Finance Morning | September 8, 2026

📊 Today's Asian Markets

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1. Huawei Unveils First Phone With 'Logic Folding' Chip

Source: Caijing (mycaijing.com)

On September 7, Huawei launched the Mate XT 2 tri-fold phone powered by the new Kirin 9050 Pro chip. It is Huawei's first phone chip to adopt 'logic folding' technology, and the first product to ship three months after the company unveiled its 'τ (Tau) Law'.

Richard Yu, Huawei's Executive Director and Chairman of the Terminal BG, called the Kirin 9050 Pro "the most powerful Kirin chip ever", with the new device delivering 42% better overall performance than its predecessor. The chip integrates Huawei's self-developed Lingxi CPU, Maliang GPU and Da Vinci architecture NPU.

'Logic folding' re-splits logic circuits originally laid out on a single die into high-density designs across two stacked layers, with the core goal of shortening signal propagation time. He Tingbo, President of Huawei's Semiconductor Business Unit, first introduced the technology in May, and Huawei has designed and mass-produced 381 chips based on this methodology over the past six years.

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2. China's Foreign Trade Up 17.6% in First Eight Months

Source: Sina

Data released by the General Administration of Customs on September 8 showed that China's goods trade reached 34.78 trillion yuan in the first eight months of the year, up 17.6% year-on-year, with growth accelerating by 0.3 percentage points from the first seven months. Exports rose 14.6% to 20.17 trillion yuan, while imports climbed 22% to 14.61 trillion yuan.

In August alone, China's imports and exports totaled 4.65 trillion yuan, up 19.8% year-on-year, with exports and imports growing 18.6% and 21.7% respectively. Both have maintained double-digit growth for four consecutive months, and monthly import growth has outpaced exports for six straight months.

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3. Shanghai Composite Edges Up 0.2%, Agriculture Active

Source: Sina Finance

On September 8, China's three major A-share indexes fluctuated throughout the day, with the Shanghai Composite narrowly holding on to gains. At the close, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.20% to 3940.55 points, while the Shenzhen Component fell 0.52% to 13703.21 points and the ChiNext dropped 1.15% to 3359.72 points.

Grain planting, nitrogen fertilizer and other agricultural processing sectors led the market, while analog chip design and integrated circuit manufacturing lagged. Agriculture stocks were repeatedly active, with Suken Nongfa hitting the daily limit and Yasheng Group extending a four-day streak. Fertilizer stocks surged, with Luzhou Tianhua and Chuanfa Longmang among those hitting the daily limit.

At the close, 3,417 stocks rose against 2,026 that fell, with 74 hitting the daily limit and one limit-down. China Galaxy Securities noted that the A-share market is in a September earnings lull and advised investors to seek structural opportunities with clearer policy certainty and earnings visibility amid volatility.

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4. Storage Giant Jiangbolong Falls Below Issue Price on HK Debut

Source: Sina Finance

On September 8, storage module giant Jiangbolong officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the code 09976.HK, completing an "A+H" dual listing. The stock fell below its issue price on the first day, dropping 0.17% to HK$235.6 as of press time.

Jiangbolong issued 26.0778 million H-shares globally, raising net proceeds of about HK$6.02 billion at a maximum offer price of HK$240.60. Its prospectus showed revenue of 24.088 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 136.3% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders of 10.577 billion yuan.

However, the H-share offer price represented a discount of about 44% to the A-share closing price of 358.22 yuan on September 7. Analysts said overseas investors typically value storage module makers at only 15 to 25 times earnings, versus the 50 to 70 times previously seen in the A-share market. Since July, more than 20 new stocks have listed in Hong Kong, with over half falling below their issue price on debut.

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5. Japan's Bankruptcies Rise for Third Straight Month

Source: China Financial Information Network (Xinhua)

A report released by Tokyo Shoko Research on September 8 showed that 830 companies went bankrupt in Japan in August, up 3.1% year-on-year and marking the third consecutive month of increase.

Total liabilities of bankrupt companies rose 26.54% year-on-year to 144.728 billion yen, the second-highest level this year. By size, 635 small and micro businesses with liabilities below 100 million yen went bankrupt, accounting for 76.5% of the total.

By cause, 32 companies went bankrupt due to labor shortages and rising labor costs, a record monthly high, while 50 were affected by rising prices. Construction bankruptcies rose 4.0% to 182, while the service sector had the most at 291.

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6. Korean Retail Investors Retreat From Semiconductors in September

Source: Sina Finance

Since September, a global tech rally has boosted Korean semiconductor-related ETFs, but retail investors have chosen to lock in profits amid the rebound, triggering large-scale net selling of these products.

Data showed that from September 1 to September 7, individual net selling of the KODEX SK Hynix single-stock leveraged product reached 94.3 billion won, ranking third among all ETFs in the market. The KODEX Semiconductor Leverage and TIGER Semiconductor TOP10 products also saw net outflows of 52.3 billion won and 50.1 billion won respectively.

Market analysts said the staged rebound triggered retail investors' profit-taking demand, prompting them to cash in gains and causing capital to flow out in the opposite direction.

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7. Taiwan Stocks Top Asia With 60.72% Gain This Year

Source: BigGo Finance

Taiwan's stock market reclaimed the 47,000-point threshold on September 7, closing at its second-highest level in history, with a year-to-date gain of 60.72% that officially surpassed South Korea to become Asia's strongest-performing major market.

Notably, the achievement came amid sustained foreign selling. Bloomberg data showed foreign investors offloaded a net $2.407 billion (about NT$76 billion) in Taiwanese stocks last week, the largest outflow among Asian markets, bringing year-to-date cumulative net selling to $36.5 billion. Domestic capital and institutional investors were the key force driving the index higher.

Lin Che-yu, manager of the E.SUN Technology Island Fund, noted that with listed companies releasing August revenue figures this week, individual stock fundamentals will be the near-term focus, while the Federal Reserve's September rate decision will also influence foreign investors' capital allocation in Asia.

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8. Oil, Gas and Grain Triple Shock Reignites Reflation Fears

Source: Sina Finance

The global disinflation process that has lasted for years is facing a fresh supply-side shock. Middle East tensions continue to disrupt crude oil and natural gas supplies, while a strengthening El Niño is beginning to threaten global food production. Rising price risks across oil, gas and grain are reigniting concerns about global reflation.

The UN World Food Programme estimates that this El Niño could add about 49 million acutely food-insecure people across 45 countries and regions already facing serious food security challenges by the end of 2027. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index rose to 133.3 points in August, the highest since November 2022.

JPMorgan estimates that a "super El Niño" could push global food inflation up by about 0.7 percentage points at its peak, with the impact potentially widening to 1.3 to 1.5 percentage points if combined with higher diesel, fertilizer and packaging costs from Middle East tensions. Goldman Sachs sees a risk of oil reaching $120 per barrel if attacks on shipping expand further.

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9. Yen Hits 7-Month Low, a New Variable for Global Markets

Source: Eastmoney

Although Monday was a U.S. holiday, markets were far from calm, with the yen's persistent strength drawing widespread attention. USDJPY closed at 154.35 on Monday, its lowest since February, falling 3.6% over the past four sessions and breaking below the 200-day moving average and the key 155 support level.

At the macro level, rising expectations of a Bank of Japan rate hike, pressure from the U.S. Treasury, and the Japanese government's encouragement of pension funds to allocate to domestic assets all contributed to yen strength. Rate market data showed the probability of a BOJ hike next week has reached 80%, with the policy rate potentially rising from 1% to 2% by the end of next year.

Analysts noted that once carry trade unwinding accelerates and capital flows back to Japan, it could not only push USDJPY lower but also pose challenges to global financial market liquidity, warranting caution.

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10. Canada's Counter-Tariffs Against the U.S. Take Effect

Source: Sina Finance

Canada's retaliatory tariffs against U.S. tariffs officially took effect in the early hours of the 8th. Canada began imposing equal counter-tariffs on U.S. imports including steel, dairy products, agricultural equipment, pulp and electronic products.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on the evening of the 7th that the government will hold a cabinet planning meeting in Banff, Alberta, from the 10th to the 11th to review progress on existing policy plans. Carney said the government will not change course in the face of "serious external headwinds."

According to Canadian media, small and medium-sized enterprises will be among the biggest victims of this round of the trade war. Dan Kelly, President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, noted that while previous tariff rounds mainly hit commodities and autos, this round directly impacts struggling small business owners. Trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. broke down in late August, with the U.S. imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods.

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