Bloomberg As the dust settles on the wave of ESG fund downgrades that swept through Europe’s investment industry, BNP Paribas SA has managed to climb several notches up a controversial ladder. BNP Paribas Asset Management (AM) is now the second-biggest provider of the European Union’s top environmental, social and governance (ESG) fund class, known as Article 9. Its decision ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank (RBA) is all but certain to increase interest rates at its first meeting of the year, with some observers pointing to the risk of a resumption of outsized moves to counter a surprising surge in inflation. Most economists and traders see the Reserve Bank lifting its cash rate by a quarter-point on Tuesday to 3.35%, ...

Bloomberg The Hong Kong dollar is rapidly heading toward the weak end of its trading band against the greenback as traders sell the currency to buy higher-yielding US assets. The local exchange rate is one of the worst performers worldwide in the past two months with a 0.74% drop against the US dollar, and last traded at HK$7.8473. Depreciating past ...