Rio Tinto offers upbeat outlook despite drag from slowing China
Mining giant Rio Tinto has said that China’s economic recovery slowed in the second quarter as weakness in the export and property sectors provided a drag on growth.
The Anglo-Australian company, a key exporter of minerals to China, said that it expects its iron ore shipments to be as much as 335mn tonnes, at the top end of the range, offsetting a deteriorating outlook for copper and bauxite.
Rio Tinto’s second-quarter production report showed a stabilising of its iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and guided towards a trebling of copper production from its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia by the end of the decade.
What to watch in Asia today
Events: It’s a busy day for the regional shipping industry with the three-day Intermodal Asia, a trade fair for transport and container experts, opening in Shanghai, while the International Marine Contractors Association holds its annual Asia-Pacific meeting in Singapore. Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput holds a media briefing on the economy and monetary policy.
Data: New Zealand releases second-quarter inflation data. Indonesia issues second-quarter investment numbers, Malaysia presents June trade figures and Macau publishes June tourist arrivals.
Companies: Adani Green Energy, Adani Power and Adani Transmission hold their first annual meetings since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research produced a report critical of Adani Group companies. India’s Tata Communications and Tata Coffee present first-quarter earnings, while Indonesian toll road operator Jasa Marga provides second-quarter earnings.
Markets: The Indonesian and Malaysian stock exchanges are closed for Muharram, the Islamic new year.
Kremlin appoints Chechnyan official to run Danone Russia
Russia has appointed a senior official from Chechnya to run Danone’s assets in the country after President Vladimir Putin nationalised them earlier this week.
Yakub Zakriev, the province’s agriculture minister and reportedly a nephew of its strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was made chief executive of Danone Russia on Tuesday, according to corporate records.
Danone had been days away from finalising the sale of the asset to another prospective buyer before Putin ordered its seizure as well as breweries owned by Denmark’s Carlsberg.
The expropriations, announced on Sunday, are a prelude to transfers of foreign assets to regime loyalists who would be unable to buy them directly due to sanctions, analysts and insiders say.
Panama convicts former president of money laundering
Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering on Tuesday, throwing into question the popular politician’s bid to be re-elected next year.
The supermarket tycoon was convicted of laundering money from public contracts through a complex scheme to purchase a media company, and was also ordered to pay a fine of $19.2mn.
Martinelli has said he believes the charges are politically motivated and his lawyers said on Tuesday that he would appeal against the decision.
Read more about Panama here.
Johnson & Johnson sues US government over drug price controls
Johnson & Johnson has sued the US government, challenging a law that gives federal authorities the power to negotiate prices for expensive drugs.
The pharmaceutical company said on Tuesday it filed suit against the US Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over what it calls an “innovation-damaging” provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that allows Medicare — the taxpayer-funded healthcare scheme for retirees — to negotiate drug prices.
Johnson & Johnson joins Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and the lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in challenging the new law.
Gucci chief Marco Bizzarri to depart in management overhaul
French luxury group Kering has announced a management overhaul that will parachute in a transitional leader to fix underperformance at Gucci, its biggest brand.
Francesca Bellettini, who has led an expansion at Yves Saint Laurent since 2013, will become deputy chief executive to steer the “next stages of growth”.
Gucci chief Marco Bizzarri will step down in September and be replaced temporarily by chief operating officer Jean-François Palus.
The moves by Kering chair and chief executive François-Henri Pinault on Tuesday aim to give a new direction to the group that has struggled to deliver growth at the pace of sector leader LVMH.
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