Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed up 21.4 points, or 0.24%, at 8,844.40 on Thursday, July 23.

Sources say Kuwait plans to issue a three-part dollar bond on Wednesday with 3-, 5- and 10-year tranches and has hired banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to arrange the deal. Final terms, including size and pricing, could be announced Wednesday evening. The move follows two weeks of daily missile and drone attacks on Kuwait by Iran, which officials say have left the economy under acute strain. Goldman Sachs analysts estimated in April that Kuwait’s fiscal deficit had surged to an annualised near 40% after a Strait of Hormuz closure forced most oil exports to stop.

U.S. Trade Representative Greer said he spoke with Canada's trade representative yesterday.