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On March 24, it was reported that on the morning of March 23, Shen Zhulin, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), met with Mr. Kelley, Chairman of the Executive Board of BASF Group, at the NDRC headquarters. The two sides exchanged views on topics including China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the green and low-carbon development of the chemical industry, and BASF's development in China. Shen Zhulin stated that the 15th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) clearly defines key development directions such as green development, digitalization, building a strong domestic market, and expanding high-level opening-up, providing new development opportunities for foreign-invested enterprises, including BASF, in China. China welcomes BASF to expand its investment in China, strengthen technological innovation and the application of new technologies, increase product added value, and expand its development space.

On March 24, Nongfu Spring (09633.HK) announced in Hong Kong that its total revenue for 2025 was RMB 52.553 billion, an increase of 22.5% year-on-year; profit attributable to owners of the parent company was RMB 15.868 billion, an increase of 30.9% year-on-year; basic earnings per share were RMB 1.411, an increase of 30.9% year-on-year; and a final dividend of RMB 0.99 per ordinary share was proposed (totaling approximately RMB 11.134 billion in dividends).

Li Auto (LI.O) shares rose more than 4% in pre-market trading after the company announced a $1 billion share buyback program.

Li Auto (LI.O) shares rose more than 1.5% in pre-market trading.

On March 24th, Lin Shiwei, Vice President and CFO of Xiaomi Group, revealed during the earnings call that the new generation Xiaomi SU7 had secured over 15,000 orders within 34 minutes of its launch and over 30,000 orders within three days, expressing confidence in future orders. The new SU7 has attracted more new users and continues to expand its user base. Among the first batch of owners, female customers outnumbered those of the previous generation, and iPhone users accounted for nearly 60%. In terms of model selection, the Max model accounted for over 25%, and nearly 60% of customers opted for paid paint, with Indigo Green being the most popular. Lin Shiwei also mentioned that Xiaomi's timeline for entering the European market next year remains unchanged.

Market news: Israel says Iran’s latest missile launch has been intercepted, and debris was found in Kiriat Gat.

On March 24th, at the company's earnings conference, Lu Weibing, head of Xiaomi Group, stated that the speed and magnitude of this round of memory price increases were higher than the company had anticipated, posing a significant challenge to Xiaomi's operations. The lower the proportion of memory costs in the overall product cost, the smaller the impact on the product. Xiaomi's balanced "people, car, and home ecosystem" allows the company to better cope with rising memory prices. Furthermore, the higher the price of the phone, the smaller the impact. With the advancement of Xiaomi's high-end strategy, it can cope better than its competitors. Therefore, although the pressure is significant, Xiaomi is relatively better off; however, if it cannot withstand the pressure in the future, Xiaomi may also raise prices. Lu Weibing believes that more attention should be paid to what will happen after the price increase cycle. He predicts that it will intensify the reshaping of the industry landscape; on the one hand, some companies may even be eliminated; on the other hand, it will force companies to innovate more.

ECB Governing Council member Kochl: It is important to pay attention to the second-round effect.

Xiaomi Group (01810.HK) President: The cost increase of memory chips is higher than initially expected.

Barclays raised its year-end 2026 target for the S&P 500 from 7400 to 7650.

According to data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the UK wholesale natural gas price fell 5.35% in the near month to 135.6 pence per tsimm.

Israel Defense Forces: The Israel Defense Forces recently conducted large-scale strikes against production facilities of the Iranian terrorist regime in several regions of Iran. Further details will be released later.

Haidilao (06862.HK): Based on the Group’s operating performance in 2025, the Board of Directors recommends a final cash dividend of HK$0.384 per share for the year ended December 31, 2025.

According to data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the near-month wholesale natural gas price in the Netherlands fell 5.14% to €53.78 per megawatt-hour.

On March 24, Haidilao (06862.HK) announced that, in terms of restaurant performance, the overall table turnover rate of its self-operated Haidilao restaurants will be 3.9 times/day in 2025, compared with 4.1 times/day in 2024; the total number of customers served throughout the year was 384 million, a decrease of 7.5% compared with the previous year.