India’s rupee is the only currency in Asia to strengthen amid this month’s rout in risk assets, thanks to a spree of share-sale offers that are luring foreign investors, Bloomberg News reported. The rupee has advanced 1.3% in March, boosted by $2.9 billion of overseas purchases of local stocks, including inflows related to initial public offerings. Nine share-sale offers worth about 59 billion rupees ($813 million) this month would have added to one of the highest inflows into emerging Asia, according to Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.
Resources Per Country
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Australia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China
- Cook Islands
- Cyprus
- Fiji
- Georgia
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Sri Lanka
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vietnam
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A key transit project on the India-Myanmar border, Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport (KMTT), has been delayed due to bankruptcy and ongoing insolvency proceedings against one of the contractors before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the Union home ministry informed a parliamentary panel, the Economic Times reported. The project is considered crucial for improving connectivity.
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SsangYong Motor's bid to file for a prepackaged bankruptcy is showing no progress, as its negotiation with new investor HAAH Automotive Holdings is being stalled amid the looming deadline to submit a restructuring plan to a local bankruptcy court, Korea Times reported. According to industry officials, Sunday, SsangYong Motor and HAAH have not reached an agreement over the latter's investment into the former, despite SsangYong's request for HAAH to express its intention to invest by Saturday.
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Australian lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australia and New Zealand Bank on Monday separately said they had agreed to settle a 2016 class action, filed in the United States against them, for alleged benchmark interest rate rigging, Reuters reported. The suit had been filed by U.S.-based investment funds and an individual derivatives trader against 17 global banks, including ANZ's three domestic peers that make up the so-called "big four" with it.
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Thai Airways International Pcl is challenging some $7.4 billion in claims from dozens of aircraft lessors and engine service provider Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, saying that it isn’t liable for the monies because they concern future expenses and were incurred after the airline received bankruptcy protection from a Bangkok court, Bloomberg News reported. Thailand’s flag carrier, which is undergoing a court-supervised restructuring to trim debt and return to profit by raising fresh capital, is disputing around 192 billion baht ($6.3 billion) claimed by 48 lessors including BOC Aviation Ltd.
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It’s becoming clearer which parts of China’s corporate sector are most at risk of credit-market stress as Beijing pulls back liquidity: property firms, local government financing vehicles and energy producers, Bloomberg News reported. Developers account for a fifth of the $10 billion worth of delinquencies in China this year, while some concern is growing over local state-linked firms after one based in Chongqing missed payments on commercial bills. Coal companies in the country’s northeast are struggling to refinance in the wake of a shock default by a state-owned firm late last year.
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The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai has approved the resolution plan submitted by Haldia Petrochemicals for Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd. (NOCL), The Hindu reported. V. Mahesh, liquidator for NOCL, confirmed the development, but the final order copy is awaited. NOCL's refinery project in Cuddalore was supposed to go on stream in 2012, but faced numerous delays, including in the form of a cyclone in 2011. Time and cost overruns resulted in the project cost escalating to ₹15,000 crore from ₹3,500 crore.
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Japan's central bank is poised to carry out monetary policy adjustments designed to increase its flexibility and make life easier for financial institutions, sources told Nikkei. During its two-day policy meeting from Thursday, the Bank of Japan will be looking at measures that would allow long-term interest rates to move in a slightly larger range of about 0.25%, plus or minus, versus 0.2% now. The idea is to maintain low interest rates while encouraging the market to function normally, giving financial institutions a chance to increase revenue.
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Malaysia’s high court on Wednesday granted a restraining order for three months on 15 of AirAsia X Bhd.’s creditors over the debt recast talks for the airline, Bloomberg News reported. The order, applied for by AirAsia X to address its obligations in a timely manner, gives the creditors an opportunity for amicable discussions without “extraneous considerations,” according to an exchange filing.
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Pakistan has hired banks for a possible foreign-currency bond offering, Bloomberg News reported. The government has mandated Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG, Standard Chartered Plc and Emirates NBD Bank PJSC. The South Asian nation is looking to raise funds after reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on resumption of a $6 billion bailout program that was secured in 2019 to avoid bankruptcy. Pakistan is also separately planning to issue a $500 million green note in the next few months to help boost its development of hydroelectric power.
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