India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY) is exploring issuing new shares to the public or institutional investors for the first time since 2002 to pare its massive debt, the Economic Times website reported Tuesday, citing two people aware of the matter.

A US$20 billion Australian gas-export joint venture boosted its coal-seam-gas reserves by about 11% last financial year amid mounting concerns of potential reserves shortages.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore on Tuesday released the following provisional bank lending data for June: June Year Earlier May Total S$452.57B S$374.32B S$444.98B Housing/Bridge S$139.69B S$121.34B S$137.71B Professionals & Private Individuals S$5.84B S$3.87B S$5.91B Building/Construction

Hong Kong stocks advanced Tuesday, on course for a fourth straight day of gains amid hopes for monetary stimulus from global central banks, with heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC rising after posting half-yearly results.

The total number of Australian houses and apartments approved for construction fell 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted 13,336 in June from May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

PT Gudang Garam (GGRM.JK), Indonesia's largest publicly listed cigarette maker by sales, posted Tuesday an 8.3% decline in first-half net profit as its cost of sales rose.

Taiwan's preliminary gross domestic product data released Tuesday showed the economy shrank 0.16% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

Cigarette maker PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna (HMSP.JK) said Tuesday its first-half net profit rose 29% to 4.88 trillion rupiah ($513 million) from IDR3.79 trillion a year earlier owing to higher sales.

The recent fall in metals prices could benefit Australia's farmers as banks dedicate more lending to the agriculture sector, the Deputy Chief Executive of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said Tuesday.

Brazilian mobile telecom operator TIM Participacoes (TIMP3.BR, TSU) posted net profit of 346.8 million Brazilian reais ($170 million) in the second quarter, down 0.9% from the same period a year ago, the company reported Monday.