Hong Kong equities closed lower; HSI fell 1.00%, Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.62%, turnover HKD 187.2 bln. Sector pressure concentrated in lithium battery, gold and copper miners, and commercial aerospace; gains in memory/storage, PCB, mobile gaming and semiconductor names. Major movers: MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) down >7%; CATL (03750.HK) down >6%; Tongguan Gold (00340.HK) down >6%; Lens Technology (06613.HK) down >4%; Zijin Mining (02899.HK) down ~4%; Lanqi Technology (06809.HK) up >5%; GigaDevice/兆易

Japan is considering a medium-term defence spending target of about 3.5% of GDP to align with NATO and US allies; officials have indicated willingness to sharply increase defence outlays. One option under discussion would mirror South Korea’s 10‑year pledge to raise defence spending to 3.5% of GDP; a lower target around 3% remains possible. Markets flagged the risk of large-scale government borrowing as Japan’s funding costs climb: 10‑year JGB yields earlier this month hit 3% for the first time since 1996. At the time of reporting the 5‑year JGB yield rose to a record 2.315% and the 30‑year yield was up 5.5 bps at 4.12%.

CNBC reports Microsoft (MSFT.O) has issued a code of conduct to limit the use of artificial intelligence models.