South Korea's producer prices fell in June on an annual basis for the first time in 31 months, central bank data showed on Friday, dragged down by petroleum and agricultural products, Reuters reported. The producer price index was 0.2% lower in June than the same month the year before, after a rise of 0.5% in May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index showed annual increases every month from December 2020 and during the streak it once hit a 14-year high of 10%. Officials at the BOK remain cautious about whether the annual declines will continue.

A tentative rebound in the South Korean won may get an additional tailwind in the second half of the year thanks to the global boom in artificial intelligence, Bloomberg reported. That’s expected to boost exports of Korean semiconductors, which in turn will help improve the country’s terms of trade. Analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and Nomura Holdings Inc. have touted a turn in the chip cycle as a plus for the won in recent research with the latter specifically mentioning the secular AI investment theme in a note last month.

Disgraced gambling giant Crown used its history of egregious law-breaking to argue down the third-largest corporate fine in Australian history, ABC reported. Last week, the Federal Court ordered the gambling giant to pay $450 million for at least 546 breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws between 2016 and 2022, an action brought by financial crimes agency AUSTRAC. With the company now owned by a private-equity firm, it is probably the last time such details of Crown's finances will be made public under the current owners.

China's central bank is expected to leave key interest rates on hold on Thursday, but the pressure to ease is growing almost by the day, Reuters reported. Japanese trade, Australian unemployment and Hong Kong inflation data top the regional economic calendar on Thursday, and investors will be hoping the continuing corporate earnings-fueled gains on Wall Street will drive local risk appetite. The Dow Jones Industrials is now up eight days in a row for the first time since September 2019. It last posted a nine-day winning streak in September 2017. Sentiment was again positive during the U.S.

New Zealand's Bed Bath & Beyond is fighting on two fronts to protect its brand. Now, the High Court has knocked it back, Newsroom reported. This country’s most familiar green-and-white High St.

Australia's corporate insolvency laws are facing extensive reforms in the near future, Mondaq reported. On 12 July 2023, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (Committee) tabled its highly anticipated report into Corporate Insolvency in Australia (Report). In December 1988, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) published its General Insolvency Inquiry (ALRC Report 45), more commonly referred to as the Harmer Report, following a five-year review of Australia’s corporate and personal insolvency laws.

Australia's securities regulator said on Wednesday it had canceled the license of the local arm of collapsed U.S. cryptocurrency exchange FTX, effective from July 14, Reuters reported. Bahamas-headquartered FTX, once a star of the crypto industry with a $32 billion valuation in January 2023, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last November, saying it was unable to completely repay customers who had deposited funds on its exchange. The industry has since been reeling amid the scrutiny of global regulators, while FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces a criminal lawsuit by the U.S.

Australia's central bank decided to keep interest rates steady this month as policy was clearly restrictive and there was a risk a squeeze on household finances could lead to a sharp downturn and higher unemployment, Reuters reported. However, the bank retained a warning that some tightening may still be required to bring inflation to heel, wary that the wider effects on inflation from higher rents, weak productivity and higher electricity prices had not been fully captured.

The Select Committee appointed to investigate Sri Lanka's bankruptcy will meet for the first time on Tuesday (18) in Parliament, Newsfirst reported. The meeting will focus on the committee's future course of action, Chair of the committee SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said. They will also discuss the names of those who will first be summoned before the committee. In the meantime, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara will not be part of the committee. The SJB has decided to appoint an alternative committee instead.

SJB MP Harshana Rajakaruna said in Parliament yesterday that all SJB MPs will resign from the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate the country’s bankruptcy, the Daily News reported. The MP said in a special statement in Parliament that the Speaker will be informed in writing in this regard. He said that it is very unfair to appoint the Secretary General of the same party that bankrupted the country as the chairman of the Select Committee while the Opposition has requested the chairmanship.