Business

Leading producers Italy and France are looking to slash premium wine output from the upcoming harvest to shore up prices after the coronavirus pandemic hammered sales and led to a glut of stock.

Japan plans to buy AstraZeneca Plc's experimental COVID19 vaccine and fund a local company to manufacture Novavax's vaccine candidate, ramping up its stockpile plan as it battles surging infections.

Waning rice supplies in Vietnam pushed export prices to a near twomonth peak this week, while a strengthening domestic currency kept rates of the Thai variety high, subduing demand.

Singapore has charged a director of Citadelle Corporate Services Pte Ltd for falsifying letters related to Wirecard, the troubled German payments firm, according to charge sheets filed on July 3.

Britain's future access to European Union financial markets is looking increasingly patchy, as Brussels tries to limit the activities which can be carried out from London, prompting more business and jobs to cross the channel.

Gold surged to a record high on Thursday as the COVID19 pandemic clouded the economic outlook and bolstered bullion's safehaven allure, though analysts said the rapid pace of gains could prompt some correction.

Oil prices slipped off fivemonth highs on Thursday as bearish sentiment about fuel demand undermined support from a weak dollar and falling U.S. crude inventories.

Israel's Wix.com, which helps small businesses build and operate websites, swung to a loss in the second quarter as it ploughed investments into marketing to meet the demands of new customers during the COVID19 pandemic.

Tobacco group Imperial Brands Plc said on Thursday Chief Finanical Officer Oliver Tant will retire from the company once a successor is found.

Thai banking executive Predee Daochai has been named the Southeast Asian country's new finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle, according to an announcement published in the official Royal Gazette.

Vietnam's domestic coffee prices edged higher this week as parts of the coffeegrowing region remained under lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, traders said on Thursday.

U.S.China tension and sobering economic data knocked momentum out of Asia's stock markets on Thursday, though the hope of stimulus staved off falls and kept pressure on the dollar as investors wait for Congress to agree on a new spending package.

Toyota Motor Corp posted a 98% plunge in its firstquarter operating profit on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic halved it global sales.

Oil prices were mostly flat on Thursday, as a boost from lowerthanexpected U.S. crude stocks that lifted the market to fivemonth highs in the previous session gave way to fuel demand concerns amid rising coronavirus infections.

DBS Group's quarterly profit slumped by a fifth as it boosted loanloss provisions in pandemichit markets, but Southeast Asia's top lender said bad loans were steady and fee income was rising as economies bounced back from lockdowns.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved GlaxoSmithKline's experimental treatment for a common form of blood cancer.