Britain's economy expanded by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, official data confirmed on Thursday, returning to growth and avoiding its third recession since the 2008 global financial crisis. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew in the January-March period, after falling by 0.3 percent in the final three months of 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement on Thursday.

Manufacturing activity in China contracted in May for the first time in seven months, HSBC said Thursday, in another sign of the weakness of recovery in the world's second-largest economy. The banking giant's preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.6 this month from a final 50.4 in April, putting it below the 50 mark that indicates contraction. A reading above signals expansion. It was the lowest figure since October's 49.5, according to the bank's data, and the first time it had been below 50 since then.

Thailand's economy shrank 2.2 percent in the three months to March from the previous quarter -- the first contraction in more than a year -- as manufacturing output fell, official data showed Monday. The decline followed a blistering year-long recovery from devastating floods in late 2011 that hit major factories north of the capital Bangkok and caused a double-digit drop in gross domestic product (GDP). On a year-on-year basis, GDP expanded by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the government's National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) reported.

The Japanese government on Monday revised upward its basic assessment of the economy in May, as a weaker yen has helped exports bounce back, encouraging companies to boost production. The economy "is picking up slowly," the Cabinet Office said in its monthly economic report, in which it upgraded three of the 14 categories -- exports, industrial output and corporate earnings.