Japan market
>> agilent technologies is seeing a rebound in some of its markets . the company is the world’s biggest maker of scientific testing equipment and its c.e.o. says agilent is well poised for the recovery.
>> our semiconductor component, semiconductor test business, we’ve seen growth rates in excess of 50% this last quarter. we think the recovery started in the consumer markets in 2004 and will spread to some of the i.t. sector and communication sectors so we think 2004 is poised to be a very good year for high-tech as well as for agilent.
>> the company reported a profit in the latest period following seven consecutive quarters of losses but profit and sales missed the high end of the forecast that the company made two weeks ago and shares dropped today. after a successful share sale earlier this month, shinsei bank starts trading in japan today. ron madison, where else, in tokyo with a look at this and other stories making headlines and moving markets in the asia-pacific region. we’re hearing that investors are betting that shinsei shares will have a strong debut.
>> that’s right, matt. it wasn’t all that long ago, just about six years, to be exact, that the japanese government found itself putting up seven trillion yen to restore the bank’s finances. in dollars, that’s about $65 billion at today’s exchange rate. lots has changed as ripplewood and others bought the bank, formerly called―and with the offering investors pay $525 yen a piece, the highest price sought there. we’re already getting some idea about how it will do in its debut as investors were argue to pay $755 yen for the stock in london yesterday. here’s another thing that investors are also taking into consideration. shinsei is now expecting a fourth consecutive year of profit as it competes with mizuho with new tactics as in staying open to 7:00 p.m. and will plan lower fees and advise companies on restructuring.
>> what happened to australia’s flag carrier, kwantas, out with―quantas, out with first half results?
>> the company was expected to say that fiscal first-half profit fell 11%. a different story coming out today with the company, seeing that its first half came in at a record at 357.8 million australian dollars. other headlines on the bloomberg with this, seeing that first-half sales are at 5.8 billion australian dollars, the company has also said that passenger numbers in the first half rose 2.5% to 9.5 million. it’s expecting to reduce costs, as well, by 500 million australian dollars in fiscal 2004. so really coming in much better than expected there, matt.
>> i saw that yesterday japan time the economy grew at its fastest pace in 13 years. what’s on tap to either dispel or add to that streak today?
>> today we’re going to hear about japanese demand for services, also known as the tertiary industry index and it probably rose in december after unexpectedly falling the month earlier. economists surveyed say demand at service companies grew. the broader index is used as a proxy for gross domestic product as it adds industrial production, construction, agriculture and government spending to the tertiary index and that faster growth in the fourth quarter was fuel you ed in part by consumer spending which grew 8% in that period.
>> a full plateful, indeed. 11% of americans on a low carb diet and another 19% are considering it. we’ll tell you how that’s changing industry decisions. that’s all up next.
