Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets sank Thursday after Chinese manufacturing weakened and Russian shelling around Ukraine’s capital shook hopes of progress in peace talks.

Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo declined while Seoul gained. Oil fell more than $7 per barrel in New York but stayed above $100.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.6% on Wednesday after U.S. economic growth was weaker than expected.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s manufacturing activity fell to a five-month low in March after most of Shanghai and two other industrial centers were shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, a survey showed Thursday.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index of the Chinese statistics agency and an industry group, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, fell to 49.5 from February’s 50.2 on a 100-point scale. Numbers below 50 show activity contracting.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday issued strong backing for Afghanistan at a regional conference, while making no mention of human rights abuses by the country’s Taliban leaders.

Xi pledged China’s support in a message to a gathering of representatives from Afghanistan, China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in a central Chinese city that spotlights Beijing’s aspirations to play a leading role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. forces last August.

HUANGSHAN, (China) March 30 (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan welcomed the international community’s continued engagement to advance the goals of a sovereign, stable and economically strong Afghanistan, contributing to the regional peace and stability.

The foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan and highlighted areas of close collaboration including trade, movement of people, and connectivity.

BEIJING, March 30. /TASS/: China is warning against a new confrontation of camps in Asia and turning regional countries into the tools of major powers, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday at a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the Tunxi city of eastern China's Anhui province.

"We can’t allow the Cold War mentality to return to the Asian region," Wang Yi was cited as saying in a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. "It’s impossible to allow a repeat of camp confrontation in Asia."

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) said Malaysia is ready to help and cater the needs on sustainable palm oil to substitute the sunflower oil amid an acute shortage in Iceland supermarket.

“Sustainable palm oil is a viable substitute for sunflower oil, and while the war in Ukraine impacts supply and inevitably food prices, Malaysia stands ready to help,” MPOC chairman Larry Sng Wei Shien said in a statement Wednesday.

BANGKOK, March 30 (NNN-Bernama) — The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has kept its policy rate at a record low of 0.5 per cent to help facilitate a sustained economic recovery.

BoT Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today voted unanimously to maintain the benchmark interest rate at the same level since May 2020.

The central bank also lowered its 2022 economic growth forecast from the 3.4 per cent made in December to 3.2 per cent.

SEOUL, March 30 (Reuters) - South Korea's military has said North Korea's largest missile test yet used an older, smaller intercontinental ballistic missile, and not the massive new Hwasong-17 ICBM, in part to try to head off negative domestic reaction to a failed launch.

South Korean and U.S. officials have concluded that the March 24 launch appears to have been a Hwasong-15 ICBM, a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

BEIJING, March 30 (Reuters) - Moscow and Beijing are "more determined" to develop bilateral ties and boost cooperation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday following a meeting in eastern China with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, amid the Ukraine crisis.

The two also condemned what they called illegal and counter- productive Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The China-Russia relationship consists of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked about China-Russia relations.

"There is no ceiling for China-Russia cooperation, no ceiling for us to strive for peace, no ceiling for us to safeguard security and no ceiling for us to oppose hegemony," Wang said.