Asia Pacific

Beijing signaled with its currency devaluation that the domestic economic slowdown it has failed to reverse is no longer a problem confined within China’s borders. It is now the world’s problem, too, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese officials have cut interest rates four times in the past 12 months, increased the amount of money banks can lend out and pumped funds into the stock market—measures meant to boost domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy.

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd said on Monday it would sell non-core assets, and shut down or exit non-essential units as part of restructuring after a multi-billion dollar loss in the April-June quarter, The Economic Times reported. Daewoo Shipbuilding late last month reported a provisional second-quarter operating loss of 3.03 trillion won ($2.61 billion), citing construction delays on offshore projects such as oil and gas rigs.

China’s economy started the second half of the year on a weak note, posting disappointing trade and factory-price data in July amid pressure from slack demand at home and abroad, The Wall Street Journal reported. Exports in July slid 8.3% from a year earlier, reversing a gain of 2.8% in June, customs data released Saturday showed. Imports fell for the ninth month in a row, dropping 8.1%, after a decline of 6.1% in June.

China has spent $144bn to bolster the country’s fragile stock market since June, Goldman Sachs has estimated amid investor fears that authorities might run low on firepower to draw on should stocks resume their recent sharp descent, the Financial Times reported. The figure is less than half of the roughly $322bn war chest that the coalition of state financial institutions — known as the “national team” — has at its disposal, the bank reckons. Concern that the national team is short of capital or is preparing to exit its investments has dominated investor sentiment in recent weeks.

Chinese stocks rebounded sharply on Tuesday after the government took further steps to rein in short-sellers, the International New York Times reported. The main Shanghai share index closed 3.7 percent higher, reversing three days of losses, after the country’s two main stock exchanges said they would make it more difficult for investors to bet on falling share prices.

A unit of Indonesian coal miner PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk has filed a petition to have a debt moratorium granted by a Singapore court recognized in the United States, in a move to stave off creditors, Reuters reported. On July 7, the Singapore High Court imposed a moratorium preventing any creditor of Berau Capital Resources Pte Ltd from enforcing its rights against Berau Capital, its parent company or the guarantors of Berau Capital's $450 million bond. The moratorium, which lasts until Jan. 4, effectively bought time for Berau to negotiate with bondholders.

Since the collapse last year of Mt. Gox, the exchange that served as the largest hub for storing and trading the virtual currency Bitcoin, law enforcement officials and angry clients have been asking what happened to nearly half a billion dollars in Bitcoins that the company said had vanished from its computer systems.

Some of the world’s largest companies have sounded the alarm about the slowdown in the Chinese economy, warning that weaker growth would hit profits in the second half of the year, the Financial Times reported. Car companies such as PSA Peugeot Citroën, Audi and Ford have slashed growth forecasts while industrial goods groups such as Caterpillar and Siemens have all spoken out on the negative impact of China.

Chinese shares bounced back more than 3 percent on Wednesday, as Beijing's latest efforts to prop up values restored a measure of stability to its unruly stock market, the International New York Times reported. After a dramatic plunge of more than 8 percent in Chinese stocks on Monday, China's securities regulator announced probes into share "dumping" and pledged to buy stocks to calm the market, while the central bank hinted at more policy easing.

Instability continued to roil China’s stock markets on Tuesday in spite of new pledges of support from the government, the International New York Times reported. Coming off its biggest one-day decline since 2007, Shanghai’s main share index seesawed throughout Tuesday — falling as much as 5 percent as trading opened and rising 1 percent at one point — to end down 1.7 percent. The precarious display on China’s bourses after several weeks of relatively calm movements has shaken global financial markets.