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Markets · Aug 26, 2026 · 8 min read
Two of Asia's most semiconductor-heavy markets led the region higher on Wednesday, hours before Nvidia reports second-quarter results. Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.47…
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Markets · Aug 25, 2026 · 6 min read
Asian equities were broadly higher on Tuesday, with nine of the 11 benchmarks we track advancing as investors positioned ahead of Nvidia's…
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Markets · Aug 24, 2026 · 9 min read
Asian equities closed mostly lower on Monday, and the regional headline hid a wide spread beneath it. South Korea's Kospi fell 3.12…
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Markets · Aug 21, 2026 · 6 min read
Asia extended Thursday's rebound into the weekly close on Friday, with Hong Kong leading the region above a round-number mark, while the…
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Markets · Aug 20, 2026 · 7 min read
Asia rebounded on Thursday almost as hard as it had fallen a day earlier, while most Gulf markets absorbed a sharp escalation…
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Macro · Aug 20, 2026 · 3 min read
Japan exported 11.51 trillion yen of goods in July, a rise of 23.2 percent on the same month a year earlier. It…
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Markets · Aug 19, 2026 · 7 min read
Asia's selloff turned into a rout on Wednesday, led by the chip complex, while the Gulf split and Kuwait advanced, per CNBC.…
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Markets · Aug 18, 2026 · 7 min read
Asia sold off on Tuesday while the Gulf steadied, an inversion of Monday's map, as the first full session after the 60-day…
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Markets · Aug 17, 2026 · 6 min read
Gulf equities slipped broadly on Monday while China rallied, as the 60-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran expired with no…
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Macro · Aug 17, 2026 · 5 min read
Japan's economy grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, an annualised 1.1 percent, according to the first preliminary estimate published by the…
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Markets · Aug 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Egyptian and Saudi equities led a broadly firm Sunday session across the Middle East and North Africa, with the EGX 30 climbing…
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Energy & Commodities · Aug 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Minamitorishima is about 1.51 square kilometres of flat Pacific land, roughly the size of Tokyo’s Imperial Palace grounds, some 1,950 kilometres southeast…
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Macro · Aug 15, 2026 · 4 min read
Japan producer prices rose 0.1 percent in July, with petroleum and coal products subtracting 0.20 percentage points and utilities adding 0.23.
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Markets · Aug 14, 2026 · 6 min read
South Korea's Kospi led Asia for a fifth consecutive session on Friday, closing 2.42 percent higher, while the region split and the…
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Markets · Aug 13, 2026 · 7 min read
South Korea's Kospi surged for a fourth consecutive session on Thursday, adding 3.56 percent, while North Asia broadly advanced, mainland China fell…
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Markets · Aug 12, 2026 · 5 min read
Asian equities carried the session on Wednesday, led by a 3.68 percent surge in South Korea's Kospi, while Gulf bourses closed mostly…
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Markets · Aug 11, 2026 · 5 min read
Regional and Asian markets turned cautious on Tuesday, the final session before US inflation data that will test the week's entire narrative,…
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Markets · Aug 10, 2026 · 4 min read
Asian markets opened the week sharply higher on Monday as the relief that lifted Wall Street after the US jobs shock extended…
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Japan · Aug 10, 2026 · 4 min read
Japan recorded a current account deficit of ninety two point three billion yen in June, its first monthly deficit in seventeen months,…
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Japan · Aug 7, 2026 · 6 min read
Japan's Ministry of Finance has confirmed on the record that it bought yen in coordination with the United States Treasury on Friday…
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Japan · Aug 7, 2026 · 4 min read
Japan's Ministry of Finance sold 30-year government bonds on 6 August 2026 into firm demand, published international reserves for the end of…
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Japan · Aug 6, 2026 · 4 min read
Japan's monetary base continued to contract in July and the minutes of its June policy meeting, released on 5 August 2026, confirmed…
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Markets · Aug 4, 2026 · 5 min read
Japan and the United States intervened jointly in the foreign exchange market to support the yen, the first yen-buying intervention by the…
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Macro · Jul 31, 2026 · 6 min read
The Bank of Japan kept its policy rate at 1.0 percent by an eight to one vote and revised its inflation outlook,…
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Markets · Jul 25, 2026 · 2 min read
Consumer price inflation in Japan rose to 1.7 percent in June 2026 from a year earlier, up from 1.5 percent in May,…
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Markets · Jul 22, 2026 · 2 min read
The Japanese yen has fallen to its weakest level since 1986, with the dollar reaching around 163 yen, prompting the government in…
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Macro · Jul 10, 2026 · 2 min read
Japan's corporate goods price index rose 7.1 percent in June from a year earlier, the fastest annual pace since March 2023, accelerating…
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Macro · Jul 8, 2026 · 2 min read
Japanese household spending fell in May from a year earlier for a second straight month, but by far less than expected and…
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Macro · Jul 8, 2026 · 3 min read
Japanese workers saw their real wages rise for a fifth consecutive month in May, as nominal pay growth stayed above 3 percent,…
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Markets · Jul 1, 2026 · 3 min read
Gulf markets started the second half of the year mostly higher, led by Dubai and Oman, while Egypt ended little changed and…
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Macro · Jul 1, 2026 · 3 min read
Business confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers rose to an eight year high in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Japan's…
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Macro · Jul 1, 2026 · 3 min read
Egypt has issued 80 billion Japanese yen, about US$500 million, in sustainability Samurai bonds in Japan, supported by a partial credit guarantee…
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Macro · Jun 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Consumer inflation in Tokyo picked up in June, the fastest pace in three months, reinforcing expectations that the Bank of Japan will…
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Markets · Jun 27, 2026 · 3 min read
Tokyo consumer inflation accelerated in June, giving markets an early signal that Japan's price pressures are firming again after several months of…
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Markets · Jun 27, 2026 · 4 min read
The Bank of Japan has moved further into policy normalisation, with its June communication pointing to more rate increases if the economy…
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Macro · Jun 18, 2026 · 4 min read
Japan's merchandise trade balance returned to deficit in May 2026, recording a shortfall of about 378.6 billion yen, or roughly 2.36 billion…
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Nine of ten Asian indices fell on Wednesday ahead of a US inflation report due in the evening, and Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.59 percent to 48,625.83, the day’s only gain. China’s September numbers ran hot, with factory-gate prices up 5 percent and exports up 36.3 percent, yet Shanghai lost 0.88 percent and Shenzhen 1.97. Seoul’s…
Seoul’s Kospi sank 5.46 percent on Tuesday, its worst day since mid-August, as reported progress by China’s memory chipmaker CXMT set off a selloff in the region’s semiconductor stocks. Tokyo returned from its holiday to a split verdict, the Nikkei 225 down 1.82 percent while the Topix edged higher, and Taipei’s Taiex lost 1.95 percent….
Japan’s producer price index rose 6.8 percent in September from a year earlier, slowing from 7.6 percent in August, according to preliminary figures the Bank of Japan released on 13 October. The index fell 0.3 percent from August, its second straight monthly decline, to 135.7 against a 2020 average of 100. Prices of agriculture, forestry…
Five of the eight Asian indices open on Monday closed lower, led by Seoul, where the Kospi plunged 3.65 percent in a fourth straight decline. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.76 percent in the day’s strongest gain, Singapore and Hong Kong edged higher, and Tokyo’s equity markets sat the session out for the Sports Day holiday….
Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akazawa used the 17th International Energy Forum (IEF) ministerial meeting on 11 October to promote POWERR Asia, the 10 billion dollar framework Tokyo launched in April to finance crude purchases and build oil stockpiles across Asia. He spoke while Japan’s own reserves covered 206 days of domestic consumption at…
Spending by Japanese households of two or more people fell 3.1 percent in real terms in August from a year earlier to 310,975 yen a month, equivalent to 1,964 dollars, the Statistics Bureau of Japan said on 9 October. In nominal terms spending was 1.0 percent lower. On our count of the bureau’s monthly series…
Six of the eight Asian indices that traded on our panel closed higher on Friday, with Seoul and Taipei shut for public holidays. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the gainers, up 1.79 percent, and Mumbai’s Nifty 50 added 1.30 percent as Tata Consultancy Services opened the Indian IT earnings season. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02…
All ten Asian indices on our panel closed lower on Thursday, the first session with Shanghai and Shenzhen back from the National Day holiday. Singapore’s Straits Times fell 3.49 percent in the deepest decline, and Seoul’s Kospi lost 2.62 percent in a third straight fall. Shanghai returned 0.79 percent lower and Shenzhen 2.07 percent, measured…
Japan’s current account surplus widened to 4,062.0 billion yen in August, equivalent to 25.6 billion dollars, from 3,628.1 billion yen a year earlier, a rise of 433.9 billion yen, as income from investment abroad grew, the Ministry of Finance said on 8 October in its preliminary figures. The trade balance moved into a deficit of…
Japan’s reserve assets fell 29,128 million dollars to 1,178,396 million at the end of September, the Ministry of Finance said on 7 October, after a fall of 79,575 million in August. Over the 2 months the reserves have lost 108,703 million dollars, or 8.45 percent, on our calculation. No intervention in the latest window Gold…