South Korea's finance minister stepped up warnings on Monday that the government is ready to act to counter any renewed volatility in currency markets after the won has extended declines against the dollar to hit the lowest in a year and a half, Reuters reported. "We will swiftly act according to contingency plans and will play any necessary role to respond to any excessive volatility in forex and other financial markets," Choi Sang-mok said at a policy meeting urgently scheduled to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has stayed insolvency proceedings against Captain GR Gopinath's Deccan Charters till April 26, 2024, its next date of hearing, the Economic Times of India reported. Earlier, the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had directed initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), admitting a plea of financial creditor Krone Finstock claiming a default of around Rs 10 crore.

Thai retailer Central Group has acquired the landmark KaDeWe property in central Berlin from the insolvent Austrian company Signa in what it said was another step towards buying the group, Reuters reported. Central said in a statement on Friday that it was optimistic about talks to acquire the entire KaDeWe Group, which includes Alsterhaus in Hamburg, and Oberpollinger in Munich. The Thai retailer already holds a 50.1% majority stake in the group.

China's securities regulator issued draft rules on Friday to strengthen the supervision of company listings, delistings and computer-driven programme trading, in a move to improve the stock market and protect investors' interests, Reuters reported. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will raise the bar for initial public offerings (IPOs), force unqualified companies to delist, and strengthen the oversight of high-frequency trading, according to draft rules put out for public opinion.

Singapore’s central bank kept its monetary policy unchanged as it cautioned that inflation is set to stay high for at least a few quarters, the Wall Street Journal reported. The decision came as advance estimates for the city-state’s economic growth in the first quarter missed expectations, but not enough to cause much concern among analysts. After standing pat for a fourth straight time, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Friday that the current settings are needed “to keep a restraining effect” on imported inflation and domestic price pressures.

South Korea’s central bank held its base rate steady for a 10th consecutive time, as widely expected, keeping its guard up against still-stubborn inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Korea’s decision signals that it is in no rush to ease policy, especially at a time when expectations for the U.S. possible rate cut in June are receding after hotter-than-expected consumer inflation earlier this week. The BOK on Friday kept its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.50%, a 15-year high set in January 2023.

A Vietnam court sentenced real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death for her role in a $12 billion fraud case, underscoring the Communist Party’s determination to crack down on corruption, Bloomberg News reported. Lan, the chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, was arrested in 2022 and eventually faced charges including bribery of government officials and violation of bank lending rules. The main case against her was that she embezzled funds from Saigon Commercial Bank between February 2018 and October 2022.

The Bank of Japan would consider a policy response if the yen’s weakness causes inflation to rise sharply higher, Gov. Kazuo Ueda said on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. “If there is a risk that a virtuous cycle of wages and prices strengthens more than expected and underlying inflation rises above 2%, we need to consider changing monetary policy,” Ueda said in a parliamentary committee meeting, when asked by an opposition lawmaker whether the bank would act against the yen’s fall. The yen is trading around 151.75 to the dollar on Wednesday, staying near its 34-year low.

Thailand's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged for a third straight meeting on Wednesday, resisting repeated calls by the government to lower borrowing costs to help revive Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. The Bank of Thailand's (BOT) monetary policy committee voted 5-2 to hold the one-day repurchase rate at 2.50%, the highest in more than a decade. It had raised the rate by 200 basis points since August 2022 to curb inflation.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left its official cash rate steady at a policy meeting on Wednesday, but signaled that the rate will need to remain restrictive for some time yet given that inflation remains high, the Wall Street Journal reported. The OCR was held at 5.5%, which was widely expected by economists. “While some near-term price pressures remain, the Monetary Policy Committee is confident that maintaining the OCR at a restrictive level for a sustained period will return consumer price inflation to within the 1% to 3% target range this calendar year,” the central bank said.