China equity index futures morning session close: CSI 300 futures (IF) lead contract +0.69%; SSE 50 futures (IH) lead contract +0.36%; CSI 500 futures (IC) lead contract -0.06%; CSI 1000 futures (IM) lead contract unchanged.

Hong Kong stocks paused higher at midday as the Hang Seng Index rose 0.72% to 25,883.24 and the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.50% to 4,724.12. Insurance, power-equipment, nonferrous metals and solid-state battery names led sector gains; blockchain names were active while agriculture and department-store stocks lagged and biotech was mixed. Notable movers: Boyaa Interactive (00434.HK) +~17%, 3SBio (01530.HK) +11.8%, MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) +>7%, Shandong Gold (01787.HK) +>6%, Evergrande Property Services (06666.HK) and Laopu Gold (06181.HK) +>5%, China Life (02628.HK), Yangtze Optical Fibre & Cable (06869.HK) and Zijin Gold International (02259.HK) +>4%. Post-results losers included NetEase Cloud Music (09899.HK) -18.4%; Yingxi Intelligent (03696.HK) -8.4%, Genting New (01952.HK) -5.4%, and Pop Mart (09992.HK) -3%.

KYIV MAYOR KLITSCHKO said on the 20th a Kyiv business center caught fire after drone debris fell, killing one person and injuring two.