Technology & Social Media Archive

The new China tech-focused stock market – the Star Market – is living up to its name with huge Chinese demand for IPOs on the exchange and new freer trading rules sending valuations to stratospheric levels. More than 120 companies have joined the queue to list on the market, officials revealed in a statement, and it is the only venue in the country where stocks...

China today saw a dramatic launch to its new tech-focused stock exchange – the Star Market – in what is being seen as China’s answer to Nasdaq.  Like Nasdaq, equities on the Star Market are focused on tech and science, and opening trade was manic, with rapid increases and gains in all 25 companies making their debut, including microelectronics company Anji, which rose by 520 percent, and Montage Technology, which saw a 285 percent lift. As the day sett...

Investors should push companies to prioritize cyber-security, warns a new World Economic Forum report. It also proposes a framework for investors to measure and address cyber-security within a company. Cyber-attacks have almost doubled in the past five years, undermining confidence in some companies and driving demand for more secure digital products. Cyber-attacks have also resulted in losses for investors: during Verizon Communications’ recent acquisition...

Behemoth technology firms such as Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Tencent moving into financial services could well make the sector more efficient, but also introduces new risks, which need new regulatory approaches, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) writes in its Annual Economic Report. In a separate chapter focused on big tech in finance, the BIS notes that the above-named companies offer many potential benefits, including enhanced efficiency of f...