-- Japan's retail sales rebounded in March, growing by 1.7% to 14.306 trillion yen from a year ago, preliminary data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry on Thursday showed.
The reading reverses the 0.1% contraction in the month prior.
Retail sales climbed 0.4% in food and beverage but contracted 4.1% in fuel.
Commercial sales gained 3.2% on year to 58.826 trillion yen, while wholesale trade gained 3.7% to 44.52 trillion yen, the data showed.
China Yangtze Power's (SHA:600900) net profit attributable to shareholders in the first quarter jumped 31% year on year to 6.76 billion yuan, or 0.28 yuan per share, according to a Shanghai bourse filing on Thursday.The attributable profit a year earlier was 5.18 billion yuan, or 0.21 yuan per share.Operating revenue climbed 6% to 18.1 billion yuan from 17 billion yuan in the previous year.The power company's shares rose 1% during the morning trade.
Australia's total credit rose 0.7% month on month in March, following a 0.6% increase in February, data from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed Thursday.Housing credit rose by 0.6%, the same rate as the previous month, while personal credit rose 0.6%, following a 0.4% increase.Business credit rose 0.8%, matching the growth rate recorded in the previous month.Broad money rose 0.7%, following a 0.8% increase in the previous month.Total credit jumped 8.1% in the year ended March, compared with the 6.5% increase in the year ended March 2025.
Air China (SHA:601111, HKG:0753) posted first-quarter attributable net profit of 1.71 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 2.04 billion yuan the previous year.Earnings per share stood at 0.10 yuan, versus loss per share of 0.12 yuan, according to a Thursday filing on the Hong Kong bourse.The airline's revenue rose 11% year over year to 44.5 billion yuan from 40.0 billion yuan.