Estonian startup Bolt said on Monday it had raised 600 million euros ($714 million) from investors and would plough the proceeds into quick grocery delivery, upping the ante in a fast-growing but fiercely competitive market.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Indonesia fell 10.04% from a year earlier in June to about 140,900, data from the statistics bureau showed on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic continue to disrupt global travel.

China's yuan extended its decline on Monday after it posted a second month of losses in July, with sentiment dampened by disappointing economic data and investor worries over spreading domestic COVID-19 cases of the Delta variant. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 6.4660 per dollar, 58 pips weaker than the previous fix of 6.4602. In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.4640 per dollar and was changing

Japanese government bonds were narrowly mixed at the start of a new month on Monday, with benchmark 10-year bonds untraded by early afternoon as investors looked to an auction the following day.

Square Inc on Monday said it has agreed to purchase buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay Ltd to create a global online payments giant, offering a 30% premium in a share-swap deal that is set to be Australia's biggest-ever buyout.

* Afterpay U.S. sales soar in fiscal 2021 (Adds break fee, banks involved)

* Spot gold may revisit July 23 low of $1,789.98/oz -technicals

Indian shares rose on Monday, helped by auto stocks as monthly data showed recovery in July sales after a second wave of COVID-19 cases had dented demand

* Ardern defends government's housing record (Adds housing details, human rights commission comment)

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Data as of 2 Aug 2021. All quotes delayed at least 15 minutes.

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