China's central bank said on Thursday it would keep liquidity reasonably ample and keep its policy "precise and forceful" to support the country's economic recovery, amid rising headwinds, Reuters reported. Data for July has highlighted the intensifying pressure on the economy on a number of fronts, including a property downturn and deflationary pressure, prompting Beijing to introduce direct stimulus to revitalise growth.

Buy the state, sell the capitalist - that's how global investors are trying to play China's latest anti-graft crackdowns as they see private enterprise increasingly sidelined in Beijing's quest for "common prosperity," Reuters reported. China's recent sweep of the medical sector came as a shock to many investors who had thought the end of Beijing's three-year regulatory purge of the property and tech sectors meant there would be no more industry-wide crackdowns as policymakers prioritised economic recovery.

The Philippine central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third straight meeting as the economy slowed while signaling that policy settings will remain tight amid inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas maintained its overnight reverse repurchase rate at 6.25% on Thursday during Eli Remolona’s first policy decision as governor. The move was predicted by 22 of 24 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with two expecting a rate hike.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday said it will set preliminary anti-dumping duties on tin-plated steel from Canada, Germany and China, in a move to shield domestic steelmakers that will prompt warnings of higher prices for cans made from the steel and the foods, paint and other products they contain, Reuters reported. The department said it will propose preliminary anti-dumping duties of 122.5% on tin mill steel imported from China, 7.02% on imports from Germany and 5.29% on imports from Canada. A formal Federal Register notice is expected later on Thursday.

GQG Partners for the second consecutive day bought shares of JSW Energy in the open market on Wednesday, the Economic Times of India reported. GQG Partners Emerging Market Fund bought 10,284,024 shares or 0.6% stake in the power producer at Rs 341.70 apiece for Rs 351 crore. On Monday, GQG Partners acquired more than 1.2 crore shares of JSW Energy at Rs 345 apiece, aggregating Rs 411 crore. Meanwhile, promoter group entity JSW Investments Ltd sold 1.3% stake in JSW Energy Ltd through the open market on Wednesday for Rs 718 crore.

Country Garden, a Chinese real estate giant, has lost billions of dollars and racked up $200 billion in unpaid bills. It’s on the hook to deliver, by one estimate, nearly one million apartments across hundreds of cities in China. The privately owned developer, founded by a farmer three decades ago, is inching closer to default, the New York Times reported. In China’s housing market, there are plenty of deadbeat developers no longer paying their bills. The possible collapse of Country Garden is one to pay attention to. The company has tried to project confidence.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team will visit Colombo in a month's time for the first review on Sri Lanka's loan programme, Reuters reported. The Washington, D.C.-based lender approved a nearly $3 billion bailout for crisis-hit Sri Lanka in March. The Asian island is struggling with its worst financial crisis in over seven decades, triggered by a severe shortage of foreign exchange.

Perth builder Western Luxury Homes Pty Ltd was placed into liquidation on Friday, according to a notice published by ASIC, The Australian reported. The failing business has now been handed over to RSM liquidators Travis Kukura and Jerome Hall Mohen who will take charge of finding a solution to the company’s financial woes. It is understood 12 homes were left incomplete when the building company folded, with signed contracts dating back to mid-2020. Clients are being urged to contact their home indemnity insurance provider, QBE Insurance, following the shock collapse.

Chinese officials said they would stop reporting the country’s youth unemployment rate after months of spiraling increases, depriving investors, economists and businesses of another key data point on the declining health of the world’s second-largest economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The surprise move extends China’s efforts to restrict access to a variety of data on its economy and corporate landscape to outside scrutiny.

Japan’s economy recorded impressive growth in the second quarter of 2023, government data showed on Tuesday, evidence that the country is finally recovering from the Covid doldrums, even as signs of significant challenges remain, the New York Times reported. Economic output in Japan grew by an annualized rate of 6 percent in the second three months of the year, the country’s Cabinet Office said. It was the third consecutive quarter of expansion, following a revised reading of 3.7 percent growth in the January-to-March period and a slight bump of 0.2 percent the quarter before that.