China

China will allow selected banks to issue asset-back securities worth $49 billion by the end of June next year.

System outages at several Chinese banks worsened concerns about a credit crunch, after the central bank tightened the fund availability in the banking system.

Asian markets buckled badly on Thursday after the Federal Reserve heralded an eventual end to free money and China turned the screw on credit even as factory activity in the world's second largest economy hit a nine-month low.

Faltering demand pushed the country's factory activity down, heightening the risk of a sharper second quarter slowdown and increasing the heat on the central bank to loosen policy.

Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd has mandated Bank of China for an up to $4 billion global syndicated financing to support its acquisition of Smithfield Foods.

Citing a weak world economy and exports, the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China this year to 7.75% from 8%.

China's exports numbers blew past expectations, which appeared on the surface to indicate that both China's economy and global demand were on the mend.

South Korean equities slumped for a fifth day in a row amid rising concern about tensions with North Korea.

Oil prices fell after manufacturing data from China, the world's second-biggest crude consumer, missed expectations. 

China shares closed mixed on Friday but major indexes ended down for the quarter as disappointing company earnings and fears of policy tightening soured investor sentiment.

Alibaba is not the only Chinese IPO on the horizon. Data analytics platform Cheetah Mobile and online travel company, Tuniu, are both going public this week. Next week Jumei, China’s top online retailer of beauty products, plans to list in the U.S.