Australia’s central bank held its key interest rate at a 13-year high on Tuesday, aiming to keep up the pressure on stubbornly sticky inflation while joining much of the world in waiting for the outcome of US elections, Bloomberg reported. As expected, the Reserve Bank left its cash rate at 4.35%, marking a year at that level, and restated that it isn’t “ruling anything in or out” on policy. The RBA’s board highlighted the “high level of uncertainty” about the international outlook. Underlying inflation “remains too high,” the rate-setting board said in a statement.

Japanese manufacturers were less confident about business conditions in November than in October, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Wednesday, as China's economic slowdown and a persistently high rate of inflation soured sentiment, Reuters reported. Confidence in the service sector also eased for the fifth consecutive month to its lowest since February 2023 due to rising costs and a shortage of labor, the poll showed. Both manufacturers and non-manufacturers cited a particularly volatile foreign exchange market as a concern.

Philippine inflation quickened within market expectations in October, giving the central bank room to sustain its easing cycle, Bloomberg reported. Consumer prices rose 2.3% year-on-year in October, matching median economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey and falling within the central bank’s estimate of 2% to 2.8% for the month. Food inflation accelerated as rice price gains snapped a downtrend due to base effects. While inflation ticked up after decelerating in September, average inflation for the past ten months was at 3.3%, still within the central bank’s 2%-to-4% goal.

TGI Fridays Malaysia has assured customers that the local franchise restaurants will continue operating as usual and remains unaffected by the recent chapter 11 filing by TGI Fridays Inc. in the U.S., Business Today reported. Craveat International Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Techna-X Berhad, the Master franchisee and developer for TGI Fridays Malaysia, operates under a franchise agreement with TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC, which it said is separate from TGI Fridays Inc. and is not impacted by this restructuring in the U.S., it said in a statement today.

China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organization that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles, the Associated Press reported. The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it “strongly opposes” the measures and insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies.

Prices of new homes in China rose at a faster pace in October, traditionally a peak season for house hunting, a private survey showed on Friday, suggesting that recent support measures could be having some early impact in a crisis-hit market, Reuters reported. The average price across 100 cities edged up 0.29%, compared with the previous month's 0.14%, according to data released by property researcher China Index Academy. On a year-on-year basis, the average price rose 2.08% versus 1.85% growth in September.