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B2B Asia News
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This is a B2B Asia News Daily Update for 20 July 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. Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday as a continuing selloff in artificial intelligence-linked shares weighed heavily on technology-heavy indexes. South Korea's Kospi suffered the steepest decline in the region, dropping 4.9 per cent as investors continued to pull back from AI-related stocks following recent gains.
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.1 per cent, and mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2 per cent. Meanwhile, India's Sensex fell 0.9 per cent.
- Zooming in on Cambodia’s market—the Cambodia Securities Exchange Index was up 0.12 points or 0.03% to 450.78. Total trade volume was up with 286,353 shares changing hands at a total value of 937.2 million riel or over $232,000 US dollars.
- On the main board, only one stock, Royal Group Phnom Penh SEZ, was up, while three stocks were down with Pestech Cambodia as the biggest loser of the day.
- Over on the growth board, DBD Engineering was up, while JS Land and Picasso City Garden were down.
- Shifting to the exchange rate, the Khmer riel to USD strengthened slightly to 4,036 riel per US Dollar, while the US Dollar index hovered around 101.73.
- Looking at global commodities, oil prices rose on Monday to their highest in more than a month, with Brent crude climbing above $90 dollars a barrel as escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran restricted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Brent crude futures were up 1.17% at $89.13 US dollars a barrel, touching their highest since June 11 and extending last week's hefty 15.9% gains.
- U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.79% to $83.14 US dollars, its loftiest level since June 12. (0751 GMT)
- Gold prices were little changed as investors assessed an escalation in the Middle East war that pushed oil prices higher, while another U.S. Federal Reserve policymaker signalled that interest rate hikes may be needed to curb inflation.
- Spot gold was steady at $4,018.19 US dollars per ounce. U.S. gold futures for August delivery gained 0.1% to $4,023 US dollars. (0756 GMT)
- Looking at the crypto market, Bitcoin held near $64,000 US dollars on Monday, pulled between an oil price climbing on war and an equity market still digesting the release of Moonshot AI’s latest Kimi model on Friday.
The largest cryptocurrency traded at about $64,200 US dollars, roughly flat on the day and up 3% on the week, with about $18 billion dollars changing hands. Ether sat at $1,860 US dollars, up 5% over seven sessions and the strongest of the majors again.
- Moving on now to other business-related news,
- Cambodia's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has announced the launch of the 7th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC), inviting Cambodian high school and university students to participate in the coding competition aimed at promoting STEM education and space science. The competition is designed to strengthen participants' knowledge and skills in science, digital technology, engineering, physics and mathematics, while fostering international cooperation in the field of space exploration. Participants will have the opportunity to develop and test coding solutions using a simulator to control robots aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The competition consists of two categories: a Beginner Level for high school students under the age of 16, and an Intermediate Level for high school or university students with programming knowledge, with no age limit. Applicants must be Cambodian nationals and register in teams of three to six members.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's support for Cambodia's socio-economic development during a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in Shanghai on July 17, on the sidelines of the Cambodian premier’s working visit to China and participation in the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference. During the meeting, President Xi shared that he highly values the strength of the Cambodia-China relationship and the two countries' "ironclad friendship," stressing that China remains committed to supporting Cambodia's socio-economic development. He also reiterated China's commitment to deepening cooperation with Cambodia by advancing the Diamond Cooperation Framework and accelerating the implementation of the "Industrial and Technological Corridor" and the "Fish and Rice Corridor" to ensure sustained mutual development.
- The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Korea Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (KOCHAM) have agreed to deepen economic cooperation and strengthen business ties to promote investment and trade between the private sectors of both countries. The agreement was reached during a meeting on July 19 between CCC President and ASEAN Business Advisory Council Cambodia Chair, Kith Meng, and KOCHAM President, Kim Seong-su, who discussed ways to expand cooperation and enhance business connections between Cambodian and South Korean companies. According to the CCC’s statement released on July 20, the two sides agreed to establish a sustainable cooperation mechanism and plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covering key areas including investment, trade, business support, information exchange and the promotion of investment opportunities.
Watch the 20 July 2026 Daily Update in Khmer below: