JGC Corporation

Asian Activities Report for January 16, 2012 includes: China Southern Airlines (HKG:1055) (SHA:600029) has become a major international sponsor and the official airline for Sydney Festival 2012; Hisense Group (SHA:600060) was honored with the "Value Innovation Award" for its I'TV2 product at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 10th; Chiyoda Corporation(TYO:6366) says that its joint venture company with JGC Corporation (TYO:1963) and Kellogg Brown & Root, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") contract for the Ichthys LNG plant facilities in Australia; Bridgestone Corporation (TYO:5108) has developed a revolutionary new printing technology for tires that is different from any tire printing or coloring process on the market today; Elecom Co., Ltd. (JASDAQ:6750) has unveiled its latest USB products, which features a function for encrypting stored data through a strong encryption algorithm called AES 256 bit.

Most Asian markets rallied with resources shares significantly higher on Monday. Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.7 per cent while exporters were encouraged by stronger US dollar against yen. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 2.4 per cent. The Shanghai bourse reopened for the first day after the Lunar New Year holiday, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5 per cent as the market was still impacted by the People's Bank of China's credit-tightening measures unveiled before the long holiday.

US stocks closed mixed overnight as the market wobbled after the US Federal Reserve decided to maintain its interest rates at record low to support the subdued recovery. The central bank's upbeat outlook of the economy has led to speculation about a faster interest rate rise.

US stocks closed at 14-month highs on the news of Dubai's US$10 billion funding and a big acquisition by Exxon Mobil, which agreed to acquire XTO Energy for US$31 billion in stock.

US stocks fell on Tuesday on disappointing corporate news and renewed worries over global credit markets. Asian stocks mostly opened lower today with Australian and Japanese markets slashed sharply at opening.