Good afternoon everyone. Asian shares ended higher today with Hong Kong’s badly-beaten Hang Seng Index up 0.6%, the SHCOMP up 0.64%, and the Nikkei just a hair away from its 18-year high. The Japanese benchmark just notched its sixth straight gain this session, adding 0.9% to make it just 0.5% away from its December 1996 high. Gold meanwhile touched off its five-year low to trade at $1,104.
Here’s what else you should know:
Toshiba execs resign amid accounting scandal. Taking responsibility for one of the largest accounting scandals Japan has ever faced, Toshiba president Hisao Tanaka, vice chairman Norio Sasaki, and adviser Atsutoshi Nishida all resigned from the company. Bloomberg
The FT takes on ticker “566.” Nobody else has covered Hanergy’s saga better than the FT, and this is their latest investigation into the toy-maker turned energy giant. Financial Times (paywall)
K.K.R. cares. Private equity giant K.K.R. has apparently helped a low-cost vaccine company in the Philippines to snag a credit line worth $1 million. Prior to this, the company has been struggling to raise equity, but with K.K.R.’s help, they’re now looking at distributing over 3 million more vaccines to low and middle income Filipinos by 2018. Who called these guys merchants of debt again? DealBook
Happy managed-float-the-Yuan day, China. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the surprise unpegging of the Yuan from its fixed exchange rate, and man has it gone a long way since then. MarketWatch
Remy Cointreau sales misses estimates. French distiller Remy Cointreau saw its shares slip as much as 4% today as first quarter sales numbers fell below analyst estimates. The cause? “Chinese wholesalers continued to hold back on cognac orders and the company modified its distribution network.” Drink up guys, it’s for the French economy. Bloomberg
“We’re so grateful they’re coming home with all their bits.” Mick Fanning has always been one of the funniest guys on the pro surfing tour, and thanks to his recent shark attack we get to find out where he got it – his mom. DailyMail
Photo credit: Moyan Brenn via Flickr