Jul 15 ,2026
Synopsis:
Asia equities ended higher Wednesday, led by a resurgence in Ai-related tech stocks. South Korea's Kospi led while there were strong gains for the Nikkei 225, Topix and Taiwan's Taiex. The Hang Seng gained for a second consecutive day, but mainland China boards fell a little. Singapore's STI rose to another fresh record high, other Southeast Asia benchmarks were mostly higher, India flat now after a bright open. US futures higher, Europe opened mixed. US dollar flat, some small gains in several Asia currencies but the yen and yuan were flat. Treasury yields higher across tenors, JGB yields lower. Crude oil futures higher again as Brent tops $86/bl; precious metals losing steam, base metals also under pressure. Cryptocurrencies lower.
Asia equities rallied from the bell Wednesday following a strong finish on Wall Street overnight amid improved optimism over inflation and the tech cycle. This led to South Korea's Kospi to advance more than 6% but not before a 'sidecar' program trading halt, this time to the upside. Japan's Nikkei 225, the Taiex and Hong Kong's tech sector all advanced with AI-related names again outperforming as the 'usual suspects' outperformed: Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), SK Hynix (000660.KS), Kioxia (285A.JP), Advantest (6857.JP), Tokyo Electron (8035.JP), Nanya Tech (2408.TT) were all notable gainers, while Samsung SDI (006400.KS) and SK Innovation (096770.KS) in the EV battery cluster outperformed too.
Tech stocks shrugged off the latest Gulf developments that saw a trickle of Iran-based cargo ships pass the Strait of Hormuz before the US embargo was re-established. Tehran also threatened to block other seaways in the Red Sea in retaliation while President Trump said the US would target Iranian power plants and bridges. Brent and WTI continue to trade near month-long highs but were stable during Asia trading hours.
In other developments, China's Q2 GDP growth missed forecasts as the oil shock and weak domestic demand more than offset strong exports and a manufacturing surge. June's economic activity figures showed a continued pattern of weak retail sales, an improvement in industrial output and a sharp decline in investment. New home prices also fell again although the pace of decline eased while lending data missed forecasts. Separate data showed China cut oil refining output in June amid weak demand and a collapse in imports.
The US has granted ZTE (763.HK) Kingsoft Cloud (3896.HK) and several others licenses to buy Nvidia's and AMD advanced chips. ChangXin Memory Technologies (+CXMT.CH) is seeking to raise $9.8B in its Shanghai IPO, according to filings. DeepSeek (+DeepSeek) is preparing for an IPO filing as soon as this year, sources have told Bloomberg. DBS Group (D05.SP) said it aims to grow AUM in its wealth business to more than S$1T ($774B) by 2030.
Digest:
Notable Gainers:
+8.8% 000660.KS (SK Hynix): South Korean semiconductor sector move; follow-through from US ADRs' +27% surge
+8.1% 1801.HK (Innovent Biologics): FDA grants full approval of Retevmo for RET fusion positive solid tumors; FDA approves sNDA for Verzenio; Spero Therapeutics and Innovent Biologics announce exclusive license for SP001 (IBI355)
+5.7% 1880.HK (China Tourism Group Duty Free): reports preliminary H1 net income attributable CNY3.11B vs year-ago CNY2.60B
+4.1% 000858.CH (Wuliangye Yibin): guides H1 net income attributable CNY8.73-9.20B vs year-ago CNY4.62B
+2.6% 3387.JP (create restaurants holdings): reports Q1 net income ¥2.60B vs year-ago ¥1.94B; revenue and operating income both higher y/y
+0.2% 002466.CH (Tianqi Lithium): guides H1 net income attributable CNY2.85-4.25B vs year-ago CNY84.4M
Notable Decliners:
-11.9% 3323.HK (China National Building Material): guides H1 net income attributable (CNY890.0M) vs year-ago CNY1.36B
-7% 7599.JP (IDOM Inc): reports Q1 revenue above FactSet estimate, but operating income misses
-4.3% 1419.JP (Tama Home): reports FY operating profit ¥3.84B, (6.6%) y/y; net sales and net income also decline; discloses mid-term plan
Data:
Economic:
China
Q2 GDP +4.3% y/y vs consensus +4.5% and +5.0% in prior quarter
GDP +0.9% q/q vs consensus +0.9% and +1.3% in prior quarter
June industrial production +5.3% y/y vs consensus +4.6% and +4.5% in prior month
Retail sales +1.0% y/y vs consensus (0.1%) and (0.6%) in prior month
Fixed asset investment (YTD) (5.7%) y/y vs consensus (5.0%) and (4.1%) in prior month
Unemployment rate 5.0% vs consensus 5.1% and 5.1% in prior month
June new house prices (0.1%) m/m vs (0.2%) in prior month (Reuters)
Japan
July Reuters Tankan manufacturers sentiment index +13 vs +13 in prior month
Nonmanufacturers index +25 vs +32 in prior month
Outlook indexes manufacturers +14, nonmanufacturers +25
May core machinery orders (12.4%) m/m vs consensus (4.2%) and +8.7% in prior month
South Korea June
Unemployment rate 2.7% vs FactSet consensus 2.9% and 2.8% in prior month
Markets:
Nikkei: 1,008.01 or +1.49% to 68751.51
Hang Seng: 340.37 or +1.40% to 24681.10
Shanghai Composite: (11.55) or (0.29%) to 3955.58
Shenzhen Composite: (17.88) or (0.68%) to 2608.27
ASX200: 32.60 or +0.37% to 8841.10
KOSPI: 427.58 or +6.24% to 7284.41
SENSEX: 114.96 or +0.15% to 77169.90
Currencies:
$-¥: +0.03 or +0.02% to 162.2900
$-KRW: +3.10 or +0.21% to 1492.4670
A$-$: +0.00 or +0.10% to 0.6983
$-INR: +0.11 or +0.11% to 96.2534
$-CNY: (0.00) or (0.02%) to 6.7704
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