China Construction Bank’s Xiamen branch, working with its Labuan branch in Malaysia, completed the first outbound digital yuan (e-CNY) payment to Malaysia, cutting durian import settlement to 30 minutes. The transaction used direct bank-to-bank ledger connectivity, bypassing intermediary clearing banks. It also enabled real-time conversion of e-CNY into Malaysian ringgit. The payment follows an inbound pilot in January, completing a bilateral digital-currency loop and marking an infrastructure step in renminbi internationalization for cross-border trade without directly affecting prices of traditional financial assets.

Chinese buyers booked at least 840,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans for shipment in October and November, marking one of the largest single-day buys this month. Recent purchases have topped 3 million tonnes and were carried out by government buyers. The buying followed U.S.-China trade talks, after which the White House said China committed to buy 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans annually and increase imports of other U.S. farm goods. Commercial importers have largely kept sourcing from South America, lending policy-driven support to U.S. soybean futures.

Unitree Robotics said it will launch its initial public offering in Shanghai next week, as Chinese robotics startups push to list amid intensifying competition with U.S. peers. The Hangzhou-based company plans to sell 40.45 million shares, equal to 10 per cent of its enlarged share capital. Its listing application was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March, and China’s securities regulator approved the registration on July 2. The company reported 1.7 billion yuan in revenue last year and adjusted profits of 591 million yuan.

Brazil imported US$5.35 billion of vehicles from China in the first half, up 147% year on year, making it the world’s biggest buyer. Electrified models dominated the inflows, with electric and hybrid vehicles accounting for 87% of the total. Imports were heavily front-loaded, with April and May alone contributing US$2.7 billion—more than half of the first-half value—suggesting stockpiling tied to a policy window rather than steady demand.

Alibaba has invested about 7.6 billion yuan in ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) since 2021, and its stake is valued at more than 140 billion yuan as of the latest close. The company also sold its entire stake in Sun Art Retail to DCP Capital for HK$13.1 billion on December 31, 2024. In fiscal 2024, Alibaba invested about US$800 million in Moonshot for a stake of around 36%. These moves reflect Alibaba’s strategic positioning in AI and semiconductors and do not involve direct trading in traditional financial assets or a price-driven event.

Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund posted earnings of HK$134.7 billion in the first half of 2026, down 37% from a year earlier. The decline was driven by the Hong Kong stock portfolio swinging from a HK$22.9 billion gain to a HK$11.8 billion loss, alongside weaker bond income. The Hang Seng Index fell 11% over the same period, underscoring pressure across the local equity market.

Brazil shipped 34.75 million tonnes of soybeans to China in the first half, up 9.1% year on year, while US exports to China fell 42.4% to 9.31 million tonnes. June arrivals hit a record 13.55 million tonnes, boosted by greater Brazilian supply and the clearance of cargoes previously delayed at Chinese ports. The shift toward Brazil comes despite China’s pledge to buy at least 25 million tonnes of US soybeans a year through 2028, reshaping the import mix and affecting spot pricing and nearby contract premiums and discounts.

Asia holds nearly threefifths of the world’s known coal reserves. Rapid growth in AI infrastructure is driving a surge in electricity demand, while solar and wind still cannot reliably provide the around-the-clock baseload power data centres require. As a result, coal is emerging as the region’s main transitional fuel for AI. The shift underlines coal-fired power’s short-term role in the AI era, without pointing to specific companies, policy changes or immediate supply-and-demand data.

Washington is stepping up AI export controls on China while working more closely with US AI companies to curb technology leakage. Anthropic said major Chinese AI labs are widely using unauthorised model “distillation” to copy leading US models, and it has begun blocking accounts tied to the practice. The US lead in frontier AI models is assessed at 6–9 months, but could be 12–18 months without distillation, according to Anthropic.