Asia Pacific

A diverse group of companies including Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, JSW Infrastructure, Horizon Industrial Parks and Transindia Real Estate Ltd have shown interest in acquiring listed supply chain and logistics infrastructure firm Arshiya Ltd, which is undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process, the Economic Times of India reported. Investors such as Authum Investment & Infrastructure Ltd, Dickey Alternative Investment Trust and Finquest Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd have also evinced interest in the company, said a person aware of the development.

Inflation in Australia remained in retreat in the final quarter of last year, stoking the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to start cutting interest rates at its coming policy meeting in February, joining the global easing cycle, the Wall Street Journal reported. The consumer price index rose 0.2% in the fourth quarter and by 2.4% from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had expected the CPI to rise 0.3% in the quarter and 2.5% from a year ago. Trimmed mean inflation, which is the RBA’s preferred measure, rose 0.5% in the quarter.

Sri Lanka's central bank held its overnight policy rate steady on Wednesday to underpin a stronger economic recovery as the country gradually pulls ahead from its worst financial crisis in decades, Reuters reported. The decision, which leaves the key rate at pre-crisis levels, comes just days before the new government's first full-year budget due to be presented in Parliament next month.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has identified 33 additional suspicious websites impersonating HashKey, a licensed crypto trading platform. This brings the total number of flagged impersonators to 45, CoinMarketCap.com reported. HashKey, which in November 2022 became the second exchange to receive a crypto license from the SFC, reported these fraudulent links, stating that they slightly altered official website addresses to mislead users. In a notice to clients, HashKey emphasized that it has no connection to the fraudulent websites.

One of China’s biggest property companies warned of a multibillion-dollar loss with its top executives resigning on Monday, raising fears that even developers once regarded as among the country’s most solid are vulnerable to China’s brutal, drawn-out real-estate crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. China Vanke warned on Monday of a loss of 45 billion yuan, equivalent to around $6.2 billion, for 2024, and said Chairman Yu Liang and Chief Executive Officer Zhu Jiusheng will resign.

Thailand transferred about US$890 million to its senior citizens on Monday (Jan 27), part of a government programme to tackle the high cost of living and stimulate the nations’ sluggish economy, Bloomberg News reported. More than 3 million senior citizens were given 10,000 baht each (S$399), and the dole out will boost the country’s US$500 billion economy, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said. The government will continue the cash stimulus programme, she said without elaborating.

Thailand’s domestic automobile sales slumped to the lowest in 15 years, denting its reputation as the “Detroit of Asia,” as demand was squeezed by stricter bank-loan approvals and high household debt, Bloomberg News reported. Domestic sales declined 26% to 572,675 units last year, a figure not seen since 2009, Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman of the automobile industry group at the Federation of Thai Industries, told a briefing Tuesday. Sales dropped 21% in December from a year earlier to 54,016 units.

Australia’s quarterly inflation data this week may be key to whether the Reserve Bank finally embarks on a monetary easing cycle soon, and in turn, help decide the timing of an election due by May 17, Bloomberg News reported. While money markets are pricing about an 80% chance the RBA will cut the cash rate at its Feb. 17-18 meeting, much depends on price data scheduled for release on Wednesday. Economists expect the trimmed mean inflation — the more closely-watched gauge less affected by the impact of recent government rebates — to have eased to 3.3%, a three-year low.

New Zealand relaxed its visa requirements for remote workers on Monday, as the country looked to spur economic growth by courting “digital nomads,” the skilled professionals who can work from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection, the New York Times reported. With the new policy, a New Zealand visitor visa, which allows foreigners to remain for up to nine months, now also permits them to work for overseas employers during that time, which had been forbidden.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday set aside a plea against HUL, filed by an operational creditor seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against the FMCG major, the Economic Times of India reported. The appellate tribunal has upheld an order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which on September 5, 2024 had set aside a plea filed under Section 9 of IBC by K Lakshmi Narayana, Proprietor of Lalithambica Enterprises, alleging default.