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B2B Asia News
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This is a B2B Asia News Daily Update for 12 March 2026, reviewing regional and global markets, and covering the daily business news you shouldn’t miss.
Watch the video in English above.
- We start with a quick look at regional markets. Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday as investors grappled with volatile oil prices and escalating tensions in the Middle East. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.04%, weighed down by real estate stocks, while the Topix lost 1.32%.
- South Korea’s Kospi pared losses to end the session 0.48%, while the small-cap Kosdaq bucked the trend and gained 1.02%.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.33%, while the CSI 300 was down 0.36%.
- Zooming in on Cambodia’s market—the Cambodia Securities Exchange Index was up 1.85 points or 0.43%, to 428.68.
- Total trade volume was down with 30,050 shares changing hands at a total value of 111.1 million riel, or close to $28,000 US dollars.
- On the main board, three stocks were up, led by CAMGSM, while three stocks were also down with MJQ Education as the biggest loser of the day.
- Over on the growth board, DBD Engineering and Picasso City Garden stayed flat while JS Land was up.
- Shifting to the exchange rate, the KHR weakened slightly to 4,014 riel per US Dollar, while the US Dollar Index hovered around 99.36.
- Turning to global commodities, Brent crude futures jumped as much as 10.4% to $101.59 US dollars a barrel, before trimming gains, as doubts persisted over whether reserve releases would be enough to cushion the hit from the Middle East supply shock.
- U.S. crude futures were last trading 5.2% higher at $91.82 US dollars. (0050 GMT)
- Gold prices were little changed, as margin calls on sliding equities, a stronger dollar and dampened rate-cut bets offset safe-haven demand for bullion amid the escalating U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
- Spot gold was flat at $5,174.13 US dollars per ounce.
- U.S. gold futures for April delivery also held steady at $5,180.20 US dollars. (0923 GMT)
- Looking at the crypto market, Bitcoin held near $70,000 US dollars and outperformed major assets despite Middle East tensions, even as derivatives data and fear indicators signal deep market pessimism.
- Moving on now to other business-related news:
- According to a press release issued by the Council for the Development of Cambodia on March 11, in February 2026, Cambodia registered a total of 42 investment projects through the CDC and provincial-municipal investment sub-committees. These projects are worth a total investment capital of approximately $166 million US dollars and are expected to create roughly 24,000 jobs.
- Cambodia and Germany are moving to deepen agricultural ties, with a major German spice firm eyeing new processing investments in the Southeast Asian nation, officials said on March 12. This follow the Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries’ meeting with the German Ambassador to Cambodia, along with a delegation from Fuchs Gruppe, to discuss expanding agro-industrial trade and technical cooperation.
- Cambodia will initially export in-shell cashew nuts worth approximately $35 million dollars to China, with plans to increase the export value to $400 million dollars in the future, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cambodian and Chinese companies. The MoU on the “Supply Contract of Cambodian Cashew Nuts” was signed on March 11 at the Ministry of Commerce.
Watch the 12 March 2026 Daily Update in Khmer below: