Business
Bank of Korea kept its benchmark rate at 2.50% for a seventh straight meeting, citing higher inflation pressure, weaker growth and market volatility.
China auto output hit 2.917 million and sales reached 2.899 million in March, rebounding sharply from February as exports and NEVs led the market.
China’s CPI rose 1% in March from a year earlier, while monthly prices fell and producer prices returned to growth.
Tokyo stocks fell as the Nikkei retreated after a sharp rally, with higher oil prices, Middle East tensions and investor caution pressuring Japanese equities.
Gold held steady as investors tracked US-Iran talks, oil-linked inflation risks and fresh Federal Reserve signals ahead of key US price data.
China’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $3.342 trillion in March, down 2.5% from February, as a stronger dollar and weaker asset prices cut valuations.
Technology
China launched a Long March-8 rocket from Hainan, sending 18 internet satellites into orbit for the seventh Qianfan networking mission.
Jensen Huang says companies will favor workers who use AI well, as Nvidia pushes a broader message that AI fluency is becoming a workplace advantage.
India is preparing a more than 1 trillion rupee ($11 billion) fund for chip design, equipment and supply chains, building on its semiconductor mission projects.
India and Finland elevated ties to a Strategic Partnership in Digitalisation and Sustainability as PM Narendra Modi met Finnish President Alexander Stubb in New Delhi.
The new MacBook Air with M5 doubles starting storage to 512GB, adds faster SSD options up to 4TB, and brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.