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MARKETS

Highlights

🇯🇵 Nikkei: Chip stocks drive the index higher, supported by the US tech rally. Fourth record day in a row. Hopes for Fed rate cuts and Japan’s political transition add momentum.

🇰🇷 Kospi posts 5th consecutive record high. Foreign investors buy heavily as chipmakers like Samsung and SK Hynix hit new peaks. The won also strengthens noticeably.

Side Note:

🇻🇳 Vietnam has outlined a roadmap to upgrade its stock market to emerging market status in a bid to boost economic development and strengthen regional and global integration.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

That's the size of China's stock market including Hong Kong – after three years shunned as "uninvestable," foreign investors are knocking on the door again.

🚪 Sentiment Shift: Hedge funds bought the most in August in six months. New "Emerging Markets ex-China" funds collapsed from 21 (2024) to just 8 (2025).

🤖 DeepSeek Effect: China's AI sensation convinces skeptics, Polar Capital increased China allocation from 20% to over 30%, Cambridge Associates reports 30 client inquiries for China funds versus "almost zero" in 2023.

Watch: The return of foreign investors to Chinese stocks signals a rethink about China's attractiveness as a standalone asset class. Long-term, this could further fuel the market rally and strengthen China's position in the global investment universe.

TOP BIT

🎓 Why This Harvard AI Pioneer Moved to Beijing

Harvard-trained AI researcher Song-Chun Zhu switched sides in 2020 after nearly three decades in the U.S. Since then, he has been building a state-funded institute for general AI in Beijing.

In a long interview with The Guardian, he explained his reasons for returning to China.

The Details

📍 From Harvard to Haidian: Once a star professor at UCLA, Zhu now leads …