Real-time News

According to the Wall Street Journal, Alibaba (09988.HK) will jointly operate a $2 billion robotics automation business with NineSenses Intelligence.

On January 29th, Meituan (03690.HK) launched a new "one-shot" store authenticity verification feature for its food delivery platform. Restaurants joining the platform must upload a continuous, unedited video of their store, showcasing the storefront, operating environment, kitchen, and qualifications. Currently, the feature is being piloted in eight cities including Jinhua, Yinchuan, Qingdao, and Harbin, primarily targeting new merchants and serving as a key component of routine inspections. This feature will be gradually rolled out nationwide this year. Failure to upload videos according to regulations or falsifying videos will be subject to appropriate penalties from the platform.

Lukoil (Russia): Kazakhstani assets are not included in the transaction.

Russia's Lukoil has agreed to sell Lukoil International to Carlyle Group.

January 29th Futures News: 1. WTI crude oil futures trading volume was 1,120,560 lots, an increase of 50,542 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 2,059,115 lots, an increase of 23,466 lots from the previous trading day. 2. Brent crude oil futures trading volume was 223,656 lots, an increase of 15,602 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 266,146 lots, a decrease of 1,343 lots from the previous trading day. 3. Natural gas futures trading volume was 691,639 lots, a decrease of 231,468 lots from the previous trading day. Open interest was 1,621,986 lots, a decrease of 3,957 lots from the previous trading day.

On January 29th, the World Gold Council released its 2025 Q4 and Full-Year China Gold Market Review and Outlook report. In Q4, total gold investment and consumption demand in the Chinese market (including jewelry, bars, coins, gold ETFs, and industrial gold) reached 274 tons, a year-on-year increase of 18%, a significant jump of 60% compared to Q3, marking the second-best Q4 performance in history, second only to the same period in 2016. Total gold demand for 2025 is projected to reach 1,003 tons, a year-on-year increase of 6%, the highest level since 2021. In terms of value, total demand for the year is also at a record high, reaching RMB 796 billion (approximately US$111 billion), a surge of 53% year-on-year. Notably, strong gold investment demand throughout the year offset the weakness in the jewelry sector.

The World Gold Council reports that gold demand in the technology sector is projected to reach 82 tons in the fourth quarter of 2025. Total annual demand for gold in the technology sector is expected to reach 323 tons, a 1% decrease year-on-year.

The World Gold Council reported that global gold jewelry consumption fell 19% year-on-year to 441 tons in the fourth quarter of 2025; total global gold jewelry consumption for the year fell 18% year-on-year to 1,542 tons, but global gold jewelry spending rose 18% year-on-year to a record high of US$172 billion.

On January 29th, the Bond Connect Corporation released its monthly operation report, showing that the total turnover of Northbound Trading under Bond Connect reached RMB 9.7 trillion in 2025. Specifically, the turnover in December 2025 was RMB 639.5 billion, with an average daily turnover of RMB 27.8 billion. Policy bank bonds and treasury bonds were the most actively traded, accounting for 49% and 39% of the monthly trading volume, respectively. Regarding Northbound Swap Trading, 885 transactions were completed in December 2025, totaling RMB 531.892 billion, with 87 overseas institutions participating in the market.

Hyundai Motor: The impact of US tariffs in 2026 will be similar to that in 2025.

On January 29th, the US dollar fell in Asian trading, halting Wednesday's rebound, as renewed concerns about a potential dollar depreciation overshadowed Treasury Secretary Bessant's reaffirmation of a strong dollar policy. "The new Bond King," Gundlach, stated that the dollar has not acted as a safe-haven currency for some time, as investors prefer tangible assets such as precious metals. Damien Loh, chief investment officer and co-founder of hedge fund Ensemble Capital, said, "Bessant used 'strategic ambiguity' when talking about the dollar." He explained, "A comprehensive weak dollar policy like the one Trump initially advocated could become self-reinforcing and get out of control, so Bessant is trying to mitigate that expectation, although I think they still want the dollar to weaken gradually."

Hyundai Motor's stock price continued to rise, currently up 3.6%.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: Of course I will meet with the CEO of TSMC.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: TSMC will have to significantly increase its production capacity.

U.S. natural gas futures futures for the most active contract rose nearly 5% to $3.91 per million British thermal units (MMBtu).