By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
SOFIA, March 21 (Reuters) - The number of coronavirus patients in Bulgarian hospitals has risen to 8,545, the highest level since the start of the pandemic last March, official health data showed on Sunday.
A surge in infections in the third COVID wave has prompted the Bulgarian government to close schools, nurseries, restaurants, big shops and gyms from Monday for 10 days ahead of the April 4 parliamentary election.
With 2,541 new cases in the past 24 hours, the country of 7 million people has reported 302,480 cases and 11,966 deaths in total. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova Editing by David Goodman )
Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund Mubadala is considering buying NMC Health's core hospital business, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, emerging as another suitor of the troubled hospital group.
Investors await RBA policy meeting minutes on Tuesday China posts strong Jan-Feb economic data (Updates to close)
March 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares reversed course to close slightly higher on Monday, as strong economic data from the country’s top trading partner China buoyed sentiment, but weaker technology and mining stocks limited gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.1% higher at 6,773.00, extending the benchmark’s 0.8% rise on Friday.
Data on Monday showed China’s industrial output grew 35.1% in January-February from a year ago, better than the 30% expected in a Reuters poll.
China’s retail sales, fixed asset investment, refinery throughput and aluminium production for first two months of 2021 also marked strong growth.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) - Japanese shares inched higher on Thursday as investors picked up beaten-down cyclical stocks while cutting their positions in some index heavyweights.
The Nikkei index was up 0.49% at 29,179.43 by 0208 GMT, while the broader Topix edged up 0.27% to 1,924.83.
“Growth-related shares have helped the market, but a sell-off in index heavyweights has also weighed,” said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist, Resona Asset Management.
The Nikkei had rallied to a 30-year high last month on expectations of an economic rebound and better-than expected corporate earnings.
On Thursday, chip-related shares fell, with Tokyo Electron declining 1.72% and Advantest losing 0.72%. Both the stocks weighed on the benchmark Nikkei index, along with medical equipment maker Terumo and drug maker Astellas Pharma, losing 1.24% to 2.31%.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Reuters) - Hartalega Holdings Bhd , Malaysia’s second-biggest maker of rubber gloves, said it plans to spend 7 billion ringgit ($1.7 billion) to build 16 new manufacturing facilities over the next 20 years.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to soaring demand and a jump in prices for medical and other types of rubber and synthetic gloves worldwide.
Hartalega, which currently has 12 plants, aims to increase annual production capacity to 95 billion gloves by 2027 from 43 billion now, it said in a statement.
By comparison, domestic rival Top Glove Corp, the world’s biggest maker of medical gloves, manufactures 93 billion gloves annually. This week Top Glove reported a fourth consecutive quarter of record profit, noting profit achieved for the first half of the current financial year exceeded its total profit for the past 20 years.