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SHANGHAI - China's Xiaomi Corp. has launched its latest flagship smartphone two months ahead of schedule, as it accelerates its drive to grab more market share in China from sanctions-hobbled Huawei Technologies and its recently spun-off Honor budget brand.

HONG KONG -- While stabilisation of markets seems to be within reach with the introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines and new leadership in the US, investors should expect the process to be gradual and long, Manulife Investment Management says in its regional outlook for the year ahead. Structural changes caused by the pandemic will take time to reverse, it says.

HONG KONG -- China's move to take control of Sichuan Trust Co. Ltd. signals a growing assertiveness with the sector, according to global ratings agency Standard and Poor's. Chinese officials said the entity was plagued with governance issues, resulting in a swath of defaulted trust products, but S&P Global Ratings believes the authorities' action on Sichuan Trust demonstrates China's intention to continue its crackdown on trust entities specifically, and China's shadow bank sector generally, in 2021.

HONG KONG -- After decades of increasing globalisation on every front, from trade - pushed further by the growing role of value chains - to technology, movement of people and investment, there now seems to be a turn towards slower globalisation if not deglobalisation, at least in some areas, Natixis, the global financial group, says in a new report.

TAIPEI - More than 1,700 lawmakers from over 80 countries spoke in favour of Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly -- the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation -- when the WHA reconvened last month in Geneva, according to the annual report of Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which said global support for Taiwan on this issue had reached an "unprecedented level".

HONG KONG - Strong PMI prints in November indicate a high possibility that China's GDP growth may return to above 5.5% y/y in Q4, according to ANZ Bank. It says a broad improvement is seen across sectors, particularly for small enterprises, whose PMI climbed to 50.1, above the breakeven threshold. For the manufacturing sector, the production and new orders sub-indices moved to 54.7 and 53.9, the highest levels year to date, suggesting a recovery in both supply and demand.

SINGAPORE - S&P Global Ratings says that economic trajectories for Asia-Pacific are stabilising. It expects Asia-Pacific GDP to shrink about 2% in 2020 and to grow by 6.8% in 2021, close to previous S&P forecasts at the end of the third quarter. "Uncertainty remains unusually high, but little in the past three months has led to large revisions to our views," S&P says.