China’s industrial sector has remained a central pillar of post-pandemic growth, supported in large part by resilient export activity. Recent figures also indicated that producer prices have finally turned positive after more than three years of deflation, providing additional relief to industrial firms.

At the corporate level, Shannon Semiconductor gained 4% after posting a sharp increase in first-quarter profits, buoyed by strong demand for AI-related electronics. By contrast, Kweichow Moutai dropped 3.8% amid signs of cooling domestic demand, which has pressured both sales volumes and pricing.

Investors are now focused on Australia’s March CPI report, due Wednesday, with headline inflation forecast to rise 4.7% year-on-year—well above the Reserve Bank’s 2–3% target range. Any upside surprise could reinforce expectations of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the RBA’s May 5 meeting. Futures markets currently assign an 80% probability to a third rate increase this year, taking the cash rate to 4.35%.

Hopes for a near-term diplomatic resolution dimmed after Donald Trump halted a planned initiative over the weekend, indicating that further negotiations would depend on Iran taking the first step. At the same time, oil prices surged, intensifying inflation concerns. Brent crude climbed about 2% to trade above $107 per barrel, reinforcing expectations that interest rates may stay elevated for longer.

Despite the recent pullback, palladium remains on a strong upward trajectory, advancing 4.08% over the past month and soaring 58.28% over the past year.

Technology stocks led the advance, with notable gains in Kioxia Holdings (up 3.5%), SoftBank Group (1.4%), Advantest (2.4%), Fujikura (4.3%), and Disco Corp (4.3%).

In corporate news, Fanuc surged more than 15% after posting strong earnings underpinned by solid demand for its factory automation and robotics segments, particularly in China and the Americas. By contrast, Nomura Holdings fell over 5% after missing fourth-quarter profit expectations, pressured by writedowns and losses in its European operations.

While a ceasefire has largely held since early April, efforts to revive peace talks between the US and Iran have stalled, and energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain constrained. This ongoing disruption to energy supply continues to stoke inflationary pressures, bolstering the view that central banks will either keep interest rates elevated for an extended period or implement additional hikes.

In Australia, investors are focused on Wednesday’s release of the March CPI report, with headline inflation forecast to rise 4.7% year-on-year, well above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2–3% target range. Any upside surprise could cement expectations of a 25-basis-point rate increase at the RBA’s 5 May meeting. Futures markets currently imply an 80% probability of a third rate hike this year, which would take the cash rate to 4.35%.

The rise in crude prices dampened risk appetite, as investors grew concerned that persistent energy cost pressures could push back anticipated monetary easing. U.S. stock futures also slipped ahead of a packed week featuring multiple central bank meetings and a raft of major earnings releases.

Hong Kong equities underperformed most regional markets, with investors adopting a more defensive stance amid uncertainty over the future path of interest rates. Even so, semiconductor shares extended their gains from the previous session, led by SMIC, which rose 6.0%. Other notable movers included AIA Group, up 1.4%, Lenovo, up 1.3%, and Shenzhen Xunce Technology, up 1.4%.

State-owned enterprises recorded a firmer recovery, with profits rising 10.1% to CNY 619.6 billion, improving markedly from a 5.3% gain in January–February. Private firms remained the primary growth engine, though their profit growth slowed to 25.4% from 37.2%, reaching CNY 430.5 billion. Joint-stock companies also proved resilient, posting a 20.9% increase in profits to CNY 1,305.5 billion.

By sector, manufacturing led the gains, with profits up 19.1% to CNY 1,238.4 billion, followed by mining, which rose 16.2%, while utilities underperformed, recording a 3.2% decline. Among specific industries, mining support services saw profits soar 264.6%, accompanied by robust increases in non-ferrous metals (116.7%) and electronics manufacturing (124.5%).

In March alone, industrial profits grew 15.8% year-on-year, the fastest pace in six months.

Market participants were also cautious ahead of the release of March industrial production data later in the day, following a contraction in the previous month. In addition, investors are awaiting key macroeconomic indicators this week, including China’s PMI readings for insight into the outlook for Singapore’s largest trading partner, as well as U.S. Q1 GDP and March PCE inflation figures for further signals on the Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory.

Early notable decliners included Singapore Technologies Engineering (-1.1%), Jardine Matheson (-0.6%), Hongkong Land Holdings (-0.5%), UOB (-0.3%), and OCBC (-0.3%).

The fresh data, updated on 27 April 2026, indicate that the profit growth trend in China’s industrial enterprises remains positive, though the pace of gains is only slightly stronger than a month earlier. The incremental uptick suggests that while the sector continues to recover and expand, profit growth is stabilising rather than accelerating sharply at this stage of the year.

Investors and analysts will be watching upcoming releases closely to see whether this gradual improvement can be sustained, particularly against the backdrop of shifting global demand and domestic policy support measures targeting manufacturing and industry. For now, the March figures underscore continued resilience in China’s industrial corporate earnings going into the second quarter of 2026.

As a result, traffic through this critical chokepoint has dropped to near zero, severely disrupting a route that typically handles about 20 million barrels per day of oil and refined products. The US crackdown on Iranian crude has also intensified supply strains for Chinese “teapot” refiners—independent processors that had been largely insulated from earlier disruptions due to their heavy dependence on Iranian feedstock—until mid-April.

On the supply side, production has declined by about 4.1 bcfd over the past 18 days to an 11-week low of 108.1 bcfd, as persistently low prices prompted major producers such as EQT to curb output. At the same time, LNG feedgas flows have risen to 18.9 bcfd so far in April, approaching record highs.

The moderation in deflation was largely driven by a rebound in several categories: prices for clothing and footwear rose 2.3% after a 1.2% drop in February, while furnishings and household maintenance increased 0.7% following a 0.2% decline. Inflation in restaurants and hotels also picked up slightly (0.7% vs 0.5% in February).

Food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to register price increases, though at a slower rate (0.6% vs 0.7% previously). Inflation was unchanged for health (0.2%) and education (0.3%).

By contrast, deflation persisted in several key components: housing and utilities (-0.3%), recreation and culture (-2.2% vs -2.9%), miscellaneous goods and services (-0.1% vs -0.3%), and communication (-3.5%). Transport prices also turned negative, declining 0.4% after a marginal increase in February.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index fell 0.3% in March, reversing a 0.2% rise in the prior month.

Market sentiment was further tempered by caution ahead of this week’s Bank of Japan policy meeting, where interest rates are widely expected to be left unchanged as policymakers assess the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict.

In corporate news, Nomura Holdings dropped more than 5% after missing fourth-quarter profit expectations, weighed down by writedowns and a loss in its European operations. By contrast, Denso gained nearly 4% after indicating it may withdraw its takeover proposal for Rohm, which slumped 13%.

Sentiment was further restrained by caution ahead of March inflation figures due later this week. In February, Australia’s CPI rose 3.7% year-on-year, remaining above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2–3% target band and highlighting persistent price pressures since the second half of 2025.

Losses were broad-based across sectors, led by energy minerals, logistics, and healthcare, although gains in non-energy minerals helped limit the overall decline. Among notable laggards were Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. (-2.9%), Mineral Resources (-2.3%), and Yancoal Australia (-1.1%). The four major banks also weakened, shedding between 0.7% and 1.1% each.

Oil prices rallied again as the Middle East conflict moved into its ninth week and the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut, stoking inflation worries and reinforcing expectations that central banks may keep interest rates elevated for longer—or potentially tighten policy further.

At the same time, investors are shifting their attention to this week’s earnings reports from megacap technology companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Apple. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave its policy rate unchanged at its meeting on Wednesday.

The Iran war has now entered its ninth week, prompting what the IEA has described as the largest energy supply shock on record, intensifying inflationary pressures and darkening the global growth outlook. The ongoing US naval blockade continues to limit Iranian crude exports and remains a key obstacle to any diplomatic breakthrough. Analysts caution that even if the strait were to reopen, it could take months for oil flows to return to normal, keeping supplies tight and sustaining upward pressure on global energy markets.

In a statement, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said the move is intended to broaden the range of investment instruments available to qualified foreign investors and to expand the toolkit for interest rate risk management among foreign institutional investors.

According to the CSRC, the policy is also expected to increase the attractiveness of yuan‑denominated bond assets, enhance the stability of foreign institutional investment behavior, and support the high-quality development of both the spot and futures segments of the bond market.

The regulator added that it will introduce further measures to deepen reform and development of the futures market and to advance the high-standard, institutional opening-up of China’s capital market.

Over the same period, fiscal revenue increased 2.4% to CNY 6.16 trillion. First-quarter fiscal spending represented 24.9% of the full-year budgeted expenditure, the highest share in recent years, a finance ministry official told a media briefing, underscoring authorities’ commitment to front-load spending to help achieve this year’s growth target.

At an agenda-setting meeting last month, Chinese policymakers pledged to maintain a “more proactive” fiscal stance in 2026, promising record levels of public expenditure, government bond issuance, and fiscal transfers to local governments.