Although Tencent reported its first revenue decline for the second quarter of this year on Thursday, the company’s shares traded in the black, down 3.1% on Thursday.

There are other positives, Bao said, among them Tencent’s plans to harness profits from the cloud computing business.

“In the last quarter, we see that they have already migrated their entire business as well as their entire data to the cloud. This is a huge shift in terms of publishing their data,” he said.

“With its public cloud market share, Tencent is already ranked second in China, and all of them will advance in terms of international expansion,” Bao added.

– So Lin Tan

RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr said there would be no “hard landing” in house prices as a result of interest rate hikes by the bank – but some “belt tightening” would be in order.

Orr told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday that the bank was not only targeting home prices but focused on the broader economy and targeting stable and low inflation.

“So no, we’re in our niche that we’re trying to target house prices or whatever asset prices. I think there’s been a misconception lately,” Orr said.

“We are actually comfortable from a financial stability point of view that house prices have come down, and we expect them to come down about 20%. Now, our estimate, but until then, that just brings them back to a more sustainable level. They were very high during very loose monetary policy” .

Orr also said that during the recent period of low interest rates, the New Zealand bank and prudential regulator had worked together to ensure household balance sheets were in good shape.

“So the current level of interest rates that we will see today, consistent with our statement, falls perfectly within that manageability range. Now, that does not mean that it will not include some belt, for households, or those who have just entered the market.”

Orr also said that he expected very low GDP growth for New Zealand in the next two years, and said a recession could not be ruled out.

– So Lin Tan

A survey by data company GlobalData shows that more than 50% of Indian companies increased their ICT budgets by more than 6% in 2022 compared to last year.

The rise in the use of digital and technology services has been driven by the pandemic amid ongoing digital initiatives by the Indian government.

GlobalData’s ICT Investment Trends Report in India reports that around 56% of key IT decision makers surveyed claimed there was a significant increase (more than 6%) in their ICT budget for 2022 compared to in 2021. Another 34.5% claimed that there was a slight increase (1% to 6%) in the same period.

“The optimistic outlook for enterprise ICT spending in India for 2022 is likely to be attributed to the increasing focus on technology-led investment towards digital transformation activities such as migration to cloud, automation and modernization of legacy IT infrastructure along with favorable government policies,” Praghyan Tarasia, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, said.

Tencent has denied selling its stake in the giant Chinese food delivery company Mituan — but there is a good chance the tech giant will still strip some of its small business to get rid of censorship from regulators, according to one analyst.

Like Alibaba, Tencent is now facing the problem of “energy concentration” and Chinese regulators may be vigilant to ensure that small gaming and tech companies get a leg up in the sector and diversify.

Tencent recorded its first quarterly revenue decline year-over-year Tougher regulations around gaming in China and the re-emergence of Covid-19 in the world’s second-largest economy have hit the tech giant.

“Tencent Kind of a face that Alibaba has faced in the e-commerce market. It’s the best gaming company [in China] So the government is trying hard to rein in to give smaller developers a chance to catch up with Tencent and Netease. And I can’t say for sure when that will end,” Liu Sun, an equity advisor specializing in technology Motley Fool, told CNBC Capital Connection.

“We’re not really sure what will happen to Tencent. It is not only the largest video game company in China, but the largest game company in the world.”

Sun said the company has already divested some of its holdings in the past, such as JD.com Therefore, other smaller liquidations may be considered.

– So Lin Tan

Chinese developer Country Garden has issued an earnings warning that expects its first-half net profit to fall to less than half of last year’s result.

Its net profit was estimated between 4,500 million yuan and 5,000 million yuan ($660 million and 730 million), down from 15 billion yuan last year ($2.21 billion).

The company attributes the decrease in profit to decrease in real estate sales, increase in provision for impairment of real estate projects and foreign exchange losses.

“The board of directors is of the view that most of the above factors that impacted earnings were non-cash in nature, that the group’s business is in good shape and has sufficient cash on hand, and cash flow remains stable,” the company said in a statement.

– So Lin Tan

The United States and Taiwan have agreed to start discussions on a new trade initiative, the “US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade”.

The US Trade Representative’s office said the two sides had “reached consensus on the negotiating mandate”.

“We plan to pursue an ambitious timetable to achieve high-level commitments and meaningful outcomes covering the eleven business areas of the Negotiating Mandate that will help build a more equitable, prosperous and resilient 21st century economy,” Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi said in a statement.

There was no mention of the possibility of a free trade deal.

This comes on the heels of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan. It comes against the backdrop of Washington’s economic pivot toward Asia, which led to the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which did not include Taiwan.

– So Lin Tan

Coca-Cola and Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading app for car booking and delivery services, has announced a partnership to launch and engage consumers through GrabAds.

The partnership will take place across six Southeast Asian countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

– So Lin Tan

Nomura cut its forecast for China’s GDP for 2022 even further, from 3.3% to 2.8%, citing the latest economic data from the country.

The latest move continues the bank’s streak of having one of the lowest calls among its peers, echoing pessimism about Beijing’s growth target of around 5.5%. In July, Chinese officials referred to the country You may miss the GDP target for the year.

Nomura attributes the worsening volatility to the current business cycle, as well as China facing its worst heat wave in many years, which could dampen growth in the third quarter.

Goldman Sachs also cut its forecast to 3% from 3.3% — citing the latest data showing slowing demand and slowing credit growth. The report also emphasized the impact of the recession in the real estate sector.

The expected cuts after the People’s Bank of China come unexpectedly Two interest rate cuts on Monday – Its medium-term loans and short-term liquidity instrument – for the second time this year.

– Jie Lee

Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in July, the lowest level since 1974, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is down from 3.5% in June.

“The drop in the unemployment rate in July reflects a further tightening of the labor market, including rising job vacancies and persistent labor shortages, which has led to the lowest unemployment rate since August 1974,” Bjorn Jarvis said.

“In July, the number of unemployed people (474,000) was lower than the number of vacancies (480,000 in May).”

A tighter labor market can lead to increased demand and inflation as well as an increase in prices.

In the minutes of this week’s RBA meeting, the bank said “employment growth may be stronger than expected, and strong balance sheet conditions could support more household consumption than expected”.

— Su Lin Tan

PayPal It has lost nearly half of its market value this year – despite a strong rally over the past month.

But big tech investor Paul Mix remains a fan of the online payments giant. Says CNBC Pro . Talks Why does he think the stock is a buying opportunity?

Professional subscribers can read the story here.

– Xavier Ong

According to Goldman Sachs, energy efficiency improvements implemented by companies will be of increasing interest to investors.

“Carbon is increasingly becoming a factor influencing stock selection and stock valuation, driven by increased regulatory pressure and zero-sum investment strategies,” the investment bank wrote in a report released as recently as August.

Goldman identified buy-and-hold companies that rank well in energy reductions, and where it says energy efficiency will play a key role in companies’ competitive positioning over the long term.

Professional subscribers can read more here.

– Weezin Tan

China is battling power outages in the Yangtze River region, which is experiencing a record heat wave.

High temperatures disrupted crop growth and threatened livestock.

Southwest China’s Sichuan Province is also rationing power amid blackouts that have swept homes and businesses.

The recent blackout reminds us of the major blackouts last year that covered many major manufacturing centers in China, especially in the south such as Guangdong.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said at the time that the blackout contributed to the slowdown in GDP growth in the third quarter of the year. She said energy rationing in parts of China had affected “normal production”.

A government media report said that Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng visited the State Grid Company, on Wednesday, and called for more efforts to support the power supply of the population and key industries.

– So Lin Tan

The Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting It states that central bankers plan to continue raising interest rates in order to reduce inflation.

“With inflation remaining well above the commission’s target, participants felt that a transition to a restrictive policy stance was required to fulfill the commission’s legislative mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability,” the minutes said.

The Federal Reserve rose by three-quarters of a percentage point in each of its last two meetings. However, the central bank indicated that it may slow that pace in the coming months as those historically large moves will take full effect.

“Participants considered that as the monetary policy stance tightens further, it would likely become appropriate at some point to slow the pace of policy rate increases while assessing the effects of cumulative policy adjustments on economic activity and inflation,” the minutes said.

Some participants in the meeting indicated that the Fed should keep interest rates at a restricted level “for some time” even after the rallies have slowed.

The minutes also showed that the Fed is concerned about inflation and the economic environment is likely to worsen from here.

The minutes stated that “uncertainty about the path of inflation over the medium term remained elevated, and the balance of inflation risks remained tilted to the upside, with many participants highlighting the potential for further supply shocks arising from commodity markets.” “Participants viewed the risks to the real GDP growth outlook as primarily to the downside.”

– Jesse Pound