China Financial News

Donald Trump's wide-ranging trade war rouses fears of recession, global investors have found an unlikely new sanctuary: Chinese equities. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index — where many major Chinese companies are listed — is up 17 since Trump entered the White House in January. That compares to an about 9 per cent drop in the S&P 500, which has also shed $4 trillion in market value from record highs last month, Reuters reported. Trump's erratic pronouncement on tariffs and moves to slash federal government spending have challenged assumptions about the appeal of U.S.

Copper prices recoiled from a five-month peak on Friday, as disappointing loans data from top metals consumer China and concerns around U.S. tariffs dampened buying activity.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is proposing a 50% pay reduction for fund managers if products overseen by them record a loss or return 10% less than their performance benchmarks, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Such pay cuts are part of a long-term assessment mechanism the regulator is trying to establish, the people said, adding it was not clear what time frame it would be applied over. Under the draft plan, fund returns will account for at least half of the weighting in senior management's evaluation, while other metrics such as the firms' size and ranking will become less important, the people said. The proposal has yet to be finalized and may change, they added. The CSRC didn't respond to a request for comment. The sweeping measures come as policymakers seek to attract more long-term capital into the nation's stock market amid slowing economic growth and an escalating trade war with the US. China's benchmark CSI 300 Index has gained about 1.7% this year.

A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored a February Japan-U.S. statement in condemning «coercion» toward Taiwan, language that heartened Taipei in its increasingly tense standoffs with Beijing. Compared to a G7 foreign ministers' statement in November, the statement added members' concerns over China's nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing's human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for «constructive and stable relations with China» and recognizing the «importance of direct and candid engagement to express concerns and manage differences.» The statement dropped past reassurances, recently stated in November, that there is «no change in the basic position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated One-China policies,» as well as that the G7 is «not decoupling or turning inwards» and recognizing the importance of China in global trade.

global trade averages in 2024, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its Global Trade Update Friday. It said that trends like the widening deficits of the US and EU with China along with India’s rising deficit with Russia amid shifting energy trade could prompt new tariffs, restrictions, or investment shifts, adding to economic uncertainty. However, it cautioned that trade resilience is under pressure in 2025 and as trade uncertainty grows, global cooperation and balanced policies will be key to preventing economic fragmentation and safeguarding long-term growth. Noting that protectionism and shifting trade strategies could disrupt global trade and services trade remains strong but goods trade faces uncertainty, UNCTAD urged balanced policies and multilateral cooperation. Governments are expanding tariffs, subsidies, and industrial policies, reshaping trade flows.

Diplomats from three countries said they believed they were 99 per cent of the way toward completing a joint statement that would reflect the group's positions. «There is a great deal of unity within the G7,» Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Friday. «We talked about many different things.… We support the US proposal for a ceasefire, which is supported by the Ukrainians, and we are waiting for the Russian response.» British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the group arrived at common positions on Ukraine, the Middle East, wars in Africa and Chinese activity in the South China Sea.

The premium carmaker expects its earnings margin for cars to be 5-7% in 2025, below an LSEG consensus estimate of 7.3%, dragged down one percentage point by the impact of tariffs already imposed by March 12.

DeepSeek, a leading AI company, is taking an unconventional approach to hiring under the leadership of CEO Liang Wenfeng. Unlike many tech companies that prioritize candidates with extensive technical expertise, Liang focuses on creativity, intellectual curiosity, and diverse perspectives. His strategy places an emphasis on hiring Generation Z, avid readers, and humanities graduates, believing that imaginative thinking is more valuable than years of experience. During a 2023 interview with Chinese media outlet 36Kr, Liang explained his approach. “When aiming for rapid results, it makes sense to hire those who already possess the necessary expertise,” he said. “However, for long-term ambitions, experience holds less significance. Core competencies, an inventive mindset, and an unwavering passion for the work are attributes I value above all else.” His perspective challenges the industry norm, where companies like OpenAI and Meta favor candidates with strong technical backgrounds. Liang, however, sees open-mindedness and a willingness to explore unconventional solutions as more critical for addressing complex AI challenges.

BARCELONA — Europe's telecommunication firms are ramping up calls for more industry consolidation to help the region compete more effectively with superpowers like the U.S. and China on key technologies like 5G and artificial intelligence.

Russian oil supplies to top buyers India and China fell sharply following the January 10 sanctions by the former Biden administration targeting Russian producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz as well as insurers and more than 100 vessels to curtail Moscow's oil revenue. While Russian shipments to the two Asian countries have rebounded after more non-sanctioned tankers joined the trade, China's state-run Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil halted purchases of March-loading Russian oil due to concerns over dealing with the sanctioned firms, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The scaled-back buying by Chinese state players has weighed on Russian oil prices, eating into Moscow's revenue and putting additional pressure on Russia ahead of a possible ceasefire deal with Ukraine. A Beijing-based state oil source said his company ceased Russian oil deals as it undertakes more compliance checks and waits for a «clear picture» on a possible Russia-U.S. deal to end the Ukraine war.

Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker came in at T$46.33 billion ($1.41 billion), missing analysts' average forecast of T$54.4 billion, according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

iPhone SE released a few years ago, but won’t be enough to reverse a China slide, according to analyst firm IDC. The market tracker found sales of the iPhone 16e were 60% stronger in its opening three days versus the iPhone SE from 2022. But that won’t be enough to alter the forecast that Apple’s sales in China will decline about 2% overall this year. “The competition from Android will be even stronger, strengthened by the national China subsidies which will benefit Android significantly more than Apple,” said Nabila Popal, IDC senior director. The new $599 iPhone 16e replaces the $429 iPhone SE, making the challenge in China tougher when it comes to fending off budget Android alternatives. The device includes only one rear camera, limited base storage and insufficient AI features, making it a tougher sell in the region. The Chinese government has set aside 300 billion yuan (in excess of $41 billion) for subsidies to stimulate the consumer economy. Those extended to smartphones in recent months and have helped the likes of Xiaomi Corp. and Vivo expand their sales. Apple is working on bringing its Apple Intelligence suite to Chinese consumers as early as the middle of this year, Bloomberg News has reported. Still,Apple could make up for the sales weakness via other models in the region. “We need to keep in mind that these would likely still be only a small portion of Apple’s volumes given that many consumers in China place an emphasis on ‘face’ — not wanting to be seen as having a lower-priced iPhone,” IDC’s Bryan Ma said. Looking beyond China, he expects the 16e to make up as much as a fifth of iPhone sales in India in the second half of the year.

BEIJING — Chinese videostreaming platform iQiyi announced Thursday it plans later this year to open its first full-fledged theme park in China based on characters from its own shows.

Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter. While Russia has publicly encouraged the use of crypto and last summer passed a law to allow digital currency payments in international trade, its use in the country's oil trade has not previously been reported. Some Russian oil companies are using bitcoin, ether and stablecoins such as Tether to smooth the conversion of Chinese yuan and Indian rupees to Russian roubles, the sources said, adding that it is a small but growing part of Russia's overall oil trade, which according to the International Energy Agency was worth $192 billion last year. All the sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Cryptocurrencies have already helped enable countries under U.S. sanctions such as Iran and Venezuela to keep their economies running while avoiding use of the dollar, the preferred currency for transactions in the global oil market.

Holi in March 2024. There were around 487 schemes in the mentioned period. The top two performers were from Mirae Asset Mutual Fund. Mirae Asset Hang Seng TECH ETF FoF outshined in the mentioned period and offered 108.89% return since the last Holi. Mirae Asset NYSE FANG+ETF FoF delivered 33.60% return in the mentioned period.

artificial intelligence servers. Net profit for October-December for Apple's top iPhone assembler and Nvidia's AI server maker likely came in at T$54.4 billion ($1.65 billion), according to an LSEG consensus estimate of 15 analysts, versus T$53.15 billion a year earlier. Foxconn said in January its fourth-quarter revenue jumped 15.2% to a record for that quarter on strong sales of AI servers.

G7 nations were set to negotiate late into the night over a joint statement to show a united front in Canada on Thursday after weeks of tension between U.S. allies and President Donald Trump over his upending of Western trade and security policy. The Group of Seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the European Union, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for meetings on Thursday and Friday that in the past have been broadly consensual. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed his colleagues on talks on Tuesday with Ukraine in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Kyiv said it was ready to support a 30-day ceasefire deal. But officials said ambiguous comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin left delegates unclear where things stood. In the run-up to the first G7 meeting of Canada's presidency, the crafting of an agreed all-encompassing final statement had been tough, but diplomats said the atmosphere since had been positive and candid.

U.S. President Donald Trump threw a curve ball at China by linking the fentanyl issue to his tariffs on imports

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. If Chinese AI lab Deepseek shook the industry with its open-source, budget-friendly reasoning model earlier this year, another Chinese startup, Monica, is impressing many with its new general-purpose AI agentic model, Manus. Are there lessons for India? Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) lab DeepSeek disrupted AI with its low-cost reasoning R1 model this year, prompting OpenAI to respond with o3 mini and GPT-4.5.

Prakash Karat said on Thursday, as he called for improving relations with China as a balancing factor. In an interview with PTI, Karat, the Interim Coordinator of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said India does not need to be allies with China, but improving relations with the northern neighbour will help India's position in a multipolar world. Amid ongoing tariff dispute with the US, he said in 2008, when the Left parties withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the Indo-US Civil Nuclear deal, the move was seen only in context to the deal. However, over the years, it led to strategic relations developing in a way that today the Trump administration is trying to «extract» deals from India. Karat, who served as the general secretary of the party from 2005-2015, was at the helm when the CPI(M)'s withdrawal of support from the UPA government led to the alliance government facing a strength test in Parliament, which it survived though with the backing of the Samajwadi Party. «People saw our opposition to the India-US nuclear deal only within the framework of that civil nuclear deal. We saw it in a wider perspective because the real thing was America was saying we will give you this nuclear deal, we will remove all those earlier restrictions and prohibitions which were there… But the quid pro quo was that you come into a military and defence agreement with us, which we entered into — the ten year military framework agreement,» Karat told PTI.