The Chinese yuan strengthened in early Asian trade on Tuesday in what analysts see as the country’s attempt to engineer market stability one week before a key political gathering in Beijing. The U.S. dollar/yuan pair was trading around 6.597 at 10:10am HK/SIN, compared with 6.6147 at the close of the previous session. The strength of […]

Wall Street closed slightly lower on Monday while the Turkish lira clawed back some of its overnight losses ahead of Asia’s Tuesday trading day. The Turkish lira pared some losses after steeply falling against the dollar on Monday after a diplomatic row between Turkey and the U.S. saw the countries suspend visa services for each […]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promoted his younger sister to a top political post Saturday, according to state media, prompting an air of intrigue about the new Kim in Pyongyang. Faced with international sanctions and the potential threat of armed confrontation with the U.S., the dictator consolidated his political power at a key meeting […]

People around the world are expected to make 726 billion transactions using digital payment technologies by 2020, according to a study released Monday. The research, by consultancy giant Capgemini and bank BNP Paribas, found that emerging markets were leading the upward trend, and predicts tech innovations such as connected homes, contactless bank cards, wearable devices […]

A new wave of bartenders are championing zero-waste techniques in a global movement known as “closed-loop” cocktails. Focused on recycling ingredients, the idea is to ensure an eco-friendly drinking experience. It’s part of a broader concept known as “garden-to-glass,” which emphasizes produce-driven beverages that boast little food mileage — similar to the restaurant industry’s “farm-to-table” […]

Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, said it has raised a $210 million fund to invest in Southeast Asian and Indian startups, exceeding its original target size of $150 million. Vertex plans to continue its strategy of investing in early-stage technology companies in Southeast Asia and India across enterprise […]

Faced with international sanctions and the potential threat of armed confrontation with the U.S., North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un consolidated power over the weekend by elevating his younger sister to a top political post. On Saturday, Kim used a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s key policy-making body, known as the Central Committee, to […]

Business activity in China’s services sector grew at its slowest pace in 21 months in September as the pace of new business cooled, a private survey showed. The survey was in sharp contrast to an official gauge of the non-manufacturing sector that showed the services sector expanded at the fastest clip since 2014 in September, […]

The Turkish lira dropped sharply on Monday after the U.S. Embassy in Ankara announced a suspension of visa services — a move Turkey quickly matched. The dollar fetched as much as 3.7694 lira on Monday during Asian trade, compared with around 3.616 lira on Friday — a move of over 4 percent. That’s not too […]

Asia markets edged up early on Monday as investors in Asia awaited the release of China Caixin services PMI. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.71 percent on broad-based gains across its sub-indexes. Major miners and gold stocks made significant gains: Rio Tinto was up 1.55 percent and Alacer Gold rose 3.14 percent. The energy sub-index underperformed […]