Finance Morning: A-Shares Reverse Higher as ChiNext Gains 4.16%, Hang Seng Reclaims 23,000

Source: Sina Finance, 21st Century Business Herald, China News Service, Gelonghui, Eastmoney, Futu, ETtoday, Xinhua

📊 Asian Markets Today

Note: The TAIEX figure is the close of the most recent trading session (October 22).

1. A-shares rebound in the afternoon, ChiNext closes up 4.16%

Chinese stocks opened lower on October 23, with ChiNext falling more than 3% intraday, before turning higher in the afternoon. The Shanghai Composite closed at 3,690.48, up 0.89%; the Shenzhen Component at 11,673.83, up 2.79%; and ChiNext at 2,684.10, up 4.16%. More than 4,500 stocks advanced.

Humanoid robot shares extended gains, with Unitree Robotics and Haitian Ruisheng among the limit-up names. The semiconductor sector recovered, as Yuexin Semiconductor and BPS Semiconductor rose 20%. Electric motor stocks led gains, with Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics and MOONS' Electric hitting limit-up, while Huawei Euler and software names also strengthened. Banks bucked the trend, with Bank of China among the biggest decliners, alongside power and ordnance restructuring concepts.

On the industry side, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that in the first half of 2026 China launched more than 400 humanoid robot models and produced over 40,000 units, with full-year output expected to exceed 100,000 units. Unitree recently unveiled its new humanoid robot "H2-X", which its official video says can run for about eight hours, lift a car with its bare hands and land safely from a height of four meters.

Source

2. A-share companies pay over 30 billion yuan in dividends in one day

A batch of interim dividends took effect on October 23. According to Wind, more than 30 A-share companies including Weichai Power, Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) and China Pacific Insurance implemented dividend payments that day, distributing a total of 31.6 billion yuan.

Seven companies paid interim dividends of more than 1 billion yuan each. COSCO Shipping Holdings, Chalco and Weichai Power led with 6.544 billion yuan, 4.735 billion yuan and 4.467 billion yuan respectively. China Pacific Insurance, China State Shipbuilding, Huatai Securities and China Merchants Energy Shipping each paid more than 1 billion yuan.

Third-quarter dividend plans are also rolling in. Late on October 22, G-bits announced a third-quarter distribution of 60 yuan per 10 shares, totaling about 431 million yuan; its cash dividends for the first three quarters are expected to reach 1.148 billion yuan, more than 70% of net profit attributable to shareholders. More than 10 A-share companies have announced third-quarter dividend plans since October 19. Among Beijing Stock Exchange companies, Langxin Electric implemented a 2 yuan per 10 share payout totaling 13.24 million yuan, Zhulaoliu proposed 4 yuan per 10 shares totaling 40.52 million yuan, and Bairuiji proposed 5 yuan per 10 shares totaling 34.11 million yuan.

Source

3. State Council plan targets AI-related job displacement

The State Council General Office has issued a guideline on building an employment-friendly development model suited to artificial intelligence, Xinhua reported on October 23. The document sets out 18 tasks across six areas.

The six areas cover: strengthening AI's job-creation effect; building an employment-friendly path for AI upgrading; improving workers' digital skills and employability; using AI to support employment policy services; improving labor rights protection and social security; and strengthening monitoring, early warning and risk response for AI-related employment risks.

The guideline calls for mitigating AI-driven job displacement, establishing a risk assessment mechanism for AI applications, increasing support for job transitions and retraining, and improving income distribution mechanisms suited to AI development. 21st Century Business Herald reported that the guideline encourages companies to explore an unemployment buffer period, notifying affected workers in advance and providing transition and reassignment support when AI is deployed at scale.

Source

4. Hong Kong stocks rally, Hang Seng back above 23,000

Hong Kong equities extended gains in the afternoon on October 23, tracking a strong rebound in mainland markets. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose as much as 2.7% before closing up 2.05%, while the Hang Seng Index gained 0.69% and the H-share index added 0.87%, lifting the Hang Seng back above 23,000 points after a run of declines to fresh stage lows.

Large internet names that had fallen sharply rebounded: Xiaomi rose nearly 4%, JD.com 1.7% and Baidu more than 1%, while Tencent, Meituan and Alibaba all closed higher. After mainland-listed semiconductor leaders Eoptolink and T&S Communications said mid-session that industry conditions were improving, memory chip, optical communications and PCB shares rallied in the afternoon, with GigaDevice up 8.6%. CATL, which had fallen for seven straight sessions, also rebounded, while autos, sporting goods, food and beverage and insurance shares advanced.

Mainland banks, which had been rising, lagged: Bank of Communications fell 2.16%, and Postal Savings Bank and Agricultural Bank of China each dropped 1.8%. Hong Kong banks also fell, with Standard Chartered down 2.27%, while oil, water utilities and telecoms declined.

Source

5. Nissan's market value falls below 1 trillion yen for the first time in 26 years

Nissan Motor's share price has continued to slide, and its market capitalization fell below 1 trillion yen on October 23 for the first time in about 26 years, according to Nikkei. The stock closed at 268.70 yen in Tokyo, down 0.90 yen or 0.3%, a new low for the year.

The report said the likelihood of Nissan being removed from major global equity indexes is rising. MSCI plans to announce the results of its regular index review on November 12 Japan time; removal could affect investment flows that track those indexes.

Nissan is pushing ahead with restructuring through plant closures and job cuts, but sales remain weak. Global vehicle sales fell 1% year on year to 701,000 units in the second quarter, and were down 17% to 207,000 units in August. Rising debt costs are adding pressure: in fiscal 2025 (April 2025 to March 2026), the company paid 113.8 billion yen in interest, up about 50% from the previous fiscal year.

Source

6. Asia-Pacific stocks slide; Korea down more than 21% in October

Asia-Pacific shares fell on Friday, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific index down 1% and on track for a fourth straight weekly loss. South Korea's KOSPI led declines, slumping more than 4% intraday and bringing its October loss to over 21%, before paring losses to close up 0.30%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell more than 4% before SK Hynix turned positive, while Samsung stayed down over 2%. The Nikkei 225 fell nearly 2% intraday.

Money moved into bonds and safe-haven currencies. Japan's 10-year government bond yield fell 10 basis points to 2.78%, and the 5-year yield dropped 10 basis points to 2.19%. The dollar fell 0.2% to 156.44 yen, down nearly 1% for the week. Gold failed to benefit from the risk-off mood, briefly falling below $4,000 an ounce, down 0.7% on the day, while spot silver fell as much as 2%. Brent crude climbed to a five-month high of $114 a barrel.

In Korea, SK Hynix said it had suspended its evaluation of a U.S. listing for subsidiary Solidigm, citing increased financial market volatility and a broad pullback in semiconductor stocks. Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association showed retail brokerage deposits fell below 90 trillion won (about $67.9 billion) as of October 21, the first drop below that level since January. Foreign investors sold $13 billion of KOSPI shares in October, concentrated in technology.

Source

7. Taiwan stocks fall 846 points as TSMC loses 2,400 level

Taiwanese shares opened higher but closed sharply lower on October 22, with the TAIEX down 846 points, or 1.81%, at 46,041. Turnover was NT$879.23 billion and the index swung 1,290 points during the session. Reports said news that Typhoon Champi was approaching disrupted the rebound; U.S. stocks had risen the previous session and the TAIEX opened up 55 points, touching a high of 47,332.

Heavyweights dragged the market: TSMC fell NT$35 to NT$2,385, down 1.45%; Hon Hai fell NT$5 to NT$245; MediaTek dropped NT$130 to NT$4,010; Quanta fell NT$6.5 to NT$322; Evergreen Marine bucked the trend, rising NT$2.5 to NT$260.

The top five gainers were Hua Jing, Hui Sheng Innovation, Leadtek, Yonggu-KY and Taihe, up between 8.29% and 10.0%. The five biggest decliners were Kinko Optical, Amulaire, HD Renewable Energy, Long Hua and Tainergy, down between 9.72% and 10.0%.

Source

8. Eurozone October composite PMI falls to four-month low

The eurozone composite purchasing managers' index fell to 51.9 in October from 53.1 in September, a four-month low, S&P Global's flash survey showed on October 23, signalling slower growth in private-sector activity.

The manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.4 from 52.9, a three-month low, while the services PMI fell to 51.7 from 53.0, a two-month low. The manufacturing output index dropped to 52.4 from 53.6, also a four-month low.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said renewed contraction in French services was a major drag, with strikes and social unrest likely disrupting activity in parts of France, while growth in other eurozone economies also slowed. Higher energy prices pushed input costs up faster and rising interest rates began to weigh on demand, adding to pressure on growth.

Source

9. Spot gold briefly falls below $4,000

Spot gold slumped on October 23, briefly breaking below the $4,000 mark for the first time since July 29 and falling 0.74% on the day. Spot silver fell more than 1.8%, while oil edged higher, with Brent and WTI each up more than 0.4%.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on October 22 and Europe's three main indexes all fell. A sharp rise in oil prices heightened concerns about inflation, weighing on precious metals. In the previous session, spot gold fell 2.78%, or nearly $120 an ounce, to close at $4,023.2.

Chinese jewellery prices followed. On October 23, Lao Feng Xiang gold jewellery was quoted at 1,212 yuan per gram, down 24 yuan from the previous day; Chow Sang Sang at 1,206 yuan, down 30 yuan; and Laomiao at 1,208 yuan, down 25 yuan.

Source

10. Meta discloses $825 billion in future spending commitments

Meta Platforms said it has committed about $825 billion in future lease and contract payments, much of it tied to the computing power and infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Meta said its operating and finance lease commitments not yet on the balance sheet totaled $355.7 billion, including data center and energy infrastructure leases starting between the rest of this year and 2036. As of September 30, it had another $454.5 billion in non-cancellable short- and long-term contract commitments, many involving third-party cloud computing capacity, data center energy supply agreements and consumer hardware.

Meta also said it is obliged to buy up to $14.7 billion of cloud computing services over the next five years, a figure that could fall if cloud providers sell that capacity to other customers. In its quarterly report on Wednesday, the social media company raised this year's capital spending plan and announced a new non-voting share class that could be used for acquisitions and other expenses. In July, Meta disclosed future spending commitments of nearly $700 billion.

Source