Business

Japan central bank chose Tuesday to keep its monetary policy mostly unchanged. However, it noted a raft of risks for an economy making scant headway toward a sustained recovery. Analysts had been divided over whether the Bank of Japan would expand its lavish asset purchases or cut interest rates still further to spur growth, AP said. The decision to wait-and-see took share prices lower in most regional markets. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 percent to 17,117.07. The economy contracted in the last quarter of 2015, buffeted by the slowdown in China and other emerging economies.

Kuwait’s government is proposing a 10 percent corporate tax on profits, AP reported. Some publicly-run services and facilities could be also privatized to close a widening budget deficit brought on by a plunge in global oil prices. The Cabinet suggests services at Kuwait’s airport and some facilities owned by Kuwait Petroleum Company should be privatized. The proposals are part of a plan outlining broad economic reforms the government says are needed to boost non-oil revenues.

Norilsk Nickel’s net profits, under the International Financial Reporting Statements (IFRS), declined 14.2 percent year-on-year to $1.7 billion in 2015, the Russian metals company said on Tuesday. Dividends paid to shareholders in 2015 amounted to $18 per share, representing the industry’s record-breaking dividend yield, TASS reported. Revenues dropped 28 percent year-on-year to $8.5 billion. The like-for-like EBITDA fell 24 percent to $4.3 billion, while EBITDA’s margin rose two percent to 50 percent in 2015.

Moscow said on Tuesday the EU’s efforts to discourage the bloc’s banks from taking part in a Russian bond deal were unjustified. “Squeezing the space for economic cooperation via political pressure can hardly be understood or justified from the point of view of common sense or common logic,” Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. The EU has reportedly warned banks against a planned Russian bond deal.

Evraz, one of Russia’s largest steel producers, said on Tuesday its core earnings fell 39 percent in 2015 due to lower prices for its products. They were partially offset by a weaker ruble, Reuters said. The earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell to $1.4 billion in 2015 compared with $2.4 billion in 2014. The company, part-owned by Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich, also posted a net loss of $719 million due to $441 million of impairment charges and $367 million of foreign exchange losses. In 2014, its net loss was at $1.3 billion.

Bangladesh’s central bank governor Atiur Rahman said on Tuesday he had resigned after $81 million was stolen from the bank’s account at the New York Fed in one of the largest cyber heists in history, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had accepted his resignation, according to Rahman. Unknown hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank and transferred $81 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to casinos in the Philippines between February 4 and 5. The resignation came days after the Bangladeshi finance minister said the central bank did not inform him about the heist. The bank said earlier that cyber criminals had tried to withdraw $951 million from its US bank account.