The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus, Reuters reported. While the move was Japan's first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow on further rises in borrowing costs, analysts say.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said Tuesday that it still can’t rule out the possibility that interest rates will need to be raised further, adding that inflation remains too high and is expected to remain elevated for some time yet, the Wall Street Journal reported. The RBA left its official cash rate on hold at 4.35% at its policy meeting. The decision was widely expected by economists. “While recent data indicate that inflation is easing, it remains high.

China Evergrande Group founder Hui Ka Yan will be barred from the securities market for life and fined 47 million yuan ($6.53 million) after the regulator accused the group's flagship unit of inflating results, securities fraud and failing to make timely disclosures, Reuters reported. Hengda Real Estate said in an exchange filing that China's securities watchdog also penalised the company and several of its former senior executives after an investigation.

Chinese authorities said that they took “criminal mandatory measures” against some employees at the money management business of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co., weeks after a Beijing court accepted the shadow banking giant’s bankruptcy application, Bloomberg News reported. Police in Beijing said the recovery of “stolen goods” is underway as it took action against suspects which included executives, according to a statement on WeChat on Saturday.

Pakistan’s central bank held the key interest rate at a record high for a sixth straight meeting, as a newly-elected government holds loan talks with the International Monetary Fund that wants a tight monetary policy to curb inflation, Bloomberg News reported. The State Bank of Pakistan kept the target rate at 22%, according to a statement on Monday. Thirty of the 37 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a hold while the rest expected a cut. The decision comes as a new government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seeks a new loan of at least $6 billion from the multilateral lender.

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell unexpectedly in February, but economists still see encouraging signs of a better trade outlook ahead, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 0.1% on-year drop in exports last month was driven mainly by a decline in shipments of non-electronic goods, data from Enterprise Singapore showed Monday. That compared with a revised 16.7% expansion in January. Non-electronics exports declined 1.5% on year in February, compared with January’s revised 21.1% expansion.

Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt must freeze $533 million in order to protect the money for disgruntled lenders who claim the cash should only be used to pay them, a U.S. judge said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The decision by US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey was a mixed victory for lenders. They earlier demanded the money be placed under the control of the federal court to prevent the cash from being spent by the Indian education-tech firm, which operates under the name Byju’s.

China’s central bank kept its key policy rates unchanged on Friday while reporting a net withdrawal of liquidity from the financial market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The People’s Bank of China held its one-year medium-term lending facility steady at 2.5% while injecting 387 billion yuan ($53.80 billion) worth of liquidity through the monetary tool, according to a statement on its website. There was a total of CNY481 billion of MLF loans due Friday, indicating a net withdrawal of liquidity.

China’s bank loans expanded at the slowest pace on record in February, underscoring weakness in borrowing demand despite steps by the central bank to ease policy and help the economy, Bloomberg News reported. The stock of yuan loans grew 9.7% in February from a year ago, the lowest in data going back to 2003, according to figures released by the People’s Bank of China on Friday. It was also the first time the rate dropped below 10%. The stock of aggregate financing — a broad measure of credit — expanded just 9%, also near a record low.

A hedge-fund founder at the center of a $1.2 billion legal battle between Indian education-technology company Byju’s and its lenders is staying outside the U.S. despite a court order to return, saying he fears for his safety, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. William Cameron Morton said in an interview that he left the U.S. rather than comply with a court order to divulge the whereabouts of nearly $540 million that Byju’s invested in his Florida-based hedge-fund firm, Camshaft Capital.