All three major China A-share indexes turned positive; ChiNext moved into the green and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.58%. Sector winners included cinema chains, AI training data, blind-box retail, AI chips, IPv6 and telecom services. Laggards included precious metals, solar PV equipment, innovative drugs, duty-free and commercial vehicles. Market breadth: roughly 2,800 stocks up versus 2,200 down across A-shares.

At the morning close, China's most-active futures were mostly higher. LPG jumped over 7%; SC crude and coking coal rose more than 6%. Methanol, PVC and ethylene glycol (EG) hit daily limit-up; propylene gained about 6% and polypropylene over 5%. On the downside, Shanghai silver fell nearly 4% and Shanghai gold more than 3%; platinum and polysilicon dropped over 2%; Shanghai nickel, tin and cotton yarn fell over 1%.

Japan's Honda and Nissan have agreed to jointly develop a new operating system and electronic control unit (ECU) based on Nissan technology and plan a formal announcement on the 31st. They intend to fit vehicles due in 2029 with integrated ECUs and an OS to create software-defined vehicles (SDVs) capable of ongoing feature upgrades via over-the-air (OTA) updates. The companies began SDV talks in March 2024—about 2.5 years ago—and previously held, then halted, separate management-integration negotiations in February last year.