China is keeping its hand firmly on the yuan, supporting the currency via the official daily reference rate after it slid to the weakest level since 2022 at year-end in offshore trading, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China set the so-called fixing, which confines yuan’s trading onshore to a 2% range on either side, at 7.1879 per dollar on Thursday. That’s little changed from the prior reading. But it was 1,323 pips stronger than forecast in a Bloomberg survey, the largest difference since July.

China’s manufacturing activity slowed its pace of expansion in December, as investors wait for more economic stimulus when Donald Trump — who is threatening tariffs on Chinese exports — returns to the White House, Bloomberg News reported. The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 50.5 from 51.5 in November, according to a statement released by Caixin and S&P Global on Thursday. While any reading above 50 indicates an expansion of activity, the figure was a disappointment compared with the median forecast of 51.7 by economists.

South Korea's central bank governor said on Thursday the pace of monetary policy easing would need to be flexible this year due to heightened political and economic uncertainty, Reuters reported. "This year, conditions surrounding our economy will be more difficult than ever before," Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said in a New Year's address. "Monetary policy needs to be operated with flexibility and agility, as political and economic uncertainty is unprecedentedly high," Rhee said.

Turkey’s annual inflation in December likely eased less than the central bank projected, just as policymakers have started to set the stage for a more accommodative stance in the new year, Bloomberg News reported. Annual growth in consumer prices slowed to 45.2% in December from 47.1% a month earlier, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The data is due Friday. The central bank earlier raised its year-end estimate to 44% from 38% in November.

Turkey’s banking regulator has drawn up a plan to restrict the tenures of banking executives, a proposal that comes after high-profile accusations of a ponzi scheme at a bank with one of the nation’s longest-serving chief executive officers, Bloomberg News reported. According to the proposal, CEOs would be permitted to serve in that position at the same bank for at most 10 years, according to a draft of the regulation seen by Bloomberg. Deputy general managers would also be allowed up to 10 years, but that could be extended for as much as 5 years with approval from regulators.

Some big lenders in India have asked the central bank to inject liquidity using foreign-exchange swaps as short-term currency financing costs surged to a four-year high, Bloomberg News reported. In recent informal interactions, some lenders asked the Reserve Bank of India to consider using FX swaps, where the parties simultaneously agree to exchange currencies in the spot market and reverse the transaction at a future date, the people said. Such operations could effectively inject rupee liquidity into the financial markets.

China’s central bank injected 1.7 trillion yuan ($233 billion) of cash in December, dialing up liquidity support for the economy and financial markets at year-end, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China conducted 1.4 trillion yuan in outright reverse repurchase agreements using three- and six-month contracts, aiming to maintain sufficient liquidity in the banking system, it said in a statement Tuesday. This follows injections of 800 billion yuan and 500 billion yuan in the past two months through the new tool introduced in October.

China's manufacturing activity barely grew in December though services and construction recovered, an official survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting policy stimulus is trickling into some sectors as the economy braces for new trade risks, Reuters reported. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) purchasing managers' index (PMI) slowed to 50.1 in December from 50.3 a month prior, staying above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. China's $18 trillion economy has struggled to recover from the pandemic amid weak consumption and investment, and a protracted property crisis.

South Korea’s headline inflation averaged 2.3% in 2024 after staying below the central bank’s 2% target for a fourth consecutive month in December, the Wall Street Journal reported. The benchmark consumer-price index rose 1.9% from a year earlier in December, following the 1.5% rise in November, the country’s statistics office said Tuesday. The latest reading was above the median forecast of a 1.7% increase projected by nine economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.