China's software business revenue exceeded 10 trillion yuan in Jan–Aug, up 8.8% YoY; industry profits rose 1.3% YoY and software exports were $45.99 bln, up 12.5% YoY. By segment, software product revenue climbed 6% YoY and accounted for 21.5% of industry revenue; IT services made up 68.7% of revenue, with cloud and big-data services up 11.1% YoY and representing 17.3% of IT services revenue.

Brent crude up 3.00% intraday at $102.78/bbl.

EUR/USD held around 1.1200 on Thursday, capped by an oil rebound and ongoing bond-market turmoil. The pair remains in a downtrend and looks set for a fifth consecutive weekly decline, off roughly 3.5% over five weeks. Sovereign bond sell-offs have put the euro in focus: French borrowing costs have risen above levels seen during the 2009 financial crisis. Political deadlock in France prompted the Banque de France governor to say France does not need ECB support, but the comment did little to ease investor concern. Rising oil adds import-cost pressure for euro-area oil importers and reinforces expectations that central banks will keep policy restrictive to curb inflation, helping lift global bond yields.