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Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents’ dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.The 29-year-old is one of many second-generation factory owners fighting to elevate the country’s manufacturing sector, pitting digital native skillsets against the rising costs and geopolitical tensions pushing clients abroad.Qiu said she grew up with “the noise of machines running day and night”, but working in manufacturing was not always her first choice.When Qiu was a child, her parents encouraged her to aim for a white-collar office job far from the dust and din of the factory floor.”Even when they were starting the factory, their goal for me, their expectation for me is to really get a good education and break out of the cycle of farmers,” Qiu said of her parents, who come from agricultural communities.But after years spent working in consulting, the Yale-educated Qiu now feels she has “this very strong responsibility to give back to manufacturing”.Qiu has set up a marketing business that directly connects factories with foreign audiences, through videos posted on Instagram and TikTok, which in China can only be accessed using a VPN.It’s a stark contrast from the way earlier generations conducted business, often with many middlemen and at the mercy of major buyers.In her videos, a cheerful Qiu speaks in fluent English, narrating as she buys street snacks in Shanghai or listing China’s key manufacturing zones while walking along a factory assembly line.- Manufacturing woes -Qiu’s parents, who founded the factory in the 1990s, were part of a massive wave of entrepreneurship that marked the first decades of China’s reform and opening up, when the country transformed into the world’s factory — and eventually, its second largest economy.However, rising wages in China and geopolitical tensions with trade partners including the United States have made alternative locations such as Cambodia and Bangladesh increasingly attractive to clients.The Qius lost major customers in the 2010s after refusing an offer to move their production to Cambodia.Flagging domestic demand in recent years has further weighed on the sector, with the official factory activity index in China contracting for five months in a row since May.The Qius have adapted — they recently purchased more advanced equipment to automate more of the manufacturing process.They are also experimenting with making their own products, laser levels for construction use, rather than only making parts for clients.Qiu said she sees the supply chain as a pyramid, with international brands at the top and raw material suppliers at the bottom.”China is in the middle,” she said. And now, “either we go up or we will go down”.- Being seen -Rose Law, the daughter of a cosmetics factory owner in southern Guangdong province, echoed many of Qiu’s thoughts, telling AFP her personal goals include “being able to have a more positive impact on the industry”.She is overseeing the development of product brands for the family business —- a step up the supply chain from originally making other brands’ goods. Law runs her own shampoo brand, with packaging and formulas inspired by traditional Chinese herbal remedies.”In my parents’ generation, all industries were new, and everyone in various sectors was competing from a similar starting line,” Law told AFP.Now, she sees creating brand loyalty rather than remaining an anonymous supplier as a way to keep orders stable and profitable.”In a market with oversupply, being seen and trusted is extremely important,” she said — and social media is an important way to gain that crucial visibility. – Online success -Qiu said the reaction to her videos has been “amazing”, with more than 500 buyers contacting her since May this year, and more than 150,000 users following her Instagram page.Her online success is mirrored by other “Changerdai”, the Chinese name for second-generation factory owners — a play on “Fuerdai”, a phrase used to describe often idle scions of generational wealth. Changerdai content has gone viral both at home and abroad, albeit sometimes as inadvertent memes.On Instagram, Guangzhou-based LC Sign has drawn half a million followers through videos in which a man, “Tony”, shows off LED signs and does impressions of former US president Donald Trump.On domestic platforms, a six-episode short video drama called “The Empire of Towel” — made by a towel factory Changerdai — has billions of views. Nowadays, “if you want to do marketing, you want to get people’s attention, you have to invest in short videos”, said Qiu.

Rows of robotic arms move with precision to assemble nickel-based battery cells on the production line at Indonesia’s inaugural electric vehicle battery plant, the first in Southeast Asia.After being chosen by a joint venture of South Korea’s Hyundai and LG for the $1.1 billion factory, Indonesia is now looking to boost investment to give it an edge in the race to become a regional EV hub.When he opened the West Java plant in July then-president Joko Widodo said such investments would make Southeast Asia’s biggest economy an “important global player” in the EV supply chain.But while the country boasts the world’s largest nickel reserves, analysts pointed out that it still faces a battle owing to its poor processing and refining capacity, environmental worries and the rise in other types of batteries.It also has some way to go to rival Thailand, which Krungsri bank said had market share of 78.7 percent of Southeast Asia’s EV sales as of early 2023, with Indonesia following with eight percent.AFP was given rare access to the factory floor to get a glimpse of the plant’s complex battery cell production, most of which will be shipped to Hyundai subsidiaries in South Korea and India.Hyundai said the new factory was a commitment to helping the archipelago become a supercharged Southeast Asian EV maker.”It shows we are ready to support the government’s desire to become a hub for Southeast Asia,” Fransiscus Soerjopranoto, chief operating officer of Hyundai’s Indonesian subsidiary, said.- Incentives -The government has unveiled a number of incentives to boost the EV market, including a luxury goods tax exemption that has boosted sales and seen a flurry of key brands entering Indonesia’s 280 million-strong market, including China’s BYD and Vietnam’s VinFast.More than 23,000 battery-powered cars were sold to dealers between January and August this year, compared with 17,000 in all of 2023, Indonesian automotive association data showed.Under the regulations unveiled last year, EVs imported to Indonesia are free of duties until 2025 if companies commit to building production facilities and producing as many cars in the country as they import by the end of 2027.And Chinese automaker Wuling announced a plan last month to produce EV batteries at its Indonesia factory by the end of 2024, local media reported.”We see a huge potential for EV purchase in Indonesia compared to other countries in Asia,” said BYD Indonesia official Luther Panjaitan.Key to Jakarta’s strategy has been luring automakers before they establish plants elsewhere, said Rachmat Kaimuddin, a government official who left in the transition to President Prabowo Subianto’s administration last week.”If they have already established factories in some countries, maybe they don’t need to build in Indonesia,” he said. Rachmat also pointed to Indonesia’s nickel reserves as a difference-maker.”It is possible to make a battery industry in Indonesia. That is what Thailand, Vietnam don’t have,” he said.However, the burgeoning industry faces challenges.- Challenges -While Indonesia aims to become one of the world’s top three producers of EV batteries, investment in the sector remains relatively small.Realised nickel sector investment between 2020 and September 2024 was 514.8 trillion rupiah ($33.3 billion) and 19.14 trillion in the EV battery sector, investment ministry data showed.While Indonesia is number one for nickel reserves, it will be importing materials for the new factory including processed nickel from South Korea and China owing to its lack of related industries, said Hong Woo-pyoung, president director of the joint venture, PT HLI Green Power.And environmentalists warn nickel mining is one of the key drivers of Indonesian deforestation, while analysts added that the rise of cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, widely adopted in China, could hurt demand. Andry Satrio Nugroho, researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, said the policies were “not pro-nickel” because all carmakers got the same incentives.But Rachmat said Indonesia has raw materials to make LFP batteries as well.A global oversupply of batteries could make it harder for Indonesia to attract more investment, said Putra Adhiguna, managing director of think tank Energy Shift Institute.Yet as boxes of packed battery cells towered behind him, Hong was unfazed about the future.”This factory and ecosystem is very important for Indonesia’s future,” he said, adding that in the “near future, the material will come from Indonesia to make a battery cell, to make EVs”.”Indonesia is growing and growing every year about five percent,” he said.”The automotive market will be growing as well.” 

After over a decade of snapping up Bordeaux wine estates, buying into a dream of elegant living in France and good earnings in their home market, many Chinese investors are now selling up.Capital controls back home, softening Asian demand for wine and the underestimated costs of running French estates have combined to push the once-enthusiastic buyers from China towards the exit.Chateau Latour Laguens in 2009 was among the first Bordeaux vineyards to be bought by a Chinese company, convinced its wines would bring in handsome dividends on China’s domestic market.More than 200 other estates in southwestern France followed. Owner Daisy Haiyan Cheng, heir to the Longhai International group, was originally full of ideas for the neo-Medieval building –- a tasting room, a boutique, luxury guest rooms. Today Chateau Latour, with its rising damp and its bat colony -– the only occupants — is up for auction. The starting price, without the vines, is just 150,000 euros ($162,000). Other estates have recently lost their Chinese owners too.In May, the French authorities confiscated nine chateaux acquired in the 2010s by Chinese magnate Naijie Qu, founder of the Haichang conglomerate, after he was convicted of corruption. In 2022, the chateaux of Golden Rabbit, Imperial Rabbit, Great Antilope and Tibetan Antilope disappeared from the Bordeaux map. The four estates –- thus named by owner Chi Keung Tong, much to the ire of people in Bordeaux -– reverted to their original French titles when the head of Hong Kong’s SGV Wines sold them back to French investors. Many other chateaux are up for sale for peanuts, explained Li Lijuan, an estate agent and Asian market specialist at Vineyards-Bordeaux.She said Beijing’s decision to impose strict controls on capital had dealt a blow to a market already undermined by an overproduction of Bordeaux wine.”Chinese people can’t invest abroad any more because their money is stuck in China,” said Li.- False expectations -About 50 Bordeaux chateaux are currently up for sale, she said. Other disappointed owners are waiting for the market to pick up so they can offload their investments. Buyers are so scarce that some chateaux are selling for less than half their purchase price.False expectations have also scuppered the Chinese dream. “Some investors bought into the French art of living,” said Li. “They bought a beautiful building, way cheaper than a flat in Hong Kong or Shanghai. But they didn’t think about the financial stability of the estates or investments for the future,” she said. There are other misconceptions too, according to Safer Locale, a company that helps buyers access property in rural France. Some Chinese investors, more used to family-run vineyards back home, “underestimated the costs” of running a big French estate and “overestimated the possibilities” of selling expensive-to-produce wines in China’s already crowded domestic market. “Their economic model was to buy bottom-of-the-range estates, hoping for an immediate return by producing wine at less than five euros and selling via their own distribution networks for 20, 40 or even 100 euros a throw,” surmised Benoit Lechenault, head of BNP Paribas subsidiary Agrifrance. While that tactic may have worked for some in the past, it is no longer the case. Since Covid, China’s domestic wine consumption has nosedived, falling by a quarter in 2023 alone, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. Then there are climatic factors in France such as hail and mildew, which have dampened the enthusiasm of recent investors, perhaps unaware that it takes several years to start making any money. “Europeans reason in generations. Chinese investors think in terms of five-year cycles, after which it’s quite normal to sell,” said Hong Kong financier Hugo Tian.- Long-term project -Li agreed, noting the additional complications posed by “different business cultures” and “never-ending changes of management”. One technical manager, who preferred not to give his name, told AFP that he had only met his former boss “once in the space of four years” and had been bombarded with “impossible demands” that “didn’t take into account the lifecycle of the vine”.Some major Chinese investors are here to stay, however.Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba, has spent millions on restructuring a Sours estate in Entre-Deux-Mers. Hong Kong businessman Peter Kwok meanwhile has taken a longer view by restructuring the vineyards and the edifices on his seven once-dormant estates, one of which produces a rare Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe. Hong Kong businessman Tian, whose Chateau Fauchey produces high-end Cadillac Cotes de Bordeaux, is also staying.He said he was counting in “the medium to long term” on the more refined palate of younger Chinese consumers “looking for natural or organic wines rather than prestigious crus”. “New Chinese investors will come in a few years,” he predicted. “They’ll be more rational and more reasonable.” 

Global stock markets diverged Friday in an end to a week’s trading dominated by earnings updates and angst over rising bond yields amid US election uncertainty.Wall Street stocks finished the day mixed, with the Nasdaq pressing higher and the Dow pulling back.Besides the neck-and-neck US election, investors are looking ahead to major economic data next week and earnings from tech giants.”There’s more uncertainty out there than anything else,” said LBBW’s Karl Haeling.But a rise on US bond yields — at least partially due to speculation that a return to the White House by Donald Trump would lead to tax cuts that fuel inflation — have acted as a headwind.Next week will see five of the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks reporting earnings, including Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook) and Microsoft.Key US monthly jobs numbers come out on Friday.”This could prove a big test for the markets, while also being a driver of sentiment as we head towards year-end,” said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.In Europe, London ended the day down 0.3 percent as investors awaited the first budget of Britain’s new Labour government on Wednesday, expected to include tax rises on businesses.Meanwhile, shares in British bank NatWest jumped nearly five percent before paring gains as investors welcomed the lender’s strong increase in profits, with income higher thanks to interest rates remaining elevated.Frankfurt edged higher after data showed Germany’s business confidence rebounded in October.That ended a four-month streak of declines and offered some rare good news for Europe’s beleaguered top economy.Mercedes-Benz stock shed around 1.5 percent after the German luxury carmaker said group profits slumped more than 50 percent, hit by weakness in the key Chinese market. In Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong markets rose amid hopes of stronger growth in China following the country’s recent attempts to stimulate its stalling economy. Crude futures climbed and the dollar strengthened against main rivals heading into the weekend break.Tokyo’s stock market closed down and the yen dipped against the dollar ahead of Japan’s national elections on Sunday.Independent analyst Stephen Innes pointed to uncertainty over the vote and an upcoming Bank of Japan policy meeting as complicating the outlook for Japanese equities.”Between election jitters and BoJ chess moves, Tokyo markets are probably in for a busy opening on Monday.”- Key figures around 2030 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 42,114.40 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 5,808.12 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 18,518.61 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,248.84 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,497.54 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 19,463.59 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 37,913.92 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,590.15 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,299.70 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0799 from $1.0828 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2958 from $1.2975Dollar/yen: UP at 152.27 yen from 151.83 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.30 pence from 83.44 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.3 percent at $76.05 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.3 percent at $71.78 per barrelburs-jmb/bgs

Mining giants BHP and Vale on Friday signed a deal with Brazil’s government to pay nearly $30 billion in damages for a 2015 dam collapse that triggered the country’s worst environmental disaster.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the signing of the deal over the November 5, 2015 collapse of a tailings dam at a mine in the southeastern town of Mariana, which triggered a giant mudslide.The river of mud swamped villages, rivers and rainforest, killing 19 people on its way to the sea.”I hope the mining companies have learned their lesson: it would have cost them less to prevent (the disaster), much less,” Lula said at the ceremony attended by representatives of Brazil’s Vale and Australia’s BHP, co-owners of the Brazilian company Samarco that operated the iron mine.The agreement, which Lula declared to be the biggest environmental payout in modern history, comes on the fifth day of a separate mega-trial in London over BHP’s role in the dam’s failure.More than 620,000 complainants, including 46 Brazilian municipalities and several Indigenous communities, are seeking an estimated £36 billion ($47 million) in damages in the civil trial.BHP denies responsibility.The company said Friday that the agreement reached in Brasilia did not end the lawsuits pending against the companies, nor prevent others being taken.- ‘Our whole world collapsed’ -The dam’s failure released a torrent of over 40 million cubic meters of highly toxic sludge, the equivalent of 12,000 Olympic swimming pools, which coursed through the Doce River all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, over 600 kilometers (373 miles) away. Five-year-old Emanuele Vitoria was among the people buried by the ocher-colored muck in the village of Bento Rodrigues near Mariana in Minas Gerais state.”We felt as if our whole world had collapsed,” her mother Pamela Rayane Fernandes told AFP ahead of the London trial.Over 600 people were left homeless.Scientists say the mouth of the Doce River and parts of the southeast Atlantic coastline are still contaminated with metals from the spill, affecting the area’s population of fish, birds, turtles, porpoises and whales.BHP and Vale had already agreed in 2016 to pay 20 billion reais (about $3.5 billion at today’s rate) in damages, but the negotiations were reopened in 2021 due to what the government called their  “non-compliance” and the slow progress of Brazil’s justice system in resolving the dispute.Friday’s agreement in Brazil, which is subject to approval by the country’s Supreme Court, covers the companies’ past and future obligations to assist people, communities and ecosystems affected by the disaster.- Victims ‘not consulted’ -“The agreement marks a new moment of hope for the people,” said Brazil’s Attorney General Jorge Messias, who represented the Brazilian state and local authorities in the negotiations.But some of the victims said they felt the mining giants got off too easily.”We recognize the importance of the agreement and the advances for those affected (by the disaster), but it has deficiencies,” the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) said in a statement. The group said that the damages agreed were “insufficient to achieve the full reparation of the rights” of the victims, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.The companies agreed to pay 100 billion reais (17.5 billion dollars) to local authorities over twenty years and 32 billion reais ($5.6 billion) towards compensating and resettling the victims, as well as repairing the harm caused to the environment.The remaining 38 billion reais ($6.6 billion) is the amount that the companies say they have already paid in compensation.In London, the head of the law firm representing the complainants, Tom Goodhead, said the agreement “only serves to underline exactly why the proceedings in the English courts are so critical.””The victims have not been consulted about the agreement and part of the reparations will be spread over 20 years,” he said.The victims in the London case say BHP, which had global headquarters in Britain and Australia at the time of the spill, let Samarco accumulate too much toxic sludge, which they say contributed to the disaster.BHP says it cannot be held responsible because it did not own or operate the dam.

France must take “credible” steps to tackle its high deficit, its new finance minister said Thursday, shortly before a major credit ratings agency gives its verdict on the country’s sovereign debt.Antoine Armand spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington ahead of a Moody’s decision, expected Friday, on France’s credit rating. The IMF forecasts that France’s public deficit will be 6.0 percent this year, and remain there through 2029.But these figures do not include France’s recent budget proposal, which predicts a deficit of less than three percent in five years’ time. Vitor Gaspar, who heads the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs department, told reporters on Wednesday that the IMF was “waiting for more clarity coming from actual enacted measures in France.”Asked about these calls for clarity, Armand said additional details of his government’s plans would be forthcoming.”It’s normal for the IMF to need a line-by-line breakdown to understand our trajectory,” he told AFP. “And additional spending savings will be documented in the parliamentary debate.”  “The work we’ll be doing over the coming months will be to monitor and fine-tune our public spending in order to make these savings,” he added. Brussels has already rebuked France for breaking its budget rules, placing the country under formal procedure in July because its deficit is above the three percent limit eurozone members are supposed to adhere to. “Our partners have a fairly accurate analysis of the French situation, which I have shared with them since my appointment,” Armand said, adding that France’s economy was “robust,” with the lowest unemployment rate for 40 years. At the same time, “public finances are a cause for concern,” he said. Armand noted that one of the key planks to boost growth in the government’s new budget rested on convincing French consumers to spend more of the money they earn. “In a world where the French have saved a lot, if we reduce our deficits, dissaving (spending more money than is earned) will generate consumption and growth,” he said, adding that lower interest rates would help support business investment.The US ratings agency Moody’s is set to deliver its verdict on French government debt later Friday, amid concerns it could downgrade France from its current Aa2 rating, Moody’s third-highest credit score. Asked if he feared France’s credit rating was under threat, Armand replied: “We’ll see.” “Our debt is sustainable, it is bought, it is financed, it is viewed with a certain quality,” he said. “If we want this to remain the case in the future, we need to straighten out our accounts and reduce our public spending.””We don’t decide France’s policy on the basis of rating agencies,” he added. 

Germany promised to dramatically boost the number of skilled Indians it permits to work in the country as Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Chancellor Olaf Scholz in New Delhi on Friday.The German leader is on his third visit to India since last year, bringing several cabinet ministers for discussions between the leaders of the world’s third- and fifth-largest economies. His administration agreed to increase the number of visas granted annually to skilled Indian workers to 90,000, up from 20,000.”The message is that Germany is open for skilled workers,” Scholz said. Modi hailed the agreement as an economic boon to both countries. “When India’s dynamics and Germany’s precision meet, when Germany’s engineering and India’s innovation meet… a better future is decided for the Indo-Pacific and the entire world,” he said. India and Germany first signed a migration agreement two years ago to facilitate mobility for professionals and students.Berlin has also pledged to make its visa application process less bureaucratic and to improve the recognition of Indian professional qualifications in Germany. Scholz arrived in India late on Thursday, following a state visit in February 2023 and the G20 summit in New Delhi later that year.India’s foreign ministry said this week that the partnership between both countries had “deepened” over the years.Germany and India are defence partners, and naval forces from both sides undertook a “maritime partnership exercise” earlier this week in the Indian Ocean. The maiden exercise was aimed at “further strengthening the maritime connect between the two nations and interoperability between the navies”, a statement from India’s navy read Thursday. – ‘More cooperation’ -“We also want to deepen our cooperation on defence and agree to bring our militaries closer together,” Scholz said. “Our overall message is clear: We need more cooperation not less.”But the two countries diverge over ties with Russia and its war with Ukraine. While Germany strongly backs Kyiv, Modi this week attended a BRICS summit where he embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin.In contrast to Germany, Modi’s government has maintained its longstanding ties with Moscow even as it also courts closer security partnerships with its Western allies.While in New Delhi, Scholz said reports that Russia could soon send North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine were “very worrying”. “It is serious and, of course, something that escalates the situation further,” he said.”At the same time, it also shows that the Russian president is in dire straits. He has now allied himself with countries whose behaviour he once strongly criticised.”Scholz’s visit also covered India’s ambitious programme to scale up production of “green hydrogen”, a clean energy source in demand in Germany as Russian oil and gas supplies have shrunk and Berlin seeks to meet its climate goals.Representatives of both countries agreed on a bilateral “Green Hydrogen Road Map” on Friday, the details of which have yet to be published.Scholz and his team are expected to travel to Goa on Saturday to inspect naval vessels before returning to Germany in the evening.

Global stock markets diverged on Friday in a quiet end to a week’s trading dominated by earnings updates.Wall Street’s main indices rose at the opening bell, with a dip in the yield on US government bonds helping give equities a boost.Focus this week has been on earnings as major companies worldwide report on their third-quarter performances.But a rise on US bond yields — at least partially due to worries that a return to the White House by Donald Trump would lead to tax cuts that fuel inflation — have acted as a headwind.Next week will see five of the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks reporting earnings, including Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook) and Microsoft.Key US monthly jobs numbers come out on Friday.”This could prove a big test for the markets, while also being a driver of sentiment as we head towards year-end,” said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.In Europe, London edged higher as investors awaited the first budget of Britain’s new Labour government on Wednesday, expected to include tax rises on businesses.Meanwhile, shares in British bank NatWest jumped nearly five percent before paring gains as investors welcomed the lender’s strong increase in profits, with income higher thanks to interest rates remaining elevated.Frankfurt also edged higher after data showed Germany’s business confidence rebounded in October.That ended a four-month streak of declines and offered some rare good news for Europe’s beleaguered top economy.Mercedes-Benz stock shed 1.3 percent after the German luxury carmaker said group profits slumped more than 50 percent, hit by weakness in the key Chinese market. In Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong markets rose amid hopes of stronger growth in China following the country’s recent attempts to stimulate its stalling economy. Crude futures climbed and the dollar was mixed versus main rivals heading into the weekend break.Tokyo’s stock market closed down and the yen dipped against the dollar ahead of Japan’s national elections on Sunday.Independent analyst Stephen Innes pointed to uncertainty over the vote and an upcoming Bank of Japan policy meeting as complicating the outlook for Japanese equities.”Between election jitters and BoJ chess moves, Tokyo markets are probably in for a busy opening on Monday.””Oil prices have shifted higher, with Brent crude heading towards $75 a barrel… as concerns about the Middle East stay in focus,” noted Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.- Key figures around 1330 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 42,560.36 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 5,843.20New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 18,544.96London – FTSE 100: UP less than 0.1 percent at 8,273.47Paris – CAC 40: FLAT at 7,502.02Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 19,476.50Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 37,913.92 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,590.15 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,299.70 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0828 from $1.0832 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2992 from $1.2972Dollar/yen: UP at 152.10 yen from 151.83 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.34 pence from 83.47 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $75.29 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.3 percent at $71.11 per barrelburs-rl

Japanese shares ended down on Friday but Chinese markets gained in disjointed Asian trade, after Wall Street cheered strong results from electric car giant Tesla.US futures were holding steady after Elon Musk’s company surged nearly 22 percent on the back of higher earnings following a streak of disappointing results, helping to lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500. The Dow, however, was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell.In Asian trade on Friday, Tokyo stocks closed more than half a percent lower, while Hong Kong and Shanghai saw healthy gains. Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management pointed to uncertainty over elections this weekend and an upcoming Bank of Japan meeting as complicating the outlook for Japanese equities.”And let’s not forget USD/JPY blowing past the 150 mark. Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is ringing the alarm bells, warning of ‘one-sided’ moves in the yen. Still, BOJ Governor (Kazuo) Ueda seems to be in no rush to do anything drastic,” he said.”Between election jitters and BOJ chess moves, Tokyo markets are probably in for a busy opening on Monday.”Chinese markets, meanwhile, were recovering from their losses of the previous day, encouraged by a rebound in real estate sales, which fuelled optimism about economic growth.Taipei, Seoul, Sydney, Bangkok and Manila were also higher, but Singapore, Jakarta, Mumbai and Wellington lost ground.Paris, London and Frankfurt were all down.In the United States, Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated on Thursday, with uncertainty on trading floors growing less than two weeks ahead of US elections in which the outcome is still far from clear.Observers say some dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation.That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.US equities were “somewhat mixed at the close” and “for a change, the US dollar has actually lost value”, said Phil Dobbie on National Australia Bank’s Morning Call podcast.- Key figures around 0830 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 37,913.92 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,590.15 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,299.70 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,256.05Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0827 from $1.0832 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2975 from $1.2972Dollar/yen: UP at 152.00 yen from 151.83 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.45 pence from 83.47 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $70.05 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $74.23 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)

Japanese shares fell but Chinese markets gained in a disjointed start to Asian trade on Friday, after Wall Street cheered strong results from electric car giant Tesla.Elon Musk’s company surged nearly 22 percent after higher earnings ended a streak of disappointing results and helped lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500, while the Dow was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell.European indices rose overnight, with investors anticipating interest rate cuts, while oil prices climbed then fell in more volatile trade for the crude market.”US shares are somewhat mixed at the close” and “for a change, the US dollar has actually lost value”, said Phil Dobbie on National Australia Bank’s Morning Call podcast.US Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated on Thursday. Uncertainty on trading floors is also heightened less than two weeks ahead of US elections, with the outcome still far from clear.Observers say some dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation.That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.In Asian trade on Friday morning, Tokyo stocks fell one percent, while Hong Kong rose 0.5 percent and Shanghai was up 0.2 percent. Taipei and Seoul were also higher, but Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta lost ground. Sydney rose 0.2 percent while Wellington was flat.Inflation for Tokyo city slowed in October, data showed ahead of a national election on Sunday and a central bank policy decision on October 31.”The Bank of Japan meets next week, and we’ve been saying almost ad nauseam that the case for further normalisation of policy has been made,” National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill said.The Tokyo inflation data means that “the Bank of Japan — its nose might be growing while it says it — could say, ‘look, there’s reason for us to be sitting on our hands a little bit longer’, irrespective of the view that the proximity to the elections has pretty much ruled out any move out at the October meeting”, Attrill added.- Key figures around 0200 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 37,770.93Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,595.30Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,285.44Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0823 from $1.0832 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2968 from $1.2972Dollar/yen: UP at 151.88 yen from 151.83 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.46 pence from 83.47 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $70.40 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $74.60 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,269.38 (close)