Afp Business Asia

Stocks rose Monday on the back of a fresh rally in tech firms and oil dipped as investors weighed the impact of the US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.While the South American leader’s removal added to geopolitical risk on global markets, traders chose to focus on the long-running artificial intelligence boom and hopes for more US interest rate cuts.The first full week of business for 2026 will also see the release of key jobs data that could play a role in the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on borrowing costs.Investors will also be on the lookout for an idea about who US President Donald Trump chooses to take the helm at the central bank when Jerome Powell steps down in May.Asian stocks were up across the board, led by markets with a heavy tech presence.Tokyo surged three percent thanks to tech investor SoftBank’s 4.9 percent gains and chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron’s 7.6 percent advance.The Kospi in Seoul gained more than three percent, with SK hynix up nearly three percent and Samsung Electronics soaring 7.5 percent.Taipei jumped 2.6 percent to a record high, led by chip titan TSMC rocketing more than five percent.Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Wellington and Manila were also well up, with Hong Kong and Sydney marginally higher.London, Paris and Frankfurt started on the front foot.The gains suggest investors were brushing off worries that valuations in the tech sector have become stretched and warnings about the timing and size of returns on huge AI investments.”This move now stands as the strongest start to a year for Asian equities since 2012, coming on the heels of a global market that just delivered its best annual return since 2017,” wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.Still, Kyle Rodda at Capital.com warned: “Valuations remain around levels exceeded only by the Dot.com bubble, while allocation to equities are at elevated levels at the same time allocation to cash is on the low side.”Most simply put, the markets probably need to see more evidence of resilient US growth, continued disinflation and therefore US rate cuts, strong corporate earnings, and the pay-offs from artificial intelligence to keep on rising.”Safe-haven investment gold was up more than one percent at about $4,400 per ounce.Oil edged down as investors assess the outlook after US forces attacked Venezuela early Saturday, bombing military targets and spiriting away Maduro and his wife to face federal charges in New York.Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and more Venezuelan crude in the market could exacerbate oversupply concerns and add to recent pressure on prices.Trump said the United States will now “run” Venezuela and send US companies to fix its dilapidated oil infrastructure.But analysts say that alongside other major questions about the South American country’s future, substantially lifting its oil production will not be easy, quick or cheap.After years of under-investment and sanctions, Venezuela pumps around one million barrels per day, down from around 3.5 million in 1999.”Any recovery in production would require substantial investment given the crumbling infrastructure resulting from years of mismanagement and underinvestment,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told AFP.Investing today also holds little appeal as oil prices are weighed down by a supply glut, and fell last year.- Key figures at around 0800 GMT – Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 3.0 percent at 51,832.80 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,347.24 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 4,023.42 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,971.50West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $56.83 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $60.27 per barrelEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1689 from $1.1720 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3423 from $1.3460 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.93 yen from 156.85 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.09 pence from 87.07 penceNew York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 48,382.39 (close)

A Japanese sushi entrepreneur paid a record $3.2 million for a giant bluefin tuna Monday at an annual prestigious new year auction in Tokyo’s main fish market, smashing the previous all-time high.Dave Gershman at the Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries team used news of the auction to highlight that stocks of Pacific bluefin tuna were improving after being “near collapse”.Self-styled “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura’s sushi restaurant chain paid the top price for the 243-kilogramme (536-pound) fish that was caught off Japan’s northern coast.”I’d thought we would be able to buy a little cheaper, but the price soared before you knew it,” Kimura said after the pre-dawn auction at Tokyo’s main fish market.”I was surprised at the price…I hope that by eating auspicious tuna, as many people as possible will feel energised,” he told reporters.The 510.3 million yen price at the new year’s auction was the highest since comparable data started being collected in 1999.The previous high was 333.6 million yen for a 278 kilogramme bluefin in 2019, after the fish market moved from its traditional Tsukiji area in central Tokyo to a more modern facility.The top bidder last year paid 207 million yen for a 276-kilogramme bluefin.Shortly after this year’s auction, the tuna was butchered and turned into sushi, selling for around 500 yen ($3) per roll.”I feel like I’ve begun the year in a good way after eating something so auspicious as the year starts,” 19-year-old Minami Sugiyama told AFP from a table in one of Kimura’s restaurants in Tsukiji.Fellow customer Kiyoshi Nishimura agreed.”Even without dipping it in soy sauce, there’s sweetness. And the richness, the texture… it just makes you feel happy,” the 40-year-old Shinto priest said.During the Covid-19 pandemic the new year tunas commanded only a fraction of their usual top prices as restaurants scaled back operations.Gershman said in an emailed statement that a 2017 recovery plan “is working, and if decision makers take further action in 2026, the future for Pacific bluefin will be bright”.”This year, fisheries managers from Japan, the United States, Korea, and other countries from across the Pacific who target bluefin should agree on a long-term, sustainable management plan that would lock in a healthy population and ensure that the species never again faces the overfishing of the past,” he added.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet Monday with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, with closer economic ties as well as the recalcitrant North on the agenda.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his meeting with Xi comes a day after the nuclear-armed North fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.The pair will meet for an opening ceremony and a summit before the signing of an agreement and a state banquet, Seoul has said.The South Korean leader, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to secure pledges to expand economic cooperation with his country’s largest trading partner.He has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.On Monday Lee met with top executives from both South Korean and Chinese firms at Beijing’s opulent Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported.South Korea and China “have helped each other grow through interconnected industrial supply chains and led the global economy”, he told them.Among the Chinese firms represented were battery giant CATL as well as phone maker ZTE and tech giant Tencent, Yonhap said.On the South Korean side, Lee is accompanied by Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair Chung Eui-sun, among others.Lee also hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.”China is a very important cooperative partner in moving toward peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said during a meeting with Korean residents in Beijing on Sunday, according to Yonhap.- Pyongyang tensions -Hours before Xi and Lee were due to meet, Pyongyang declared that it had launched two hypersonic missiles and that its nuclear forces were ready for “actual war”.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of the APEC summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju — a meeting Seoul framed as a reset of ties after years of tension.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.And Lee’s trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee also deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday, Lee said he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.

Asian stocks rose Monday on the back of a fresh rally in tech firms and oil fluctuated as investors weighed the impact of the US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.While the South American leader’s removal added to geopolitical risk on global markets, traders chose to focus on the long-running artificial intelligence boom and hopes for more US interest rate cuts.The first full week of business for 2026 will also see the release of key jobs data that could play a role in the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on borrowing costs.Investors will also be on the lookout for an idea about who US President Donald Trump chooses to take the helm at the central bank when Jerome Powell steps down in May.In early trade, Asian stocks were up across the board, led by markets with heavy tech presence.Tokyo surged 2.8 percent thanks to tech investor SoftBank’s four percent gains and chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron’s five percent advance.The Kospi in Seoul gained more than two percent, with SK Hynix up more than three percent and Samsung Electronics soaring 4.6 percent.Taipei was 2.5 percent up as chip titan TSMC rocketed more than five percent.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington and Manila were also well up.The gains suggest investors were brushing off worries that valuations in the tech sector have become stretched and warnings about the timing and size of returns on huge AI investments.”This move now stands as the strongest start to a year for Asian equities since 2012, coming on the heels of a global market that just delivered its best annual return since 2017,” wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.Still, Kyle Rodda at Capital.com warned: “Valuations remain around levels exceeded only by the Dot.com bubble, while allocation to equities are at elevated levels at the same time allocation to cash is on the low side.”Most simply put, the markets probably need to see more evidence of resilient US growth, continued disinflation and therefore US rate cuts, strong corporate earnings, and the pay-offs from artificial intelligence to keep on rising.”Safe-haven investment gold was up more than one percent at about $4,400 per ounce.Oil shifted between gains and losses after US forces attacked Venezuela early Saturday, bombing military targets and spiriting away Maduro and his wife to face federal charges in New York.Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and more Venezuelan crude in the market could exacerbate oversupply concerns and add to recent pressure on prices.Trump said the United States will now “run” Venezuela and send US companies to fix its dilapidated oil infrastructure.But analysts say that alongside other major questions about the South American country’s future, substantially lifting its oil production will not be easy, quick or cheap.After years of under-investment and sanctions, Venezuela pumps around one million barrels per day, down from around 3.5 million in 1999.”Any recovery in production would require substantial investment given the crumbling infrastructure resulting from years of mismanagement and underinvestment,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told AFP.Investing today also holds little appeal as oil prices are weighed down by a supply glut, and fell last year.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT – Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.8 percent at 51,759.10 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 26,428.49Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 4,004.99West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $57.28 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $60.79 per barrelEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1696 from $1.1720 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3437 from $1.3460 Dollar/yen: UP at 157.06 yen from 156.85 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.05 pence from 87.07 penceNew York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 48,382.39 points (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,951.14 (close)

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung arrived in China on Sunday for a four-day visit, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years, and his trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.”China is a very important cooperative partner in moving toward peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said during a meeting with Korean residents in Beijing, according to Yonhap news agency.Lee added his visit “would serve as a new starting point to fill in the gaps in Korea-China relations, restore them to normal and upgrade them to a new level”.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday, he said that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung arrived in China on Sunday, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his four-day trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.”Taking sides only worsens tensions,” he told journalists last month.And he has long dodged questions about whether Seoul would intervene in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize.Lee said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung left for China on Sunday, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his four-day trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.”Taking sides only worsens tensions,” he told journalists last month.And he has long dodged questions about whether Seoul would intervene in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize.Lee said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

Tesla’s sales fell in 2025, the company reported Friday, ceding its position as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker for the year to Chinese auto giant BYD.The American company led by Elon Musk logged 418,227 deliveries in the final three months of the year, taking its full-year sales figure to around 1.64 million EVs.This marked a drop in sales of more than eight percent compared with 2024.A day prior, BYD said that it sold 2.26 million EVs last year.Analysts had expected Tesla’s sales in the final quarter to slow less, to 449,000, according to a FactSet consensus.The pullback comes amid the elimination of a $7,500 US tax credit at the end of September 2025, with industry watchers noting it will take time for EV demand to rebalance.But even before then, Tesla had seen sales struggle in key markets over CEO Musk’s political support of US President Donald Trump and other far-right politicians. Tesla has also been grappling with rising competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, and from European giants.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, unveiled record EV sales in the past year on Thursday.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995 and originally specialized in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles, a term used to describe various vehicles from fully electric ones to plug-in hybrids. China is the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.BYD is now looking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.While BYD and other Chinese EV producers come up against hefty tariffs in the United States, the company’s success is picking up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in Europe.Tesla only narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with the US company’s 1.79 million outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.Tesla shares closed 2.6 percent down in New York on Friday.Analysts at Wedbush Securities noted that Tesla’s quarterly sales figure remained better than some had speculated.They flagged that the company faces a “more difficult demand environment following the end of the EV tax credit while Europe remains a headwind to its deliveries.”The company still sees challenges obtaining certain regulatory approval in Europe — relating to self-driving technology — with sales potentially rebounding once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.”Sales around smaller and emerging markets have started to see larger growth metrics than expectations which look to offset the declines in key regions like China and Europe,” Wedbush analysts said.

Stock markets mostly rose on Friday, the first trading day of 2026, with London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index reaching 10,000 points for the first time.After indices smashed records in 2025, ending with double-digit annual gains, London continued the trend in early new year deals.The capital’s top-tier index — featuring the likes of energy group BP, telecoms firm Vodafone and banking giant HSBC — gained more than one percent to reach an all-time high of 10,046.25 points soon after the start of trading Friday.It gave up much of its gains but still ended the day up 0.2 percent to set a fresh closing record.”The FTSE 100 hit the 10,000 jackpot level immediately after rounding off a tremendous year for UK shares,” noted Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell trading group.The index climbed more than 21 percent in 2025, the biggest rise for 16 years, helped in large part by cuts to British interest rates alongside reductions to borrowing costs by the US Federal Reserve as global inflation largely retreated.Helping the FTSE 100 to its new record Friday was another solid gain to the share price of gold miner Fresnillo, whose stock rocketed 436 percent last year as the precious metal’s price struck multiple record highs.Paris and Frankfurt also rose on Friday after Hong Kong led Asian gains, closing up 2.8 percent.Wall Street’s major indices mostly closed higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 up 0.2 percent and the Dow adding 0.7 percent.”AI-related names have been at the forefront of today’s strength in international markets, drawing support from news that Baidu’s chip unit filed for an IPO in Hong Kong,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Also on Friday on the Hong Kong stock exchange, shares in Chinese chip designer Biren Technology soared as much as 119 percent in the exchange’s first listing of the year. It closed at HK$34.46, off its intra-day high of HK$42.88 but well up on its offer price of HK$19.60.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to AI remains insatiable.”The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities.The surge in the tech sector on vast amounts of cash pumped into artificial intelligence helped push stock markets to record highs last year, and propelled AI chip juggernaut Nvidia to become the world’s first $5 trillion company. Concerns that valuations of AI stocks are too high, however, gnawed at investors late in 2025. Briefing.com’s O’Hare said Friday’s “news should be encouraging to investors who are worried that overall AI investment could be on the verge of stalling or turning.”Shares in Tesla dropped 2.6 percent on Wall Street after the company ceded the title of the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker to Chinese auto giant BYD for 2025.Oil prices slid, having lost nearly 20 percent last year on an oversupplied market.- Key figures at around 2100 GMT – New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 48,382.39 points (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,858.47 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: FLAT at 23,235.63 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,951.14 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 8,195.21 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 24,539.34 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.8 percent at 26,338.47 (close)Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1720 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3460 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.85 yen from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.07 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $60.75 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $57.30 per barrelburs-rl-bys/aha

Tesla’s sales fell in 2025, the company reported Friday, ceding its position as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker for the year to Chinese auto giant BYD.The American company led by Elon Musk logged 418,227 deliveries in the final three months of the year, taking its full-year sales figure to around 1.64 million EVs.This marked a drop in sales of more than eight percent compared with 2024.A day prior, BYD said that it sold 2.26 million EVs last year.Analysts had expected Tesla’s sales in the final quarter to slow less, to 449,000, according to a FactSet consensus.The pullback comes amid the elimination of a $7,500 US tax credit at the end of September 2025, with industry watchers noting it will take time for EV demand to rebalance.But even before then, Tesla had seen sales struggle in key markets over CEO Musk’s political support of US President Donald Trump and other far-right politicians. Tesla has also been grappling with rising competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, and from European giants.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, unveiled record EV sales in the past year on Thursday.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995 and originally specialized in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles, a term used to describe various vehicles from fully electric ones to plug-in hybrids. China is the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.BYD is now looking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.While BYD and other Chinese EV producers come up against hefty tariffs in the United States, the company’s success is picking up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in Europe.Tesla only narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.Tesla shares dipped 0.5 percent in early trading in New York on Friday.Analysts at Wedbush Securities noted that Tesla’s quarterly sales figure remained better than some had speculated.They flagged that the company faces a “more difficult demand environment following the end of the EV tax credit while Europe remains a headwind to its deliveries.”The company still sees challenges obtaining certain regulatory approval in Europe — relating to self-driving tech — with sales potentially rebounding once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.”Sales around smaller and emerging markets have started to see larger growth metrics than expectations which look to offset the declines in key regions like China and Europe,” Wedbush analysts said.