China’s securities regulator said on Tuesday that it would suspend new securities lending and cap the size of securities re-lending business as part of its efforts to curb short-selling.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission will also ban securities lending to investors who sell stocks on the same day of purchase and vowed to crack down on illegal arbitrage via short-selling.

China’s stock markets plunged to a five-year lows last week.

China’s lottery sales rose 36.5% in 2023 from the previous year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

In December alone, lottery sales fell 13.8% year on year.

Lottery ticket sales reached to 579.7 billion yuan last year.

Sales of sports lottery ticket increased 39.3% year on year to 385 billion yuan.
 

China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng on Monday urged greater for listed companies, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

He said promoting high-quality development of listed companies helps to achieve high-level technological self-reliance, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system and enhance market confidence.

He also urged government departments to support for high-quality listed firms to boost confidence and stabilise capital markets.

Germany's imports and exports both declined in 2023 amid recession, preliminary figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed on Monday.

Exports of Europe's largest economy were down 1.4% from 2022 to 1.56 trillion euros, while imports slumped 9.7% to 1.35 trillion euros, the data showed.
 

Inflation in the eurozone dipped to 2.8% in January from 2023, a flash estimate released by Eurostat showed.

Prices in the eurozone were driven up by food, alcohol and tobacco prices, which recorded an annual increase of 5.7% in January, down from 6.1% in December.

Energy prices fell 6.3% year-on-year in January.

 

New Zealand’s unemployment rose to 4% in the last quarter of 2023 from 3.9% in the previous quarter, official data showed on Wednesday.

The unemployment rate rose 0.6% over the year, up from 3.4% in the December 2022 quarter.

Japan’s average household spending fell for the first time in three years, according to official data.

A survey by the internal affairs ministry showed households with two or more people spent a monthly average of 293,997 yen, which represented a 2.6% drop from 2022.

The declines are attributed to price inflation and attempts by families to curb spending as a result.