South Korea's KOSPI is trading down 4.5%, having recovered from an early decline of more than 5.5% at the open.

China A-share baijiu sector strengthened, with Huangtai Jiuye jumping to the daily trading limit and Jinzhongzi up over 5%; Yingjia Gongjiu, Jinhui, Jinshiyuan and Tianyoude also advanced.

On Oct. 15 at the 2026 World Energy Storage Congress, CATL chairman Zeng Yuqun said energy storage has shifted from a support facility for renewables to an indispensable new type of power-system infrastructure. He flagged expanding wind and solar capacity and related generation stability challenges, accelerating electrification of industry and transport, and rapid growth in compute and AI/data-center demand as raising grid reliability and flexibility requirements. "This means the storage industry cannot focus only on improving device specs; it must build system-level capabilities and long-term reliability," Zeng said.