Japan Financial News

Merck & Co. agreed to buy the rights to sell Daiichi Sankyo Co.'s three experimental cancer drugs as it looks to sustain its dominance in cancer treatment. Daiichi rose as much as 18% on Friday, the biggest intraday jump since 2005, after Merck agreed to pay $4 billion upfront and as much as $22 billion to develop and market three cancer drug candidates.

Sam Bankman-Fried instructed FTX's former general counsel Can Sun to "come up" with any legal explanation for the $8 billion hole in Alameda Research's books, according to Sun's testimony in court on Oct. 19.

By Polina Devitt and Amy Lv

PTI. "India remains standout overweight. We increase our overweight stance on Indian equities and as our most-preferred emerging market," PTI quoted a brokerage note as saying on Friday.

Morgan Stanley has upgraded India to «standout overweight» citing that the relative economic and earnings growth is improving and the macro-stability setup looks sufficient to withstand the higher real rate environment. «India remains standout overweight. We increase our overweight stance on Indian equities and as our most-preferred emerging market,» the brokerage said in a note on Friday.

SoftBank, through its affiliate SVF Growth Singapore Pte, has sold a 1.09% stake in food delivery company Zomato through block deals on Friday. According to exchange data, the transaction was executed at 111.2 per share, which valued the deal at 1,040 crore. SoftBank holds a 2.17% stake in the company, at the end of the September 2023 quarter. Marquee funds, including Citigroup, Axis MF, Bandhan MF, ADIA, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Motilal Oswal among others bought stakes in the company through the deal. In August this year, SoftBank offloaded about 1.17% Zomato stake under a block deal, which was valued at Rs 947 crore.

By Naomi Rovnick and John Revill

Hugh Young (pictured) is retiring from the industry after 43 years.

Japanese game publisher Bandai Namco has suspended downloads of its recently launched Gundam Metaverse amid rumors of a major leak.

Glenmark Life Sciences reported an 11.1% rise in second-quarter profit on Friday, led by strong growth in its mainstay active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business in domestic as well as U.S. and European markets.

Investing.com — U.S. Treasury yields soar to the highest levels since the financial crisis after a speech by Fed chair Jerome Powell, dragging stocks lower. Crude rises as the U.S. looks to refill its strategic reserves, while U.K. retail sales slumped in September.

By Yoshifumi Takemoto and Leika Kihara

Publicly listed gaming companies are sitting on a $45 billion pile of cash and cash equivalents — and that could lead to greater consolidation in the $188 billion video games market, according to a new report from venture capital firm Konvoy, which was shared exclusively with CNBC.

Electric vehicle maker Omega Seiki Mobility on Friday announced a strategic partnership with Honda Power Pack Energy India (HEID) for implementing battery swap technology in over 10,000 passenger and cargo vehicles in the next two years. Under this collaboration, HEID, the subsidiary company of Japanese automobile giant Honda Motor, will provide OSM (Omega Seiki Mobility) swappable batteries for its EVs and set up a network of quick interchange stations in Tier-I cities pan-India, OSM said in a statement. Honda's battery swap service enables auto rickshaw drivers to swap discharged batteries with fully-charged ones at strategically located battery stations, OSM said, adding that the technology significantly reduces initial EV purchase costs, alleviates concerns about range limitations, and minimizes downtime associated with battery recharging. «The swappable battery technology represents a paradigm shift, offering unparalleled efficiency and environmental advantages. It perfectly aligns with our vision of rapid, clean, and accessible electric transportation,» said Uday Narang, founder and Chairman of Omega Seiki Mobility.

By Leika Kihara and Takahiko Wada

Investing.com-- Asian stocks extended steep losses on Friday as a rout in global bond markets continued to decimate risk appetite, while traders remained on edge over any more escalation in the Israel-Hamas war. 

Investing.com-- Most Asian currencies kept to a tight range on Friday, while the dollar steadied following somewhat mixed comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the path of interest rates. 

SoftBank, through its affiliate SVF Growth Singapore Pte, is likely to have sold 1.09% equity in Zomato in a bulk deal worth Rs 1,040.5 crore on Friday. Shares of the new-age company were trading 1% higher at Rs 112.70 on BSE. SoftBank owned a 2.17% stake in the company at the end of the September quarter. In August this year, SoftBank had offloaded about 1.17% stake in Zomato via a block deal, which was valued at Rs 947 crore.

By David Dolan and Kanjyik Ghosh

Asian shares plumbed a fresh 11-month trough on Friday as fears of a regional conflict in the Middle East intensified and as a relentless rise in long-term U.S. yields pressured valuations, while supply concerns lifted oil prices further. The surge in the 10-year U.S.

«Escalating situations in the Middle East would likely keep market sentiments subdued. Thus, we advise investors to stay cautious in the near term,» said Siddhartha Khemka, Head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions: STATE OF THE MARKETS GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a negative start GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded lower by 45 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 19510, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for negative start on Friday.