- Following China's announcement of additional limits for the world's largest mobile games arena, Asian stocks gave up earlier gains, followed by a selloff in Hong Kong technology equities.
- After the Hang Seng technology index fell more than 4%, Tencent fell nearly 16%, and NetEase fell a record 28%, a regional equity index is set for its largest weekly loss in over a month.
- Asian stocks opened higher as US stocks resumed their advance, buoyed by new data that bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to drop interest rates more aggressively than currently anticipated. The S&P 500 gained 1% on Thursday, putting it on track for an eighth week of gains.
- Meanwhile, oil rose for the second week in a row as ships avoided the Red Sea amid heightened threats, while Angola's departure from OPEC after 16 years focused attention on the group's cohesiveness.
- The focus is now shifting to the release of a crucial inflation indicator, which may help define the future for US monetary policy. Economists estimate that annual increase in the Fed's preferred gauge of underlying inflation, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, would fall to 3.3% in November from 3.5% the previous month.
