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Lombard Odier stated that South Korea's announcement of relaxed margin lending rules to curb forced stock market sell-offs demonstrates the South Korean authorities' high sensitivity to stock market volatility. This is related to the importance of the memory chip industry to South Korea's overall macroeconomic outlook. Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at the bank, said, "The KOSPI at 5000 points is clearly a very sensitive level for the South Korean government, and this morning's adjustment to margin lending rules further reinforces that assessment." He added, "A sharp drop in stock prices actually increases the South Korean government's room for policy intervention."

On Thursday, local time, facing rising regulatory pressure from Democrats following the US midterm elections, OpenAI renamed its data centers as "computing centers" in its newly released "National Community Convention" and "Computing Park Policy Blueprint." It also announced a policy blueprint promising to cover the costs of new electricity and infrastructure, disclose water and electricity usage data, and allow community participation in project planning. This change not only reshapes its brand image and public perception but also incurs economic costs. However, the name change is unlikely to quell local opposition. In this midterm election, more than 20 local referendums restricting or prohibiting data center construction passed, and the newly elected Democratic governors of Texas, Ohio, and Georgia also advocate for stronger regulation. Some of OpenAI's commitments currently apply primarily to its own owned and operated parks, with limited applicability to partner projects. Opposition to the disorderly expansion of data centers has become a bipartisan issue, and OpenAI's commitments will be meaningless without local government construction permits.

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations of India (FADA) reported that overall automobile retail sales fell 23.8% year-on-year in October.

At the close of the morning session, most domestic futures contracts declined, with propylene falling over 4%, plastics down nearly 4%, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), polypropylene, benzene, eggs, and tin all down over 3%. Polypropylene's monthly average decline exceeded 2%. On the upside, apples rose nearly 5%, coking coal rose nearly 3%, low-sulfur fuel oil (LU) and red dates rose over 2%, and nickel, rapeseed meal, coking coal, glass, and lithium carbonate all rose over 1%.

Both the Hang Seng Tech Index and the Hang Seng Index narrowed their morning losses. Pruksa Iamthongthong, Head of Asia Pacific Equities at Aberdeen Investments, stated in a report that short-term market volatility may persist as the market assesses potential delays in US data center construction and limitations on computing capacity, but she expects the impact to be manageable over time. She noted, “Even with some investment projects delayed, the structural demand for artificial intelligence and computing power remains strong. Computing deployments can also be shifted between different regions. Hyperscale cloud providers are building infrastructure outside the US, which could benefit Asian companies and supply chains capable of providing additional computing power.”

According to Japan's Kyodo News, Japan's annual electric vehicle sales will surpass 100,000 units for the first time in 2026.

David Allen of Plato Investment Management stated in a television interview that the sell-off in AI-related stocks was not surprising. He pointed out that while AI will have a transformative impact, investors easily confuse the technology's enormous potential with good investment returns. Allen revealed that his company had held a short position in Australian data center operator NextDC for five consecutive years. This short position paid off as the company's share price fell by 45%.

Thailand's Ministry of Commerce: Rising oil prices are pushing up inflation in Thailand.

Huahong Grace Semiconductor's A-shares surged more than 10% in the short term, while its Hong Kong-listed shares (01347.HK) are currently up 4.9%.

[From "Simultaneous Rise in Volume and Price" to "Continuous Decline in Spot Prices": The Market Begins to Price AI Investment Returns] Following the US midterm elections, concerns about a contraction in AI data center investment intensified, leading to a two-day consecutive decline in general-purpose DRAM spot prices. This was followed by the largest single-day drop in US semiconductor stocks in over six years, and a sharp drop in the South Korean stock market, raising concerns about the end of the storage boom fueled by price increases—the "AI peak theory" has resurfaced. Trend Force data shows that on the 5th, general-purpose DRAM spot prices across the Asian market fell. The market is sensitive to spot prices because this round of storage boom was built on price increases. According to Counterpoint Research, global DRAM market sales revenue increased by 369% year-on-year in the third quarter, but shipment growth was only 4%. General-purpose DRAM sales revenue growth was faster than HBM—once prices for DDR5 and other components begin to fall, storage manufacturers' operating profit margins will immediately be shaken. Industry experts believe that until next year, volume and price changes will be largely locked in by contracts, with limited impact on performance; however, if the spot market remains weak, the situation will change. Spot prices are considered a leading indicator of contract prices. Historically, during memory downturns, there are many precedents where spot prices fall first, followed by contract prices a few months later. As DRAM spot prices continue to decline and the gap between them and contract prices narrows, customers have more room to demand price reductions or postpone purchases. Memory industry insiders also acknowledge that it's too early to judge this as a short-term fluctuation, but if the decline evolves into a long-term trend, it will indeed have an impact.

Hong Kong-listed tech stocks rebounded during the session, with Meituan (03690.HK) rising over 3% and Xiaomi Group (01810.HK) rising over 1%, while Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) and Bilibili (09626.HK) narrowed their losses to less than 1%.

Miro Mitev, CEO of SmartWealth Asset Management, stated, "I believe artificial intelligence will remain a structural investment theme and will continue to attract significant capital in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, I see the current pullback as an opportunity for active investors to reassess their portfolio allocations, rather than a signal to completely exit AI trading." Strategists believe that after Thursday's sell-off, US stocks may regain some investment value on Friday morning. Technical indicators show that relevant stock indices have entered oversold territory.

John Woods, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Investment Solutions for Asia at SJM Holdings, said in an interview that if the current global market sell-off is a correction, it could be one of the earliest anticipated corrections in recent years. He pointed out that given the market's "irrational exuberance," there has been constant media coverage predicting a significant market sell-off. "This sell-off is more driven by positioning factors than fundamental factors. I'm also asking myself if the story of artificial intelligence is over, but it's too early to draw a definitive conclusion." He added that some of the comments made by Democrats regarding suspending or proposing a suspension of the Texas data center project have softened.

According to Iran's Mehr News Agency, Yemen's Deputy Foreign Minister stated that the Saudi regime must learn from the experiences of its masters (referring to the United States, etc.) and cease its aggression against Yemen.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will invest 3.3 billion Brazilian reais in Spain between 2026 and 2030.

Hong Kong-listed sports stocks continued their upward trend, with Li Ning (02331.HK) rising over 8%, and Xtep International (01368.HK) and Topsports (06110.HK) rising over 2%.

Hit hard by the overnight plunge in US stocks, South Korean individual investors heavily invested in US stocks (known as "Seochak Ants") suffered a massive single-day loss. It is estimated that their paper losses reached at least 13 trillion won. According to data released on November 6th by SEIBRO, the securities information portal of the Korea Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (KSD), as of November 4th, the total market value of US stocks held by "Seochak Ants" was US$179.459 billion (approximately 243.53 trillion won). However, with the sharp decline in all three major US stock indices on November 5th (the S&P 500 plummeted 4.36%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.44%), especially the Nasdaq Composite Index, which is dominated by technology stocks, plummeted 5.52%. If this decline is roughly applied to their total holdings, it is equivalent to a single-day loss of US$9.906 billion (approximately 13.44 trillion won). In reality, the losses of South Korean retail investors are far greater than this, as the decline in their heavily invested stocks far exceeded the overall market decline. It is estimated that the four core holdings of "Western-style Ant Group" collectively evaporated nearly 8.7 trillion won in paper wealth in a single day. Among them, Tesla, its "favorite," plummeted 10.77%, losing approximately 3.2 trillion won in a single day; Nvidia fell 9.26%, wiping out about 2 trillion won; the SOXL ETF (3x leveraged semiconductor ETF) plunged 38.71%, losing over 2.7 trillion won; and Micron fell 17.46%, shrinking by over 800 billion won. Hit hard by this plunge, the market speculates that the total valuation of "Western-style Ant Group's" US stock holdings has fallen below the $170 billion mark.

A research report from Commerzbank points out that changes in the state-level political landscape following the US midterm elections may increase uncertainty regarding AI data center construction, electricity costs, and project approvals. The report states that the newly elected Democratic governors of Texas, Georgia, and Ohio have imposed varying degrees of restrictions on data center development, creating new policy risks for local AI infrastructure investment. Commerzbank believes that as AI data centers expand in scale, power supply, construction permits, and local regulations are becoming crucial factors influencing project implementation. If these restrictions tighten, data center projects may face construction delays or site adjustments, further impacting order delivery schedules for Asian semiconductor, memory chip, and electronic component suppliers. The bank also notes that the underlying demand for AI infrastructure remains strong, and changes in state-level regulations are more likely to affect the timing and location of project construction. Future attention should be paid to specific restrictions in each state, the progress of data center approvals, and whether large cloud computing companies adjust their infrastructure investment plans.

Hong Kong-listed AI application stocks opened lower, with Zhipu (02513.HK) down 8.82% and MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) down 7.4%, followed by Pony.ai-W (02026.HK) and Paradigm Intelligence (06682.HK).

The Hang Seng Index (HSI) opened down 392.36 points, or 1.58%, at 24404.62 on Friday, November 6th; the Hang Seng Tech Index opened down 129.07 points, or 3.11%, at 4025.22; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index opened down 120.38 points, or 1.44%, at 8248.7; and the Hang Seng Red Chip Index opened down 33.55 points, or 0.83%, at 4002.49.