Breaking News: Asia

The Biden administration is considering releasing 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve for about six months, a source told NBC News.

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Evergrande Group’s electric vehicle unit returned to trade on Wednesday.

The yen was in focus for investors, after the Bank of Japan’s offer Monday to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year JGBs at 0.25%

Huawei’s business has been hurt by U.S. sanctions, which have sought to cut it off from key software and components like semiconductors.

Profits at China’s industrial firms rose 5.0% for the January to February period as compared with a year earlier, according to data released Sunday.

Apple is reportedly planning a hardware subscription service for iPhones that could launch as soon as the end of this year.

It is the first suspected launch of an ICBM since November 2017 and represents a major escalation of tensions over North Korea’s weapons program.

Singapore will ease most of its Covid restrictions including outdoor mask mandates from next week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Thursday.

Singapore on Thursday announced plans to ease Covid restrictions.

Tencent reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth on record in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 3% on Wednesday, closing at 28,040.16 as shares of SoftBank Group jumped 7.22% while Fast Retailing climbed 5.21%.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba soared after the firm announced an upsizing of its share repurchase program from $15 billion to $25 billion.

The Boeing 737-800 plane had 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and nine crew members.

China’s one-year loan prime rate was kept unchanged at 3.7% on Monday, largely in line with expectations from a Reuters survey.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.41% on Friday but still saw its first positive week in five following a big gains on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains among the region’s major markets, surging 7.04% to close at 21,501.23 and erasing heavy losses from earlier in the week.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed 9.08% higher on Wednesday but remains down more than 2% so far this week after seeing heavy losses on Monday and Tuesday.

The data releases combine the two months of January and February as is the Chinese statistics bureau custom to avoid distortions from the Lunar New Year holiday.

Shares in China lagged among Asia-Pacific markets on Tuesday, with the release of much better than expected Chinese economic data offering little respite.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 4.97% on the day to 19,531.66, leading losses among the region’s major markets as Chinese tech stocks took a beating.