About one-third of Singapore's exports to the U.S., worth S$9.5 billion ($7.4 billion), will be affected by a new U.S. tariff ​of 12.5% imposed on July 24, Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong ‌said, Reuters reported. Gan said in parliament on Wednesday that the tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 would affect ​about a third of Singapore's exports, including optical instruments and ​chemical products. Exempt exports include energy and energy products, certain electronics ⁠and aerospace products, as well as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Gan said the ​U.S.

India’s central bank held rates steady again on Wednesday, saying that the economy remains resilient in the face of pressure stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee voted unanimously to keep the repo rate at 5.25%, extending its pause to a fourth consecutive meeting. Renewed U.S.-Iran tensions are keeping central banks on guard as uncertainty swirls around efforts to restore traffic via the Strait of Hormuz—a key oil-shipping route.

Bank of Japan policymakers debated mounting ‌price risks that likely required more rate hikes even as they raised borrowing costs to a 31-year high in June, minutes of the meeting showed on Wednesday, highlighting the central bank's increased focus on broadening inflation, Reuters reported. A few board members said consumer inflation will likely ​get a significant boost in the latter half of the current fiscal year as firms plan price ​hikes for a wide range of goods, minutes of the June meeting showed.

The Mohegan Native American tribe spent $1.6 billion and almost a decade building a gambling venue near Seoul with three five-star hotels, a 15,000-seat arena and a water park so lavish that Netflix chose to film a hit dating show there, the New York Times reported. The Inspire Entertainment Resort was Mohegan’s first casino project outside North America, one designed to tap into a lucrative market of Chinese gamblers, who spent $28 billion on games in 2024 in Macau.

The Ahmedabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has recently rejected an insolvency plea against Suzlon Energy Limited, LiveLawBiz.com reported. The plea was rejected after finding that the claim was time-barred and arose out of a pre-existing dispute. The petition was filed by Harri Wind Farms, which sought initiation of insolvency proceedings after claiming Rs 9.70 crore towards land procurement, No Objection Certificates (NOCs), and Power Evacuation (PE) connectivity for a proposed 25 MW wind power project in Tamil Nadu.

A Chinese municipal borrower said that it has enough funds to repay 1.08 billion yuan (RM660 million) in offshore notes due next week, after people familiar with the matter said that a plan to refinance that debt with a new bond sale had been delayed, Bloomberg News reported. Luoyang Shangdu City Investment Holding Group Co was scheduled to price a 364-day yuan-denominated offshore bond last Friday to help repay the notes but the deal was postponed due to disagreements with investors over pricing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

India has moved a step closer to reintroducing merchant fees on transactions made through its popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI) after proposed changes to the ‌country's payments laws were introduced in parliament on Tuesday, Reuters reported. UPI, one of the world's largest real-time ‌payments networks, processed 23.6 billion transactions worth 29.9 trillion rupees ($313.5 billion) in July, according to official data. Walmart's PhonePe and Alphabet's Google ​Pay dominate payments via UPI.

A private gauge showed China’s manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in July, remaining in expansion territory and broadly echoing the official factory survey, which signaled a contraction, the Wall Street Journal reported. The RatingDog general manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 50.9 in last month, down from 51.7 in June, according to a statement released Monday. The result was better than the official gauge, which dropped to 49.2 in July, from 50.3 in June. The 50 mark separates expansion from contraction.

South Korea’s headline inflation moderated in July after reaching a 30-month high in June, partly because government measures helped restrain fuel and electricity prices, the Wall Street Journal reported. Price pressures persisted, however, with inflation remaining above the central bank’s 2% target. The Ministry of Data and Statistics said Tuesday that the benchmark consumer-price index rose 2.8% in July from a year earlier, slowing from 3.2% in June—the fastest pace since December 2023.