobham, reports BBC. Advent International made a £4bn offer to buy Cobham in July, but it was delayed when the government intervened over national security concerns.The government announced its approval of the deal late on Friday night – which the firm’s founding family said ...

Colombia on Friday instructed Uber to stop operating after a lawsuit by a group of taxi drivers that accused the ride-sharing app of unfair business practices, reports AP. Colombia’s Superintendency of Industry and Commerce said the halt to Uber operations was taking effect immediately, though the company can appeal the decision. Uber was benefiting from a “significant advantage” that violated ...

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a delayed loan tranche for Ecuador, releasing nearly $500 million under a three-year aid program, reports AFP. The IMF board gave the go-ahead for a $4.2 billion loan in March to help support the oil-rich nation’s economic reforms, but massive protests lead by indigenous groups erupted in October when President Lenin Moreno scrapped ...

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot agreed Wednesday to merge into a single company that will become the world’s fourth-largest automaker, a giant that could bring consumers a wider variety of cleaner vehicles at a faster pace, including more powered by electricity. The boards of the two companies signed the deal to achieve what neither was good at alone: conquering the challenges ...

Representational Image.Photo:Collected Japanese firm TOA Corporation has finally won the contract for developing land and other related works for the construction of an exclusive economic zone for Japanese investors in Araihazar upazila of Narayanganj. Two Japanese firms — TOA Corporation and Tokyu Construction — vied for the job of one of the country’s largest economic zones taking part in the ...