Chinese firms for years were among the most aggressive buyers of U.S. luxury hotels, office towers and other commercial real estate. Now they are running for the exits, the Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese companies have sold a net $23.6 billion of U.S. commercial properties since the start of 2019, according to data provider MSCI Real Assets. That marks a dramatic turnaround. Between 2013 and 2018, Chinese firms were net buyers of nearly $52 billion of U.S. commercial properties, according to MSCI. Buyers from China snapped up aging U.S.

The Bank of Japan’s outlier status is set to become even more acute this week with central banks from the Federal Reserve to the Swiss National Bank expected to raise borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his fellow board members are seen standing pat at the end of a two-day meeting Thursday that comes just hours after the Fed unleashes what’s likely to be a third-straight interest rate hike of 75 basis points. With the BOJ likely to be clinging to the world’s only negative policy rate, its dovish stance may send the embattled yen sliding again.

Japan's core consumer inflation quickened to 2.8% in August, hitting its fastest annual pace in nearly eight years and exceeding the central bank's 2% target for a fifth straight month as price pressure from raw materials and yen weakness broadened, Reuters reported. The strength of August inflation reinforced growing suspicions among economists that price pressure will last longer than the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been expecting, though many still expect no immediate change to its ultra-easy policy.

Regulatory agency Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has allowed splitting of companies to attract more participants into the corporate resolution process as it seeks to provide flexibility and increase realisation, the Economic Times of India reported. The move to split assets is seen to be beneficial in cases involving real estate players and other entities with multiple projects, all of which may not be viable, or there may be some assets which will generate higher value, a senior government official said.

An offshore bondholders' group of cash-strapped Kaisa is offering up to $2 billion to acquire stalled housing projects of the Shenzhen-based developer to facilitate their completion, Reuters reported. The takeover talks are in early stages, according to the people, who declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media on this subject. If successful, it would be the first foreign investor takeover of Chinese developers' distressed residential assets in the latest wave of crises to hit the property sector over the past year.

China will speed up fund injections to expedite project construction and boost domestic consumption, China's state planner said on Monday, even after the economy showed signs of renewed momentum last month, Reuters reported. The world's second-biggest economy slowed sharply in the second quarter, dragged down by a deepening property crisis, and slowing exports and imports. However, it showed surprising resilience in August, with faster-than-expected growth in factory output and retail sales, although the property crisis continues to hang over recovery prospects.

Pakistan will "absolutely not" default on debt obligations despite catastrophic floods, the finance minister said on Sunday, signalling there would be no major deviation from reforms designed to stabilise a struggling economy, Reuters reported. Floods have affected 33 million Pakistanis, inflicted billions of dollars in damage, and killed over 1,500 people - creating concern that Pakistan will not meet debts. "The path to stability was narrow, given the challenging environment, and it has become narrower still," Finance Minister Miftah Ismail told Reuters at his office.

Renewed Covid-19 curbs and a worsening property downturn are dampening the outlook for China’s economy, despite some modest signs of improvement as stimulus measures kicked in, the Wall Street Journal reported. China released a raft of economic data on Friday, including figures showing that housing price declines accelerated and consumer spending remained weak. The data wasn’t all bad, though. Infrastructure investment picked up more quickly than expected, and China’s labor market improved.

Chinese banks are expected to keep benchmark lending rates unchanged this week as the central bank pauses monetary easing and defends the yuan, though a reduction is anticipated in coming months, Bloomberg News reported. Sixteen of the 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the one-year loan prime rate will be maintained at 3.65% on Tuesday, with only one estimating a 10 basis-point drop in the rate. Eleven of the 12 economists who gave an estimate for the five-year LPR, a reference for mortgage rates, expect it to be held steady. Only one forecast a 15 basis-point reduction.

Many Chinese in their 20s and 30s are cutting spending and saving cash where they can, rattled by China's coronavirus lockdowns, high youth unemployment and a faltering property market, Reuters reported. This new frugality, amplified by social media influencers touting low-cost lifestyles and sharing money-saving tips, is a threat to the world's second-largest economy, which narrowly avoided contraction in the second quarter. Consumer spending accounts for more than half of China's GDP.