Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the Northern Metropolis is to be built into the city’s primary platform for taking an active part in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and for integrating into and serving the country’s overall development. Lee set out the positioning in remarks on the mega development project in the city’s northern districts.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the city will promote cross-border low-altitude logistics across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, leveraging the region’s industrial base and geographic advantages and its experience cooperating with neighboring mainland GBA cities. The plan aims to connect resources and factors of production across the three GBA jurisdictions, expand low-altitude cross-border logistics use cases, and accelerate the formation of an integrated, large-scale low-altitude cross-border logistics network covering the Greater Bay Area.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee on 16 July unveiled the territory’s first five-year economic and social development plan for 2026-2030, which includes participation in the development and certification of Chinese-made aircraft. The plan also calls for building an aircraft-parts processing and trading ecosystem, creating Asia’s first such center, and developing a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industrial chain across the Greater Bay Area, including a fuel blending facility in Hong Kong.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s STAR 50 index rose 4.5% in morning trading on September 16, leading a broad A-share rally, with the ChiNext up 2.35% and the Shanghai Composite up 0.57%. Semiconductor and computing-hardware shares drove gains, including optical-module and PCB names, while nearly 4,200 stocks advanced across the three markets on turnover of 1.17 trillion yuan. Travel and auto shares fell.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Natural Resources dispatched the research vessel Haiyang Dizhi No. 10 to conduct a multi-disciplinary comprehensive geological survey in the waters off Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao) from August 11 to September 8. The survey was organized by the China Geological Survey under the ministry to fully assess basic geological elements and ecological conditions in waters under Chinese jurisdiction.

TREE NEWS reports: Spot gold rose 1% intraday to $4,333.64 an ounce. The move extends the metal’s advance as investors continue to bid up bullion.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee on the 16th released the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2026–2030). The plan runs to seven sections and 58 chapters, totalling about 60,000 words, Lee said. It sets out the blueprint for Hong Kong’s development over the next five years.

TREE NEWS update: China’s national railway network completed 511.8 billion yuan of fixed-asset investment in the first eight months of the year, up 1.5% year on year, China State Railway Group said. The investment supported related industries and employment, the company said, adding momentum to domestic demand and stable growth.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s STAR 50 Index, tracking the 50 largest companies on Shanghai’s STAR Market, climbed more than 3% in a single session. The move marks a sharp advance for the tech-heavy benchmark, which lists semiconductor, AI and biotech names. No further details on the drivers or individual constituents were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Shanghai Metals Market data showed the MMLC battery-grade lithium carbonate early-session midpoint price at 128,600 yuan per tonne, down 2,750 yuan from the previous day’s 16:30 level. The decline marks a lower reference price for the battery material used in EV and energy-storage cells.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s ChiNext Index rose more than 1% while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.03% and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.33%. The STAR 50 index climbed nearly 2.8%, with semiconductor chips, computing hardware and innovative drugs among the leading gainers. Nearly 3,100 stocks advanced across the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing exchanges.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% while the broader Topix rose 0.5% at the morning session close in Tokyo. The split morning finish left the blue-chip index slightly lower and the wider market in positive territory.

TREE NEWS update: Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approved a 2027 defense budget plus special budget that together approach 4% of GDP, and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim reiterated President Lai Ching-te’s pledge to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP. Asked about this at a regular press conference on September 16, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the move is “self-destructive.”

TREE NEWS update: The Pinglu Canal, the backbone project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China, has officially opened to navigation. The canal links the Xijiang river system with the Beibu Gulf, giving inland western provinces a direct water route to the sea and cutting shipping distances for regional cargo. It is a flagship piece of the corridor’s transport infrastructure.

TREE NEWS reports: Foreign institutions held 3.19 trillion yuan of bonds in China’s interbank market as of the end of August, the People’s Bank of China said. That equals about 1.7% of total interbank bond market custody, the central bank said.

TREE NEWS reports: Overseas institutions added about 1.6 billion yuan of Chinese government bonds in August, a fourth consecutive month of net buying, lifting their total holdings to nearly 2.03 trillion yuan. Holdings of policy bank bonds also rose slightly, by roughly 600 million yuan.

TREE NEWS reports: New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund, the New Zealand Super Fund, returned 14.2% in the year to June, even after underweighting the US technology stocks that drove global gains. CEO Jo Townsend said about half the portfolio sits in equities but the US allocation is underweight, citing stretched valuations. She said the fund has found other opportunities it believes will add diversification and long-term returns.

TREE NEWS update: China lifted its four-and-a-half-month summer fishing ban across the Yellow Sea and East China Sea between 35°N and 26°30’N at 12:00 on August 16, opening all four of its major fishing areas — the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China Seas — to fishing. Late-ban resource density in the northern East China Sea rose about 9.8 times versus the early ban period, and 4.7 times in the southern Yellow Sea.

TREE NEWS update: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a cabinet reshuffle will take place on Thursday. The announcement gives no further detail on which portfolios will change or who will be appointed. The reshuffle is the first under Takaichi’s premiership.

TREE NEWS update: A South Korean appeals court on the 16th acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol of perjury charges linked to the insurrection trial of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. The verdict overturns a lower court ruling, clearing Yoon on the charge of giving false testimony in that proceeding.