Hong Kong stocks opened lower and remained weak into the midday session after a U.S. holiday left overnight markets thin. The Hang Seng Index opened down 161 points at 25,252, slid as much as 187 points to 25,225 around the 100-day moving average and was down 0.27% at the morning close; the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.1%. Market turnover narrowed to HKD 104.98 bln. Base and precious metals and oil & gas names led a rebound; mainland property and property-management stocks recovered. Gas, cement, coal and AI/healthcare sectors pushed higher. Application software and computer hardware plunged; consumer electronics, lithium battery and auto sectors extended prior declines; PCB and liquid-cooling plays retraced. Luoyang Molybdenum (03993.HK) rose over 6%; Longfor Group (00960.HK) and China Biopharmaceutical (01177.HK) gained over 4%; Sinopec (00386.HK), Aluminum Corp of China (02600.HK), Zijin Mining (02899.HK) and ENN Energy (02688.HK) rose more than 3.5%. Zhipu (02513.HK) dropped over 10%, MiniMax (00100.HK) fell more than 6%, and Lenovo Group (00992.HK) was down 5.5%.

According to the Financial Times, European Commission competition director-general Anthony Whelan said the EU is increasingly willing to consider large-scale corporate mergers because such deals can boost investment and innovation, secure supply chains and strengthen the EU’s competitiveness.

據英國金融時報：歐盟委員會競爭總司總司長安東尼·惠蘭表示，歐盟更願意考慮大型企業合併，因爲這些合併可以促進投資、創新或保障供應安全，並提高歐盟的競爭力。

RBA Assistant Governor Hunter said the central bank may need a fourth rate increase this year if inflation is stronger than expected. Speaking at a property conference, Hunter said the policy board aims to cool the economy through rate rises and downplayed the risk that tightening would trigger a recession.

EU opens door to larger-scale corporate mergers, easing restrictions on deal size.

據英國金融時報：歐盟爲更大規模的企業併購敞開大門。