10/02/2026

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | FEB 10, 2026

16

China banks to limit US bond holdings

SHANGHAI: China’s yuan edged higher to a fresh 33-month high against the American dollar yesterday, after a report that regulators have advised financial institutions to curb their US Treasury exposure, while the greenback weakened on rate cut expectations. Chinese regulators have asked financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries and instructed those with high exposure to pare down their positions due to concern over concentration risk and market o Yuan hits 33-month high after report of regulators’ warning on Treasury risk Alibaba’s overloaded AI chatbot stops issuing coupons BEIJING: Alibaba’s artificial intelligence chatbot Qwen has temporarily stopped issuing coupons due to customer overload, hampering a new campaign to promote the tool’s capabilities beyond simply answering questions to assist shopping. Qwen began offering coupons to users on Friday that allow for in-app purchases from Alibaba-owned retail platforms using chatbot prompts alone. The initiative is the first phase in a three billion yuan (RM1.7 billion) plan to attract more users to the chatbot during China’s annual Spring Festival holiday. Since last month, Alibaba has sought to make Qwen a one-stop shop where users can access its other apps directly in the chatbot and complete payments, much like Google integrates its Gemini chatbot into apps like Maps. But the rollout of what the e-commerce giant calls the chatbot’s Agentic AI strategy has been marred by technical difficulties since the start of the coupon giveaway. Alibaba said that 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. And faced with an overwhelming flood of attempted orders over the weekend, Qwen announced on Sunday on its official Weibo channel that it was overloaded and pleaded for users to give the chatbot a break. Repeated purchase prompts yesterday generated different versions of a refusal, citing user oversubscription, Reuters checks showed. “Everyone’s enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in ‘Qwen free order’, we are

landmark deal, while Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard dropped its bid for Seven & i citing a lack of engagement. While M&A guidelines “have made the management more conscious of share prices, there have been takeover cases where the acquirer’s managerial capability is questionable”, said Kazunori Suzuki of Waseda Business School. More disclosure around the buyer’s assumptions such as expected sales growth and cost cuts will help to form judgements about the feasibility of takeovers, he said, but added that it would be impossible to prevent shareholders focused solely on exiting at a high price from tendering. – Reuters South Korea watchdog SEOUL: South Korea’s financial market watchdog said yesterday local exchange Bithumb’s unintentional giveaway of more than US$40 billion in bitcoin to customers raises the need for tougher regulations to address the vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency exchange said on Saturday it had accidentally given away the bitcoin to customers as promotional rewards, triggering a sharp selloff on the exchange. Financial Supervisory Service governor Lee Chan-jin said there was a need for improved regulatory mechanisms to address such risks, adding that authorities will seriously consider the problems revealed by the incident as they seek to bring digital assets under regulatory control with legislation. “It is a case that shows the structural problems of information systems for virtual assets. There are many areas we are seriously looking into, and we are particularly worried about the issue of information systems,”Lee said. Of the total 620,000 bitcoin given away by Bithumb on Friday, 99.7% were retrieved by the exchange. Of the 1,786 bitcoin already sold before the exchange suspended transactions, 93% were retrieved. On media reports that Bithumb gave away more bitcoin than it actually held, Lee said the issue of “ghost coins” would have to be resolved first for cryptocurrencies to become legacy financial assets. Those who already sold the accidentally given bitcoin are legally obligated to return them to the exchange, Lee added. On the government’s policy plan to introduce spot bitcoin exchange-traded products, Lee said he would express cautious views that stability needed to be ensured for it to be regarded as a legacy financial asset. – Reuters Mary Daly said on Friday she thinks one or two more interest rate cuts may be needed to counteract weakness in the US labour market. Lower rates could reduce the greenback’s appeal. Traders were also encouraged by official data showing China’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, rose to US$3.399 trillion last month, exceeding the US$3.372 trillion forecast in a Reuters poll. Goldman expects the yuan to appreciate gradually, strengthening to 6.7 per dollar in 12 months. “The macro impact of currency strength is likely moderating over time,” the Wall Street bank said, citing China’s shift toward higher-tech and higher value-added exports, and Chinese exporters’ embrace of forex hedging tools. – Reuters Tougher rules on crypto needed:

its longest winning streak since early 2013, helped by dollar weakness, China’s resilient exports and the growing appeal of China’s capital markets. “Improved sentiment on China’s growth outlook, greater policy tolerance for CNY strength, and significant FX undervaluation has reinforced expectations for further CNY appreciation,” Goldman Sachs said in a report, using the yuan’s official name. Prior to the market’s open yesterday, the People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate – around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a maximum 2% band – at 6.9523 per dollar, the strongest since May 16, 2023. The dollar index dipped 0.1% in Asian trade yesterday, following Friday’s 0.3% drop, as a two-week rebound lost steam. San Francisco Federal Reserve president

volatility, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources. The onshore yuan strengthened to as much as 6.9284 per dollar, the strongest level since May 11, 2023. “News about China urging banks to curb US Treasuries exposure pushed spot a tad lower,” analysts at UBS said in a note, referring to the dollar versus the yuan. “The move is framed around diversifying market risk, rather than anything to do with geopolitical maneuvering or a fundamental loss of confidence in US creditworthiness,” they added. Sentiment was also aided by a stronger guidance rate and data showing China’s foreign exchange reserves rose more than expected in January. The yuan has gained for 11 straight weeks in

The Alibaba sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. – REUTERSPIC

still have time to redeem their coupons, which will remain valid until Feb 28. Alibaba declined to comment further on the technical difficulties. – Reuters

working tirelessly to maintain the campaign’s experience,” replied Qwen to one of the purchase prompts yesterday. The chatbot added that shoppers would

Japan says companies can rebuff unsolicited bids TOKYO: Japanese companies are not obliged to accept unsolicited takeover bids even when offered large premiums, an Industry Ministry official told Reuters, amid growing concern about the targeting of leading firms by activist investors and foreign acquirers. Corporate Japan has seen a wave of access to critical technology through such takeovers. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will emphasise the right of companies to rebuff bids in an update to the merger code planned for May. engagement with potential acquirers. Sameshima said shareholders can ultimately decide whose plans are more credible, based on disclosure by both the board and the bidder. “I want to be clear that the purpose of this update is not to encourage companies to implement takeover defence measures,” he said, adding that the changes are unlikely to slow the rise in unsolicited bids.

“The board has the right to say no, if it believes that incumbent management can better enhance corporate value, or if it judges that a buyer could later engage in asset stripping or extract technology,” said Hiroyuki Sameshima, director at METI’s corporate system division. The change risks disappointing investors who want more emphasis on shareholder returns and argue companies can cite a vaguely defined concept of corporate value to avoid

unsolicited takeover offers since the country’s powerful industry ministry introduced a code of conduct for mergers and acquisitions three years ago to crack down on excessive defensive tactics and encourage healthy industry consolidation. However, there is also growing unease in the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hardline conservative who won a landslide election victory on Sunday, that Japan could lose

Merger and acquisition activity involving Japanese firms hit a record ¥35.7 trillion (RM897 billion) last year, according to Recof Data. Eight unsolicited bids were launched with half of those successful. Taiwan’s Yageo made a successful unsolicited bid for Shibaura Electronics last year in a