Oil prices experienced a slight recovery on Tuesday following a drop of more than 2% in the previous session for Brent crude and WTI. Brent futures increased by 27 cents, or 0.3%, reaching $92.44 per barrel by 0330 GMT. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose by 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $85.38. This rebound came after Monday’s significant decline, which marked the end of six straight sessions of gains across both major crude benchmarks.

Alibaba Group has set the price for an HK$80 billion share offering aimed at funding its investments in artificial intelligence and enhancing its AI infrastructure. The Chinese tech giant plans to issue 710 million new ordinary shares at HK$112.70 each, amounting to roughly US$10.2 billion based on current exchange rates. The company anticipates the transaction will finalize by August 26, pending usual closing conditions.Alibaba’s HK$80 billion share placement directs fresh capital toward AI infrastructure.Alibaba stated that all net proceeds from the offering will be allocated to advancing its comprehensive AI capabilities. This includes expanding and upgrading various aspects of its AI infrastructure. The firm has developed a broad AI ecosystem that includes cloud services, models, chips, and applications. Notable components of this platform are the Qwen model series and Alibaba Cloud offerings.

South Korea has initiated its inaugural container vessel expedition through the Arctic toward Europe. The PanStar Acro, with a capacity of 2,758 TEU, set sail from Busan New Port around 9 p.m. on August 22. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries verified the departure and issued the schedule for the voyage. The vessel will navigate along the Northern Sea Route before stopping at three European ports. The entire round trip, lasting approximately 45 days, is planned to conclude back in Busan on October 5.

The Central Bank of Egypt kept its key interest rates unchanged on August 20, extending its policy pause for a fourth consecutive meeting. The Monetary Policy Committee maintained the overnight deposit rate at 19% and the overnight lending rate at 20%. It also kept the main operation and discount rates at 19.5%. The CBE said the decision reflected its assessment of current inflation conditions and the economic outlook since its July meeting. The rates have remained at these levels since February.