Market Spotlight

With rents up nearly 40% in the last five years and vacancies at under 2%, Australia residents are finding it increasingly hard to secure housing. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Getty Images) 
Coffee prices have been soaring in recent months, with London futures for robusta coffee beans reaching a historic high in July. (Source photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Market Spotlight

Coffee prices volatile on climate, shipping crunch, forest regulation

Unpredictable weather will increase cost of production in the long run

19 August 2024
The market fluctuation comes as the government is encouraging more households to direct their cash and savings worth 1,050 trillion yen ($7.1 trillion) into stocks and mutual funds. (Source photos by Yo Inoue and Toshiki Sasazu)
Market Spotlight

Japan retail investors keep the faith in stocks despite historic volatility

Mom-and-pop investors are seen 'buying the dip' in domestic and global stocks

12 August 2024
The skyline of Shenzhen, China. The country has been struggling to recover property investment sentiment since it launched a crackdown in 2020. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)
Market Spotlight

As China's property market slumps, foreign investors get pickier

Singapore capital ticks up while Western buyers shy away from commercial sites

5 August 2024
The Bank of Japan is grappling with policy as a deeply depreciating yen stokes import prices and saps consumers' purchasing power. (Source photos by Nanami Sato and Pool)
Market Spotlight

'Wishy-washy' BOJ keeps investors guessing on next move

Central bank set to release tapering plan, mull timing of rate hike

29 July 2024
China's central bank faces an "impossible trinity": simultaneously controlling interest rates, keeping the exchange rate stable and keeping the economy open. (Source photos: Kosaku Mimura; Reuters)
Market Spotlight

China's central bank battles perceptions that deflation is taking hold

Markets skeptical central bank can maintain effort to push up rates

22 July 2024
A lack of homegrown tech giants has contributed to Japan's "digital deficit": It imports far more digital services than it exports to the rest of the world.
Market Spotlight

Japan's love of Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium piles pressure on yen

'Digital deficit' drags down the country's trade balance

15 July 2024
Years of bogus sales and accounts receivable, combined with rising input costs, left the company unable to repay its debts in early 2023. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Stark website)
Market Spotlight

Fraud trial exposes shortfalls in Thai corporate governance

Wire maker Stark's scandal ensnares Kasikornbank, Deloitte and Credit Suisse

8 July 2024
Shares have generally performed well in Asia so far this year. But for dollar investors, weak Asian currencies translates to smaller gains. (Photo by Satoko Kawasaki)
Market Spotlight

Strong dollar hits Asian stock gains in first half of 2024

Japan, India equities top picks for global investors, while Southeast Asia's luster dims

1 July 2024
Foreign investors are overwhelmingly predicting a softer yuan by the year-end, as expectations for a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut scale back.
Market Spotlight

Weakening yuan could be what China needs, but not what it wants

China's yuan hits 7-month low in 'complex environment'

24 June 2024
China Vanke, formerly a darling of China's stock market and real estate industry, has become a "fallen angel" -- a bond issuer whose credit ratings have been degraded to uninvestable status. (Source photo by Getty Images)
Market Spotlight

China Vanke: the poster child of a now-troubled property sector

'Fallen angel' struggles to stabilize sales as consumer and investor confidence fades

17 June 2024
Economists are divided over the course of the BOJ's balance sheet policy in the coming months and whether a reduction would constitute the start of quantitative tightening. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Kyodo and Yuji Murakami)
Market Spotlight

Market to scrutinize BOJ for signs of quantitative tightening

Japan's central bank is shifting away from decadelong expansion of balance sheet

10 June 2024
Copper prices are widely expected remain elevated. Goldman Sachs expects the price to surge to $12,000 per tonne by the end of the year.
Market Spotlight

Copper prices stay firm after hitting all-time high on AI demand, China recovery

Asian output strong, supplies expected to remain tight for foreseeable future

3 June 2024
Three key indexes that foreign investors use to track China equities -- the CSI 300, Hang Seng Index and MSCI China -- are up since mid-April. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty images)
27 May 2024
The yen's weakness stems from the wide rate differential between the U.S. and Japan. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Akira Kodaka and Yuji Murakami)
Market Spotlight

Potential for earlier BOJ rate hike rises amid hawkish signals, weak yen

Some analysts expect Japan's central bank to use bond yields to stop yen's fall

20 May 2024
Currency analysts are focused on the U.S. consumer price index for April due Wednesday after the previous month’s data caused the yen to tumble. (Source photos by Hiroshi Tamehiro and Akira Kodaka)
Market Spotlight

Mighty dollar pushes Asian governments to boost currency protection

Asian monetary officials seek to buy time until the U.S. economy slows down

13 May 2024
The IPO boom in India is driven by a buoyant stock market that outperformed peers in China, Hong Kong and Japan. (Source photos by Ken Kobayashi and Kosaku Mimura)
Market Spotlight

Indian founders make hay with IPOs amid rally, but investors suffer

44 of the 183 companies that listed since 2021 are trading below their offer price

6 May 2024
American investor Warren Buffett. Investor attention next week is likely to be fixed on whether the companies will upgrade their shareholder return policies. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by AP and Shinya Sawai)
Market Spotlight

Japan's Buffett-backed trading houses hit by weaker commodity prices

Outlooks expected to be flat, while investors eye payout upgrades for early May

29 April 2024
Singapore's GIC is reportedly considering the sale of a Hilton hotel in Fukuoka, left, while railway operator Seibu hopes to raise up to $2 billion through a sale of an upscale office and hotel complex in central Tokyo. (Source photos by Kyodo)
Market Spotlight

Hotels are new darling of foreign investors in Japanese property

Deals expected to maintain 2023 levels, thanks to weak yen

22 April 2024
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, right, has been pressuring Bank of Thailand Gov. Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput to cut interest rates for the good of the country's slowing economy. (Nikkei montaage/Source photos by Hiroki Endo and Ken Kobayashi)
Market Spotlight

Bank of Thailand ignores Srettha's pressure to cut interest rate

Central bank expects inflation to pick up, punts baht-weakening structural problems to government

15 April 2024
At least three Singapore-listed REITs have increased their stakes in data centers over the past year, with analysts predicting similar moves by other real estate investors in Asia. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters and Yo Inoue)
Market Spotlight

Singapore REITs snap up Japan data centers amid AI boom

Acquisitions show investors' hunger in Asia for tech-related property assets

8 April 2024
Even following the BOJ's rate hike, Japan's bond yields largely remain lower than other advanced economies, failing to temper the speculative strategies. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Nanami Sato and Jo Miyaguchi)
Market Spotlight

BOJ's rate hike leaves wide yield gap with U.S., Europe, causes yen to slide

Lowest-yielding G10 currency's use for carry trades helps push it to 34-year low

1 April 2024
The Bank of Japan overhauled its monetary policy on Tuesday, and ended the purchases of exchange traded funds. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters) 
Market Spotlight

Japan stocks could grow more volatile with end of BOJ ETF purchases

Central bank had bought most of country's exchange traded funds

25 March 2024
Surprisingly generous pay raises at some of Japan's biggest corporations might have finally persuaded the Bank of Japan to start moving away from its unconventional monetary policy. (Nikkei montage/Akira Kodaka, Yuji Murakami, and pool)
Market Spotlight

Japan's wage hikes create game-changing inflation dynamic as BOJ meets

Market braces for comprehensive overhaul of the central bank's monetary policy

18 March 2024
The Malaysian ringgit has been buffeted by global financial and economic trends. (Source photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Market Spotlight

Malaysian ringgit's fall puts central bank, government on alert

Country 'ready' to intervene after currency hits lowest level since Asian crisis

11 March 2024