Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said winning market trust and maintaining market order are crucial, declining to comment on the two Bank of Japan board members who dissented. She gave no further details on the matter.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s commodity futures market closed sharply lower, with the front-month crude oil contract falling more than 9%. Coking coal dropped over 7% and coke slid more than 5%, while fuel oil, LPG, bottle chip, paraxylene and staple fiber each declined over 4%. On the upside, Shanghai silver rose nearly 4%, with palladium, the container shipping Europe route, platinum and Shanghai lead all gaining more than 2%.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the annual spring wage negotiations are an important factor shaping the country’s price trend. Ueda made the remark as the central bank continues to assess whether wage growth will sustainably support inflation around its 2% target.

TREE NEWS update: The dollar fell about 50 pips against the yen to 156.65 after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said he has no preset idea on the pace of interest-rate hikes. Ueda said policy decisions will be made after thorough discussion at each meeting, taking into account the timing and pace of policy adjustments.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the stage at which monetary policy is being implemented has changed. The remark, delivered without further specifics in the material, points to a shift in the BOJ’s policy framing. No additional details on the timing or direction of any policy move were given.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank will keep raising interest rates depending on economic, price and financial conditions, and will monitor Middle East developments, yen volatility and AI demand. The BOJ will weigh the timing and pace of adjustments while watching risks to its baseline economic and price outlook. Ueda said keeping underlying inflation stable around 2% is important, and the current degree of monetary easing is appropriate for sustainably achieving the 2% price target.

TREE NEWS reports: South Korea’s KOSPI closed up 180.14 points, or 2.68%, at 6,895.55 on Friday, with SK Hynix rising 6.41% and Samsung Electronics gaining 3.36%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 882.70 points, or 1.38%, at 65,018.95, with SoftBank up more than 1%.

TREE NEWS reports: European Central Bank Governing Council member Martins Kazaks said the energy price shock is proving more persistent. The remark points to lingering inflation pressure from energy costs in the euro area, a factor the ECB weighs in setting interest rates.

TREE NEWS reports: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Japan’s economy is recovering moderately. The remark was delivered as the central bank chief’s assessment of current economic conditions. No further figures, policy decisions or dates were disclosed in the statement.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.4% higher at 65,018.95, while the broader Topix slipped 0.1% to 4,091.14. South Korea’s Kospi Composite ended up 2.7% at 6,894.23, outpacing the Japanese benchmarks in the session.

TREE NEWS update: WeBank has raised the interest rate on its 3-year time deposits to 1.75% from 1.6%, a 15-basis-point increase, as several private banks in China lift rates on selected deposit products. The bank’s latest lump-sum fixed deposit rates range from 1.1% for 3 months to 1.75% for 3 years, with the 5-year rate at 1.6% — leaving the 5-year rate below the 3-year rate.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude oil fell 1.5% during the session to trade at $95.76 a barrel. The intraday drop puts the US benchmark below the $96 mark. No further details were immediately available.

TREE NEWS reports: Pakistan’s KSE-100 index rose 1% to 170,751.70 points. The benchmark index for the Pakistan Stock Exchange gained on the session, reaching that level on the day.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s A-share real estate sector rose on Thursday, with China Vanke’s A-shares hitting the 10% daily limit up. China Wuyi, China Merchants Shekou, Binjiang Group, Huafa Industrial and Poly Developments & Holdings advanced in sympathy. No specific catalyst was cited in the market data.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a monetary policy press conference at 14:30 Beijing time. The briefing follows the central bank’s monetary policy meeting. No further details on the policy decision or Ueda’s remarks were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Spot gold rose 1% intraday to $4,386.01 an ounce. The move marks a fresh intraday gain for the metal, with the price quoted at that level during the session.

TREE NEWS reports: The main Europe container freight index futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 6% to 2,255 points. The move marks a sharp single-session gain for the shipping-linked contract traded on the Chinese exchange.

TREE NEWS update: Cai Dong has been appointed a Party Committee member of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, the regulator’s official leadership page showed. Cai, born in October 1968, spent years in the financial system, including as ICBC Tianjin branch head and vice president of China Development Bank and Agricultural Bank of China. He became Jilin vice governor in October 2019 and later executive vice governor.

TREE NEWS reports: Germany’s producer price index rose 4.6% year-on-year in August, above the 3.9% expected and up from 3% in the previous reading. The stronger-than-forecast print points to persistent pipeline price pressure in Europe’s largest economy.

TREE NEWS reports: Solidigm, the NAND flash subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Hynix, is considering building its first NAND flash memory factory in the United States, Yonhap reported. No site, investment figure or timeline was disclosed. Solidigm was formed after SK Hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and SSD business.