Asia top stories: weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 22 July 2016.

China acetone prices rebound – but will it last?
Spot acetone prices into China rebounded on the back of resurgent Chinese buying interest.

Dutch AkzoNobel Q2 net profit dips 6%; sales down 6%
AkzoNobel’s second-quarter net profit slipped by 6.0% year on year to €312m, weighed down by lower earnings from its specialty chemicals segment, the Dutch producer said on Tuesday.

Asia PS halts uptrend on weak styrene monomer market
Asia’s polystyrene (PS) price uptrend fizzled out as feedstock styrene monomer (SM) values tumbled this week, market sources said on Wednesday.

China economy faces downside risks from Brexit jitters
China’s economy has started to show some signs of stability but this is being threatened by heightened and possibly prolonged financial market uncertainties triggered by UK’s vote to leave the EU, also termed as British exit (Brexit), analysts said.

India PE, PP may halt uptrend on uncertain crude market
Polyolefin prices in India may halt their almost steady increase since early June, with buying sentiment weighed down by uncertainties in the upstream crude market in the near term, industry players said on Thursday.

SE Asia SBR may extend falls amid seasonal demand lull
Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) prices in southeast Asia may continue to decline because of lacklustre demand amid ample supply, with market sentiment weighed down by weak crude prices, industry sources said on Friday.