Japan

The two Japanese car manufacturers confirmed on Thursday that the planned merger between Honda and Nissan has officially been cancelled. The Japanese business newspaper Nikkei reported earlier this month that Honda and Nissan had stopped discussing a merger. The two car manufacturers announced in December that they were looking at a merger, which would have created the third-largest car manufacturer in the world. In February, the two car manufacturers were supposed to present a plan for further negotiations. The companies' intention to join forces was seen as an attempt to catch up with American car manufacturer Tesla and Chinese companies in the electric vehicle market. Honda's CEO stated in December that it was not a rescue operation for Nissan, which cut thousands of jobs last...

The stock exchange in Japan closed sharply lower on Tuesday. Fears of a possible reintroduction of stricter corona measures in the central Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka to stem the continued rise in corona infections fueled concerns about a slowdown in the economic recovery.   The technology companies were also under pressure after the significant loss of the American tech gauge Nasdaq. The main index in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225, ended 2 percent in the negative at 29,100.38 points, making the most significant loss in a month. Renesas fell 2.7 percent. The Japanese chipmaker expects to restore production capacity lost from the fire at its Naka plant by the end of May. Renesas is a major supplier of chips to the automotive industry. The fire was an additional blow to car manufactu...