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TOKYO: Japanese government bond yields rose on Tuesday as investors weighed the expansion of government spending, while markets eyed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet reshuffle. The 10-year JGB yield rose as much as 4.5 basis points (bps) to touch 3.025%, its highest since September 1996. The five-year yield rose 4 bps to record high of 2.315%. Yields move inversely to bond prices. “As talks on the planned cuts to food taxes have been progressing, worries about the resources for the tax cuts grew,” said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. Japan’s government is set to finalise on Tuesday an outline for a consumption tax cut and payouts to households with no mention of how to fund the measures, a move that may keep alive market concerns over the nation’s already strained finances. JGBs were also under upward pressure amid a global bond selloff. The 10-year Treasury yield hit the key psychological level of 5% on Monday for the first time since October 2023. While awaiting the outcome of central bank meetings in the US and Japan this week, markets are also looking out for the Takaichi administration’s cabinet reshuffle, strategists sai

SHANGHAI: China’s yuan edged lower against the US dollar on Tuesday, as the greenback hovered near a two-week high and a slate of economic data pointed to persistently weak domestic demand. The spot yuan opened at 6.7100 per dollar and was last trading at 6.7104 at 0237 GMT, 19 pips lower than the previous late-session close. The dollar inched up to trade near a two-week high on Tuesday as surging oil prices lifted Treasury yields and reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this week. “Markets continue to be dominated by sharp increases in developed market yields, concerns around oil price increases with a resumption of the Middle East conflict, coupled with fears around a substantial slowdown in AI spending,” analysts at MUFG said in a note, adding that they have turned more cautious on risk sentiment. China’s industrial output picked up pace in August, though sluggish consumption and a worsening investment slump reinforced concerns about deepening economic imbalances. Meanwhile, China’s subdued August credit figures suggest that liquidity is likely to remain abundant and interest rates low by the end of the year, analysts at China Great Wall Sec

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets: South Korean shares clawed back early losses on Tuesday, as bargain hunting in chip stocks followed a three-session slide that culminated in a more than 3% drop in the KOSPI a day earlier. The KOSPI was up 9.74 points, or 0.15%, at 6,694.11 as of 0132 GMT, after falling nearly 1% earlier in the session. The benchmark index lost 3.26% in the previous session as chipmakers slumped, extending losses for a third consecutive session. “The market is seen recovering sharp losses in the previous session, when it already priced in downward pressure from high US bond yields and a slump in US chip stocks,” said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities. Wall Street ended down on Monday, weighed down by losses in Nvidia and other chipmakers after top executives in US artificial intelligence companies raised safety concerns and called for a slowdown in the development of AI. South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 0.70% on Tuesday and peer SK Hynix gained 1.27%. Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 2.28%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 0.40% and down 0.28%, respectively.

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average climbed as technology investor SoftBank Group rebounded from a selloff in the previous session, while traders reassessed calls by executives in US artificial intelligence companies for a slowdown in AI development. The Nikkei recouped early losses to rise roughly 1% to 64,082.36 by the midday break. The broader Topix was flat at 4,057.06. Shares of SoftBank surged 9.13%, recouping part of the previous session’s 10.7% loss after a selloff in AI-linked stocks sparked by warnings from industry leaders about the technology’s risks. “Japan was the first market that was hit by the warning from the AI leaders in the previous session,” said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities. “The morning after, investors thought it was too early to judge the fate of the pace of AI investments by hyperscalers,” he said. Memory maker Kioxia rose 2.73%. Shares of chip-related Advantest and Tokyo Electron rose 0.8% and 0.33%, respectively. Leopalace21 was untraded amid a glut of buy orders after the apartment operator said Hikari Tsushin, together with investment funds, will launch a 1,000-yen-per-share tender offer for the company. The Topix slipped

The Bank of England (BoE) will stop selling 20- and 30-year gilts under plans to overhaul its debt sales, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The central bank is overhauling debt sales amid bond market turmoil, the newspaper said, adding that an announcement is expected on Thursday alongside its latest interest rate decision. The newspaper said, citing sources, that any final decision rested with the central bank. Reuters could not immediately verify the Telegraph report. The Bank of England did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours. Prices of 20- and 30-year gilts fell to their lowest since 1998 last week. Last year the bank skewed sales away from long-dated gilts, and Deutsche Bank said it expects the BoE to halt them entirely.

SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained on the back foot on Tuesday as markets priced in an imminent US rate hike and more to come later, sending Aussie bond yields barrelling to fresh 15-year highs. Pressure on global bond markets was intense as Australian 10-year yields spiked 11 basis points (bps) to 5.394%, bringing the increase for the year so far to 60 bps. Yields on New Zealand’s 10-year paper have climbed 24 bps in just two sessions to reach 5.043%, peaks not seen since late 2023. Short-term swap rates have also surged, tightening financial conditions in the economy at a time when the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been sounding dovish about the pace of further hikes in its cash rate. Data out on Tuesday showed electronic retail card spending fell a sharp 0.9% in August, hit by higher petrol prices and borrowing costs. Figures due on Thursday are expected to show the economy grew a meagre 0.2% in the second quarter. “There is a lack of momentum in household spending, with large increases in living costs and a soft labour market weighing on discretionary spending,” said Satish Ranchhod, a senior economist at Westpac. “Spending growth is likely to pick up aga

Pakistan is emerging as a new supplier of donkeys to China, as growing demand for donkey hides used in the traditional Chinese medicine ejiao opens a niche export market for the country, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The expansion comes as Chinese demand for donkey hides grows while domestic supplies decline. The hides are used to produce ejiao, a collagen-rich gelatin made by boiling donkey skin and widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. As per Bloomberg, China’s ejiao market was valued at around $7.8 billion in 2021, according to a 2023 US Congressional Research Service report, which estimated that 2.3 million to 4.8 million donkeys are slaughtered annually worldwide for their hides. With the donkey population dwindling in China, the world’s second-largest economy has prompted buyers to seek supplies from overseas markets, including Pakistan, Brazil and Australia. Pakistan has an estimated donkey population exceeding six million, and China is a significant market, using donkey meat in cuisine and for Ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine gelatin. The South Asian country has been preparing to export donkey meat and hides to China, a process that has involved several years o

The people living along Balochistan’s beaches have always fought to defend the sea that feeds them. For years, fishermen from Gwadar to Lasbela accused large trawlers from Sindh of sweeping up everything in their path when they entered Balochistan’s twelve-nautical-mile waters. Their prohibited wire nets or “gujja” trapped juvenile fish, breeding stock and species with scant commercial value, leaving little behind. This fight defined the Haq Do Tehreek movement that united thousands around a single demand: save the sea before it is emptied. Today, that friction has turned inwards over a fish that barely fits in your palm and is banned from fishing: the Beechum (or Paseli). Scientists call it the Fringescale Sardine because it rarely grows beyond 11cm and spends its life moving in dense schools. “We never used to catch it,” says 65-year-old Ghulam Muhammad who spent his life in the waters off Ormara. “The bigger fish follow these schools of Beechum and those are the ones we actually wanted,” he says. “If we wipe out Beechum, one day we will lose the larger fish too.“ This understanding shaped the trade along the Makran coast long before governments spoke of marine conservation. “Ear

BANGKOK: The Thai baht weakened against the US dollar on Tuesday. At 0211 GMT, the baht was 0.12% lower at 33.24 versus the dollar, after trading in a range of 33.210 to 33.305. It ended the previous session at 33.2 per dollar, as per LSEG data.

Pakistan greenlights agreement for multi-billion-dollar oil refinery upgrades Arab News PK