At the close on Aug 13 (Thu), China's equity benchmarks fell: China's Shanghai Composite Index down 19.71 pts (-0.50%) to 3,926.96; Shenzhen Composite Index down 124.98 pts (-0.87%) to 14,289.44; CSI 300 Index down 26.97 pts (-0.57%) to 4,663.95; ChiNext Index down 16.04 pts (-0.45%) to 3,586.04; China STAR 50 Index down 19.24 pts (-1.11%) to 1,717.75.

At the open on Aug 12 (Wednesday) the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.50 points (+0.03%) to 53,806.35; the S&P 500 rose 27.19 points (+0.35%) to 7,755.28; the Nasdaq Composite rose 189.14 points (+0.71%) to 26,634.59.

Thailand on Wednesday reaffirmed long-standing military ties with the US and said security cooperation would be handled separately from ongoing talks over US tariffs and would not be used as bargaining leverage. A government spokesperson said Bangkok is carefully assessing proposals in the trade talks and seeks a reciprocal deal that delivers fair benefits. Earlier reports quoted a Thai official saying Bangkok was preparing to warn the Trump administration that high US tariffs could force Thailand to scale back military cooperation, including joint exercises, and that stance is expected to be part of Thailand's counterproposal when reciprocal trade talks resume later this month.