On Oct. 26 Iran’s chief of general staff Abdolrahim inspected forces in the southern coastal region and said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy and army fully control the Strait of Hormuz and tightly monitor all vessel movements. He said, in contrast to U.S. assertions of freedom of navigation, the strategic waterway is effectively closed and is controlled and supervised by the IRGC navy, and vessels not cleared by Iran cannot transit. He added Iran’s armed forces remain on high a

A-shares opened higher then slipped; at midday the Shanghai Composite was down 0.13%, the Shenzhen Composite down 0.33% and the ChiNext Index down 0.45%. Morning turnover across Shanghai and Shenzhen was 870 bln yuan, down 136.1 bln yuan from the prior session. More than 3,700 stocks declined. Motor/electric machinery names outperformed with several hitting daily limits; retail activity was strong, including a stock recording a fifth consecutive limit-up. Banks, animal-feed and reducer/gearbox-related sectors were among the top gainers. Aerospace and defence underperformed, while biopharma, semiconductors and e-commerce sectors lagged.

Yifan Pharmaceutical said its Singapore-registered wholly owned subsidiary SciGen Pte. Ltd. has won procurement from Singapore public hospitals and healthcare groups for concentrated norepinephrine bitartrate injection. The drug, an emergency treatment for severe acute hypotension in adults, is manufactured by its domestic unit Hefei Yifan Biopharmaceutical Co.; the production line holds PIC/S GMP certification.