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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Nikkei (0.58%), Hang Seng (0.33%), Shanghai Composite (0.22%) as of 04:10 ET

Oct 28 ,2025

• Synopsis:

  • Asia equities ended largely lower Tuesday. Steepest losses on Japan's Topix with declines elsewhere limited to under 1%. Singapore an outlier as it advanced to a fresh record high while the Philippines was also a minor exception to an otherwise down day. US futures a few points lower, Europe lower in opening trades. Dollar down a little, strength in the yen, AUD and NZD pared early gains. Treasuries mixed, JGB yields lower across tenors. Crude oil and precious metals lower, base metals paring early gains. Cryptocurrencies under pressure.

  • Asia stocks mostly retreated from yesterday's surge amid some profit taking ahead of the next set of catalysts later in the week with major corporate earnings, central bank decisions and the APEC summit all on tap. Further easing in trade tensions visible today as Trump visited Japan and signed a rare earth supply agreement and security deal with Tokyo but little else not already known. Separately, Washington and Seoul not expected to finalize trade deal before Presidential-level meeting Wednesday amid disagreements over Seoul's $350B investment commitment. Brussels and Beijing to hold talks this week on rare earths curbs and Nexperia.

  • In separate developments, South Korea Q3 GDP growth was 1.2%, above consensus on 1.0% and Q2's 0.7%; Bank of Korea raised its FY25 GDP growth forecast to 0.9% from 0.8% on consumption recovery, solid export performance. Speaking Monday evening, RBA Governor Bullock said board weighing whether to cut rates in November to support labor market but downplayed September's weak jobs data. China and the ASEAN trade bloc signed an upgrade to their free trade agreement to include digital trade, environmental issues and new industries. India's government said it would allow foreign investors to own up to 49% of state-owned banks.

  • Nidec (6594.JP) stock was placed on 'special alert' amid a third-party investigation into suspected irregular accounting; stock to be removed from Nikkei and Topix indexes, replaced by Ibiden (4062.JP). Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision, 2317.TT) said it approved an investment plan worth almost $1.4B for an AI compute cluster and a supercomputing center. Sany Heavy Industry (6031.HK) debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange as Temasek, Hillhouse Investment and BlackRock all confirmed they were cornerstone investors. CSL (CSL.AU) postponed plans to spin off its Seqirus vaccine business as US vaccination rates have declined at a greater pace than expected, will return to market when market conditions improve. Bain Capital is considering an offer for Domino Pizza Enterprises (DMP.AU) in a deal worth up to A$4B ($2.6B) according to an AFR report. Rio Tinto (RIO.AU) said its Australia-based aluminum smelter may be forced to close as it could struggle to source power at commercially viable rates from 2028.

• Digest:

  • Trump-Takaichi sign agreements to deepen security alliance, secure rare earth supplies:

    • FT reported a broadly positive outcome from the Trump-Takaichi meeting Tuesday. Trump remarked the US-Japan alliance was at its "strongest level" and relations with Washington's most important regional ally would strengthen further. Leaders signed two agreements, calling on both sides to "take further steps for a new golden age" for the US-Japan security alliance. Second agreement aimed at securing supply of critical minerals and rare earths, including investment in mining and processing, as part of a push to reduce reliance on China. After Takaichi declared Japan would accelerate an increase in defense spending to 2% of GDP by this fiscal year, Trump expressed approval and indicated Japan placed orders for "a very large amount new military equipment" without providing details. Nikkei noted other expected agenda items include Japan purchases of US agricultural products worth $8B per year, as well as autos and 100 Boeing aircraft. Alaskan LNG offtake agreement ties in with Washington pressure on allies to stop buying Russian energy where proceeds are being used to finance the war in Ukraine. Elsewhere, two sides will sign memorandum of cooperation on a bilateral tech prosperity deal entailing collaboration in areas such as AI, quantum computing and space. Shipbuilding MOU under consideration.

  • Shanghai Composite tops 4,000 level for first time in more than a decade as trade tensions de-escalate:

    • Shanghai Composite topped 4,000 points Tuesday morning, a key psychological barrier, for first time since Aug-2015, following last weekend's US-China trade talks in Malaysia that hashed out framework of a deal and paved way for first in-person meeting between President Trump and Xi since 2019 on Thursday. Bloomberg added breach over 4K level is marker of broad optimism running through Chinese markets, driven by trade progress and AI enthusiasm. Meanwhile questions arise over sustainability of equity upswing as the index hovered mostly within 3k to 4k point range over last decade and at multiple times required authorities' support when it slipped below lower bound. Another Bloomberg article noted CICC said profits at firms listed onshore seen growing 5.8% y/y in Q3, biggest jump in more than four years and compares with 1.6% y/y gain in preceding quarter. Pointed to uneven nature of profit recovery that is concentrated in few sectors such as AI and materials as consumption and property remain a drag. Added macro backdrop of US-China trade developments seen as more important factor in driving short-term equity moves.

  • Yen notably stronger following Bessent-Katayama readout:

    • Yen broadly stronger Tuesday, reaching highest levels versus dollar since 23-Oct. Momentum attributed mainly to US Treasury Department's readout of Bessent's meeting with Japan Finance Minister Katayama on Monday, during which Bessent highlighted "the important role of sound monetary policy formulation and communication in anchoring inflation expectations and preventing excess exchange rate volatility, as conditions are substantially different twelve years after the introduction of Abenomics." Adds to well-established stance that yen and policy rate are too low. Katayama's earlier account of their meeting indicated two sides reaffirmed a consensus reached in September that exchange rates should be determined by the market (Nikkei). Treasury Department readout was consistent with Bessent's earlier comments made on 15-Oct after the last time USD/JPY had topped 153 that yen will find its own level if BOJ follows "proper monetary policy" (Reuters). Bessent previously suggested in August that BOJ was behind the curve in addressing inflation risk. Additionally, lower US yields also supporting yen amid lingering reverberations from the US CPI miss that galvanized Fed rate cut expectations. Corporate flows apparently favored importer dollar demand in spot, though there was more attention on exporters buying yen forwards.

  • Lutnick says Japan's $550B US investment to focus on infrastructure, energy:

    • In a Nikkei interview Monday, US Commerce Secretary Lutnick said Japan's commitment to invest $550B in the US would focus on infrastructure such as power and pipelines -- projects "that are fundamental to national security and have virtually no risk." Noted that 10 to 12 Japanese companies involved in areas such as power supply and shipbuilding are preparing to explore investment opportunities in the US, with the first project expected to be identified as early as the end of this year. Japanese companies would provide gas turbines, transformers and cooling systems to help expand US generation capacity as data centers push demand higher. Added that more than half the investment may be directed toward electricity and energy development. Suggested the Alaska LNG project could qualify. Amid corporate concerns about the recent US work visa issue, Lutnick offered assurances that Washington will likely relax regulations. Amid ongoing concerns that sector-specific tariffs remain in the pipeline such as for semiconductors and pharmas, Lutnick said Japan levies would remain at 15%, a notable remark given this stipulation has yet to be document in a presidential order.

  • US-China framework agreement leaves questions unanswered:

    • Markets welcoming US-China trade de-escalation following framework agreement that Treasury Secretary Bessent said is likely to avert 100% tariff threatened by Trump, see China delay rare earths curbs by a year and revive US soybeans purchases. While China said preliminary consensus reached on export controls, fentanyl, and shipping levies, agreement left open several questions (Bloomberg). Unclear whether US will offer relief from 20% fentanyl tariff and new shipping levies whileBessent said US did not cede any ground on export controls. This fed sense agreement only returns US and China back to their fragile trade truce, rather than being a more substantive deal that addresses fundamental differences between two sides. US considered unlikely to meaningfully relax tech export controls or fully lift tariffs, and media sources close to China's government say Xi is convinced rare earths are key point of leverage to extract more meaningful US concessions. US calls for China to rebalance economy towards consumption also appear unheeded with Beijing prioritizing advanced manufacturing as part of its next five-year plan (Reuters).

  • Notable Gainers:

    • +29.9% 336260.KS (Doosan Fuel Cell): Hyundai Motor Group is expected to announce its hydrogen industry vision at the APEC Summit

    • +16.4% 4062.JP (IBIDEN): to replace Nidec in Nikkei 225, effective 5-Nov

    • +9.5% 006400.KS (Samsung SDI): expects US ESS supply shortage to last through 2030; in talks with robotics company for battery cooperation

    • +3.2% 9984.JP (SoftBank Group): chief to attend APEC amid AI alliance talks with Samsung

    • +1.4% 2317.TT (Hon Hai Precision Industry): to invests up to NT$42B to establish a supercomputing center; expects to operate in 2026 and focus on inference applications

    • +0.3% 9202.JP (ANA HOLDINGS): report of expecting FY operating profit around ¥200.0B vs guidance ¥185.0B

  • Notable Decliners:

    • -19.5% 6594.JP (Nidec): IBIDEN to replace Nidec in Nikkei 225, effective 5-Nov

    • -5.5% 7751.JP (Canon): reports Q3 net income attributable ¥63.67B vs StreetAccount ¥66.65B; guides net income attributable ¥325.50B vs prior guidance ¥330.00B

    • -2.5% 168.HK (Tsingtao Brewery): reports Q3 net income attributable CNY1.37B vs FactSet CNY1.41B

    • -0.2% 2600.HK (Aluminum Corp. of China): reports Q3 net income attributable CNY3.80B vs FactSet CNY2.99B

• Data:

  • Economic:

    • South Korea Q3

      • GDP +1.2% q/q vs consensus +1.0% and +0.7% in prior quarter

        • GDP +1.7% y/y vs consensus +1.5% and +0.6% in prior quarter

  • Markets:

    • Nikkei: (293.14) or (0.58%) to 50219.18

    • Hang Seng: (87.56) or (0.33%) to 26346.14

    • Shanghai Composite: (8.72) or (0.22%) to 3988.22

    • Shenzhen Composite: (5.81) or (0.23%) to 2516.97

    • ASX200: (43.10) or (0.48%) to 9012.50

    • KOSPI: (32.42) or (0.80%) to 4010.41

    • SENSEX: (168.27) or (0.20%) to 84610.57

  • Currencies:

    • $-¥: (0.75) or (0.49%) to 152.1210

    • $-KRW: +8.16 or +0.57% to 1437.8100

    • A$-$: (0.00) or (0.09%) to 0.6550

    • $-INR: +0.06 or +0.07% to 88.2812

    • $-CNY: (0.01) or (0.16%) to 7.0994