On monetary policy, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem used a speech and Q&A in São Paulo to reinforce the hawkish signal he has been sending since last week's FOMC meeting. In other notable central bank news the Reserve Bank of India sold USD/INR to support the rupee. July exports beat estimates, and the yuan strengthened in response. The data reinforces the theme of AI and advanced manufacturing demand carrying China's external trade even as domestic consumption stays soft. Japan's Nikkei fell around 1% as AI and chip-related losses outweighed broader gains, with SoftBank Group down around 4% despite beating first-quarter profit expectations, while the Topix was roughly flat.