Toshiba prioritises talks with Western Digital on chips business sale – Nikkei

Japan's Toshiba Corp is prioritising talks with Western Digital to sell its memory chip business, as negotiations with a previously preferred bidder have stalled, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday. Shares in the conglomerate, which is scrambling to sell its flash memory unit for around $18 billion to cover losses from its bankrupt U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse, rose 4.6 percent to 316 yen by the end of morning trade as the report lifted hopes of an imminent deal. In June, Toshiba picked a consortium including Japanese government-backed funds, private equity firm Bain Capital and South Korean chip maker SK Hynix as the preferred bidder for the prized unit.

Mutual funds mark down investments in Uber by as much as 15 percent

Four mutual fund companies have marked down their investments in Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] by as much as 15 percent following a scandal-ridden year for the ride-hailing company. Uber has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months, including a federal probe into its use of technology to evade regulators in certain cities and a trade secrets lawsuit filed by Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) self-driving unit, Waymo. Chief Executive Travis Kalanick also resigned in June, pressured by accounts of a corporate culture of sexism and bullying.

Oil prices fall on concerns of oversupply as Libyan output recovers

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by concerns of oversupply as Libyan output improves and as U.S. gasoline inventories rose despite the peak summer driving season. Brent crude futures (LCOc1), the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $51.75 per barrel at 0415 GMT, down 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures (CLc1) were at $47.72 a barrel, down 11 cents, or 0.2 percent.

S. Korea says no to US request to discuss renegotiating FTA

South Korea's top trade negotiator said Tuesday that Seoul will not discuss renegotiation of the free trade agreement with the U.S. without first looking into what is really causing the U.S. trade imbalance. ...

Mutual funds mark down investments in Uber by up to 15 percent – WSJ

Three of the investors, Vanguard Group, Principal Funds and Hartford Funds, all marked down their shares by 15 percent to $41.46 a share for the quarter ended June 30, according to the fund companies' latest disclosure documents, the Journal reported. A fourth investor, T. Rowe Price Group Inc (TROW.O), cut the estimated price of its Uber shares by about 12 percent to $42.70.

Global Markets: Asia steadies after rally, dollar buoyant before Jackson Hole

Asian stocks steadied on Wednesday, taking a breather after the previous day's surge and unable to keep up with a global rally spurred by gains for tech shares on Wall Street and miners in Europe. The dollar was buoyant against the euro and yen ahead of a meeting of central bankers later in the week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which initially inched up to a two-week high, pulled back to stand little changed following a 0.7 percent rally on Tuesday.

Paccar transmission completes integrated powertrain