BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 12 pips to 7.1546 against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. ■
The airline says there will be no impact to Qantas’ operations
Qantas is contacting customers after a cyber attack targeted their third-party customer service platform.
On 30 June, the Australian airline detected “unusual activity” on a platform used by its contact centre to store the data of six million people, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers.
Upon detection of the breach, Qantas took “immediate steps and contained the system”, according to a statement.
The company is still investigating the full extent of the breach, but says it is expecting the proportion of data stolen to be “significant”.
It has assured the public that passport details, credit card details and personal financial information were not held in the breached system, and no frequent flyer accounts, passwords or PIN numbers have been compromised.
Qantas has notified the Australian Federal Police of the breach, as well as the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers and we recognise the uncertainty this will cause,” said Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson.
She asked customers to call the dedicated support line if they had concerns, and confirmed that there would be no impact to Qantas’ operations or the safety of the airline.
The cyber attack is the latest in a string of Australian data breaches this year, with AustralianSuper and Nine Media suffering significant leaks in the past few months.
In March 2025, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) released statistics revealing that 2024 was the worst year for data breaches in Australia since records began in 2018.
“The trends we are observing suggest the threat of data breaches, especially through the efforts of malicious actors, is unlikely to diminish,” said Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind in a statement from the OAIC.
Ms Kind urged businesses and government agencies to step up security measures and data protection, and highlighted that both the private and public sectors are vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Columbia University agreed to pay $9 million to settle a proposed class action by students who claimed it submitted false data to boost its position in U.S. News & World Report’s influential college rankings.
A preliminary settlement, which requires a judge’s approval, was filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court.
Students said Columbia artificially inflated its U.S. News ranking for undergraduate schools, reaching No. 2 in 2022, by consistently reporting false data, including that 83% of its classes had fewer than 20 students.
They said the misrepresentations enticed them to enroll and allowed Columbia to overcharge them on tuition.
The settlement covers about 22,000 undergraduate students at Columbia College, Columbia Engineering and Columbia’s School of General Studies from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2022.
Lawyers for the students called the accord fair, reasonable and adequate. Columbia denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The university said in a statement that it “deeply regrets deficiencies in prior reporting,” and now provides prospective students with data reviewed by an independent advisory firm to ensure they receive accurate information about their education.
The litigation began in July 2022, after Columbia math professor Michael Thaddeus published a report alleging that data underlying the school’s No. 2 ranking were inaccurate or misleading. Columbia’s ranking dropped to No. 18 that September.
In June 2023, Columbia said its undergraduate schools would stop participating in U.S. News’ rankings.
It said the rankings appeared to have “outsized influence” with prospective students, and “much is lost” in distilling education quality from a series of data points.
Some other universities, including Harvard and Yale, also stopped submitting data to U.S. News for various schools. U.S. News also ranks graduate schools.
Lawyers for the Columbia students plan to seek up to one-third of the settlement for legal fees, leaving about $6 million for the students.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the USD/CNY central rate for the trading session ahead on Wednesday at 7.1546 as compared to the previous day’s fix of 7.1534 and 7.1623 Reuters estimate.
PBOC FAQs
The primary monetary policy objectives of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) are to safeguard price stability, including exchange rate stability, and promote economic growth. China’s central bank also aims to implement financial reforms, such as opening and developing the financial market.
The PBoC is owned by the state of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), so it is not considered an autonomous institution. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee Secretary, nominated by the Chairman of the State Council, has a key influence on the PBoC’s management and direction, not the governor. However, Mr. Pan Gongsheng currently holds both of these posts.
Unlike the Western economies, the PBoC uses a broader set of monetary policy instruments to achieve its objectives. The primary tools include a seven-day Reverse Repo Rate (RRR), Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF), foreign exchange interventions and Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR). However, The Loan Prime Rate (LPR) is China’s benchmark interest rate. Changes to the LPR directly influence the rates that need to be paid in the market for loans and mortgages and the interest paid on savings. By changing the LPR, China’s central bank can also influence the exchange rates of the Chinese Renminbi.
Yes, China has 19 private banks – a small fraction of the financial system. The largest private banks are digital lenders WeBank and MYbank, which are backed by tech giants Tencent and Ant Group, per The Straits Times. In 2014, China allowed domestic lenders fully capitalized by private funds to operate in the state-dominated financial sector.
(Bloomberg) — Asian shares edged lower at the open after President Donald Trump said he won’t delay the July 9 deadline for imposing higher levies on trading partners.
A regional stocks gauge fell 0.2%. Japanese stocks declined 1% after Trump threatened to hike tariffs on the country and deepened his criticism of Japan for not accepting US rice exports. A gauge of the dollar slipped in early Asian trading after touching its lowest since 2022 in the prior session. Treasuries were steady Wednesday after yields rose on Tuesday.
Investors are closely watching how Trump decides to handle the current pause on his April tariffs, which he put on hold for 90 days to allow time for talks. Stock markets – which once swung wildly on trade headlines – appear to see little risk, as equity indexes sit near all-time highs. The calm is being fueled by expectations that Trump will extend his tariff deadline based on his pattern of threatening first and backing down later.
“While US stocks are probably overly optimistic, international stocks have been prone to an overly pessimistic knee-jerk response each time Trump escalates,” said Phillip Wool, head of portfolio management at Rayliant Global Advisors Ltd. “It’s not surprising at all to see Trump holding the prospect of a July 9th impasse and a painfully high tariff out as a threat to push for better deals. There’s also an element of political theater here.”
Trump for weeks has sought to exert leverage over trading partners with threats to set high levies on governments he sees as being difficult. His top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, earlier signaled agreements would be announced after the July 4 holiday and the signing of the tax and spending bill the US Senate approved.
Trump’s latest tariff comments don’t pose a major threat to Japanese stocks, said Neil Newman, head strategist at Astris Advisory Japan.
“I read from his rhetoric President Trump has run out of things to complain about,” he said. “I believe there is too much on the Japanese negotiation table for the Americans to walk away from, but we know Trump will push to the limits to get more. This is just noise.”
Meanwhile, US job openings hit the highest since November, largely fueled by leisure and hospitality, and layoffs declined. Fed policymakers have consistently characterized labor-market conditions as strong in recent weeks. Fed Chair Jerome Powell repeated that the US central bank probably would have cut rates further this year absent Trump’s expanded use of tariffs, although he didn’t rule out easing at its meeting later this month.
The government’s June employment report, due Thursday, is expected to show a slowdown in nonfarm payroll growth and an uptick in the unemployment rate.
Separate data Tuesday showed US factory activity contracted in June for a fourth consecutive month as orders and employment shrank at a faster pace, extending the malaise in manufacturing.
Trump’s $3.3 trillion tax and spending cut bill passed the Senate after Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote. House lawmakers are returning to Washington from a holiday week to vote Wednesday on the Senate version of the bill but face Republican resistance from moderate and ultra-conservative GOP lawmakers.
In commodities, gold held an advance, after rallying 2% over the previous two sessions while oil steadied in early Wednesday trading.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:30 a.m. Tokyo time
Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.7%
Japan’s Topix fell 0.3%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
The euro was little changed at $1.1801
The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 143.58 per dollar
The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1619 per dollar
The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6581
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $105,659.61
Ether fell 0.3% to $2,408.72
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.24%
Australia’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.14%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
Spot gold was little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alice French, Rob Verdonck and Aya Wagatsuma.
Qantas has suffered a major cyber-attack, potentially exposing the records of up to 6 million customers.
The airline said on Wednesday that the affected system had now been contained and its systems were secured. The system in question was a third-party platform used by the airline’s contact centre, which contains the records of 6 million customers.
The data includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers. It did not contain credit card details, financial information or passport details.
Frequent flyer accounts were not compromised, neither were passwords, Pins or login details.
Qantas said it first detected the unusual activity on Monday and immediately took steps to contain the system.
Qantas is assessing the portion of data stolen but said it was expected to be “significant”.
Qantas said it has informed the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as well as the Australian federal police.
The airline’s chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, said the company had recruited independent specialised cybersecurity experts to investigate the matter.
A dedicated customer support line and a dedicated page on the company’s website will update customers as the investigation progresses.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers and we recognise the uncertainty this will cause,” Hudson said. “Our customers trust us with their personal information and we take that responsibility seriously.
“We are contacting our customers today and our focus is on providing them with the necessary support.”
Cyber-attacks remain on the increase in Australia, after superannuation funds in April suffered hacks on a small handful of customers that resulted in more than $500,000 being taken from their accounts.
In May, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said the number of data breaches reported under the mandatory notification scheme had increased by 25% in 2024, compared with 2023.
According to the report covering 1 July to 31 December 2024, there were 595 data breaches in the latter half of the year, taking the total number of breaches reported that year to 1,113, up 25% from 893 in 2023.
In the half year, the highest number of reports came from health providers (121) followed by government (100), finance (54), legal and accounting (36), and retail (34).
The report found 69% of the data breaches occurred due to malicious or criminal attack, with phishing – that is, using compromised credentials to access data – being the most common at 34% of such incidents. It was followed by ransomware at 24%.
The majority of reported breaches affected fewer than 5,000 people each but two were reported to affect between 500,000 and 1 million people. Most personal information in the breaches comprised contact information, ID information or financial or health information.
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Growing a company can be difficult at the best of times. But with the threat of US tariffs, rising geopolitical tension and a slowing economy, now is a particularly tough time for entrepreneurs and managers.
And yet despite those challenges, many companies are still managing to prove that rapid growth is possible.
For the past seven years, the Financial Times and its research partner Statista have ranked high growth companies in the Asia-Pacific region. From Singapore-based energy companies to Indian scooter rental businesses, we have highlighted those organisations that have pressed ahead with their business plans regardless of the external environment, and made them work.
Register for our list of high-growth companies Asia-Pacific 2026
If your company has a record of revenue growth between 2021 and 2024, click here to fill in our online form to be considered.
Last year, Lendbox, an Indian peer-to-peer lending platform, had the highest ranking, followed by south-east Asian ecommerce groups Borong and Etaily.
Enter your company
This year, for the eighth time, we are asking for nominations for our list. We will aim to identify those Asia-Pacific businesses with the strongest revenue growth between 2021 and 2024, as the region was emerging from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic while also dealing with rising oil prices and inflation.
All you need to do is fill in this simple form.
We will publish the list of companies in March next year, followed in April by a report highlighting some of the most interesting businesses.
Eligibility
To be eligible for entry, companies must:
Have generated revenue of at least $100,000 in 2021*
Have generated revenue of at least $1mn in 2024*
Revenue growth between 2021 and 2024 should have been primarily organic
Be independent (ie, not a subsidiary or branch office of another company)
Be headquartered in one of the following Asia-Pacific locations: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand or Vietnam
*Or average currency value equivalent over course of the relevant fiscal year
The survey will run from July 2, 2025 to October 31, 2025. More information can be found here.
