Equities in Asia searched for direction on Friday after the euro jumped following the European Central Bank putting tapering on the table on Thursday. Markets awaited China August trade data. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.43 percent in early trade. Second-quarter gross domestic product data released earlier in the morning came in at 2.5 percent, below […]

Japan’s economic growth in the second quarter was much slower than seen in a stellar preliminary reading, government data showed on Friday, confounding hopes for a long awaited pick-up in domestic demand. The downgrade was widely expected after data used to revise gross domestic product figures showed capital spending in April-June rose at a slower […]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s son on Thursday told a Senate inquiry he had no links to a seized shipment of $125 million worth of narcotics from China, dismissing as “baseless” the allegations of his involvement in the drugs trade. Opponents of the president, who has instigated a fierce crackdown on a trade he says is […]

A Hong Kong-based fintech firm is launching an initial coin offering as part of its plans to revolutionize how payments are conducted. Octo3 Group is a start-up that currently sells a range of financial technologies, but it’s hoping to bring its global payment processing network onto a blockchain platform. As part of that move, the […]

Mexico is tapping Alibaba to help the country boost its trade ties with China. Mexico’s Ministry of Economy and Alibaba will partner to get more Mexican products onto the tech firm’s popular e-commerce platforms. The move aims to help Mexico’s small- and medium-sized enterprises expand internationally and in China — the world’s largest consumer market […]

India’s surprise move to ban several bank notes last November — aimed at rooting out illicit cash — appeared to have achieved the opposite of its intended goal, according to a report from the country’s central bank. The Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report on Aug. 30 that 99 percent, or around […]

Japan and a whole range of other countries could see upheavals in their bond markets if Norway goes ahead with new proposals for its sovereign wealth fund, according to industry experts. In a letter released over the weekend, Norges Bank proposed restricting its fixed income and corporate bond investments exclusively to the euro, the U.S. […]

China’s air force has carried out exercises near the Korean Peninsula, practicing to defend against a “surprise attack” coming over the sea, Chinese state media said. The exercises came days after North Korea’s sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test fueled global concern that the isolated nation plans more weapons tests, possibly of a long-range missile. […]

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Wednesday that if the United Nations does not put additional sanctions on North Korea over nuclear tests, he has an executive order ready for President Donald Trump to sign that would impose sanctions on any country that trades with Pyongyang. “I have an executive order prepared. It’s ready […]

The White House has set aside for now consideration of terminating the U.S. trade agreement with South Korea, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. President Donald Trump had been discussing with his senior advisers ending the trade deal out of concern that it was tilted against the United States. Source: cnbc china US halts […]