Chinese copper flat wire manufacturer Wellascent’s decision early last year to build a factory in Texas was a hedge against geopolitical risks. Now the investment is paying off as US import tariffs boost demand for its locally produced goods. The...
Fitch affirmed the US credit rating at "AA+", highlighting concerns over rising debt levels while also citing the country's large, high-income economy, and its financing flexibility due to the dollar's role as global reserve currency. High fiscal deficits and increasing...
Singapore's OCBC has established a US$1 billion digital US commercial paper programme using blockchain technology. OCBC says the programme unlocks near-instantaneous short-term US dollar funding capabilities. This near-instant settlement is made possible by tokenised securities and funds being on-chain, enabling...
Meranti Green Steel, a leading industrial group in Singapore, has announced the launch of its green iron project in the Duqm Special Economic Zone, aiming to produce low-emission direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot briquetted iron (HBI) as part...
Earnings per share also increased by 24.6% YoY. The Bank of East Asia (BEA) recorded a 14.1% year-on-year (YoY) rise in attributable profit to HK$2.41b in the first half of 2025. Earnings per share also increased by 24.6% YoY to HK$0.86...
Data centre and chips make up the lion’s share of foreign capital announced in the country. Companies announced record foreign direct investments in Japan over the past two years, as its digitalisation drive attracts interest from semiconductor companies and data...
Central bank keeps one-year loan prime rate at 3%, five-year rate at 3.5%. China kept benchmark lending rates unchanged for the third consecutive month, meeting market expectations, as authorities signalled they are in no rush to deliver monetary stimulus despite...
The country’s annual inflation remains within the RBNZ’s 1% to 3% target band at 2.7%, giving the central bank leeway to cut rates further. New Zealand’s central bank cut its policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) to a three-year...
Assets are concentrated in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei with limited presence in other markets. ASEAN’s Islamic finance industry is expected to cross US$1t by end-2026, after reaching nearly $950b by the end of June 2025, according to estimates from Fitch...
At the heart of why consumers in China save so much and spend so little, and why Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump will struggle to change that behaviour, even if they want to, lies the...
