PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE & SOUTH KOREAN STOCK NEWS: Japanese & South Korea FX intervention, while BoJ policy announcement is due today
AUSTRALIA
BHP Group (BHP AT) - Co. faces further industrial action after union members voted on work bans. (The Australian)
Capricorn Metals (CMM AT) - Co. Q4 gold output was 30,437oz, gold sales were 34,271oz at an average price of AUD 6,267/oz, AISC was AUD 1,648/oz, cash flow from operations was AUD 115.8mln and rev. was AUD 214.8mln; FY26 gold output was 123,589oz and AISC was AUD 1,629/oz; sees FY27 gold output of 137k–147k oz, AISC of AUD 1,900–2,100/oz and growth capex of AUD 70–85mln. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Capstone Copper (CSC AT) - Co. Q2 (USD) adjusted EBITDA rose to a record 354mln and rev. rose 36% Y/Y to a record 739.7mln. (Motley Fool)
Fortescue (FMG AT) - Co. Q4 iron ore shipments fell 5% Y/Y to 52.7mln tonnes, while hematite C1 costs rose 6% Q/Q to USD 19.37/wet tonne; FY26 shipments rose 1% Y/Y to 201.3mln tonnes and C1 costs rose 4% Y/Y to USD 18.74/wet tonne; sees FY27 shipments of 197–207mln tonnes, including 11–14mln tonnes from Iron Bridge, hematite C1 costs of USD 20.50–21.75/wet tonne and Iron Bridge operating expenditure of around USD 900mln. (Dow Jones Newswires)
GreenX Metals (GRX AT) - Co. announced a conceptual exploration target of 144–279mln tonnes grading 0.9%–1.4% copper and 15–21g/t silver at its Tannenberg project and began fieldwork at Eleonore North in Greenland. (Motley Fool)
Monadelphous Group (MND AT) - Co.’s Kerman Contracting subsidiary secured an AUD 165mln contract from Rio Tinto for the Brockman Syncline 1 project in Western Australia, with work scheduled from 2026 to 2028. (Motley Fool)
Origin Energy (ORG AT) - Co. Q4 integrated gas output was flat Q/Q at 164.6PJ, integrated gas sales rose 4% Q/Q to 166.1PJ and integrated gas rev. rose 6% Q/Q to AUD 1.96bln, while realised LNG prices rose 4% Q/Q to USD 9.93/MMBtu, electricity sales were flat at 9.4TWh and natural gas sales rose 45% Q/Q to 39.2PJ. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Other News
Singapore Telecommunications (ST SP) Optus unit faces record fines of up to AUD 502mln over a fatal network outage. (The Australian)
JAPAN
Calbee (2229 JT) - Co. has restored colour to its potato chip packaging after an ink-saving black-and-white design weighed on sales. (Nikkei)
Erex (9517 JT) - Co. and Samsung Group will build a biomass power plant in Japan to provide stable renewable electricity amid rising data-centre demand. (Nikkei)
Hitachi (6501 JT) - Co. and Toshiba have begun shipping new high-speed train cars modelled on Japan’s shinkansen to Taiwan High Speed Rail. (Nikkei)
Kioxia Holdings (285A JT) - Co. has begun shipping samples of ninth-generation NAND flash memory chips and targets mass production in 2027. (Nikkei)
Komatsu (6301 JT) - Co. partnered with US startup AIM Intelligent Machines to develop autonomous construction machinery for difficult operating environments. (Nikkei)
Mitsubishi Electric (6503 JT) - Co. plans to produce air-conditioning and water-cooling systems for US data centres at an automotive parts plant in Ohio. (Nikkei)
Mitsuba (7280 JT) - Co. has begun supplying rare-earth-free sunroof motors to German luxury carmakers, eliminating neodymium to reduce price volatility and supply risks. (Nikkei)
Mizuho Financial Group (8411 JT) - Co. Q1 2026 (JPY) net rose to JPY 423bln; raised FY net guidance to JPY 1.4tln (exp. JPY 1.4tln, prev. guided JPY 1.3tln) and doubled its buyback to JPY 200bln from JPY 100bln. (Newswires)
Nissan Motor (7201 JT) - Co. and Toyota-owned Daihatsu continue to face production halts and supply-chain disruption following the magnitude-7 Kumamoto earthquake. (Nikkei)
Panasonic Holdings (6752 JT) - Co. Q1 2027 (JPY) net rose to JPY 135.2bln (prev. JPY 71.5bln Y/Y), operating profit rose to JPY 185.2bln (prev. JPY 86.9bln Y/Y) and rev. rose to JPY 2.02tln (prev. JPY 1.90tln Y/Y). (Newswires)
Other News
Japan's government and BoJ intervened in the FX market by buying yen and selling dollars, while desks conducted rate checks, according to sources cited by Nikkei. (Nikkei)
Japan removed caps on fiscal 2027 growth and crisis-management spending requests to encourage investment in areas including AI, raising concerns over government debt. (Nikkei)
SOUTH KOREA
HS Hyosung Advanced Materials (298050 KS) - Co. Q2 (KRW) net rose 3,051.5% Y/Y to 45.2bln, operating profit rose 32.1% Y/Y to 77.6bln and rev. rose 13% Y/Y to 952.7bln. (Yonhap)
Kumho Tire (073240 KS) - Co. Q2 (KRW) net rose 2,385.5% Y/Y to 137.8bln, operating profit rose 4% Y/Y to 182.2bln and rev. rose 9.1% Y/Y to 1.33tln. (Yonhap)
SK Hynix (000660 KS) - SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won purchased 3,620 Co. shares in the open market for around KRW 4.8bln, marking his first such purchase. (Yonhap)
SK Innovation (096770 KS) - Co. Q2 (KRW) net was 73.5bln (prev. loss 1.03tln Y/Y) and rev. rose 49.9% Y/Y to 29.15tln, driven by stronger lubricants earnings. (Yonhap)
Other News
South Korean FX authorities were said to have conducted rare dollar-selling intervention on Thursday, according to sources. (Newswires)
The headline risk in this pre-market wrap is not the earnings tape but the reported FX intervention: Japan's authorities buying yen with rate checks cited, and South Korean authorities reportedly selling dollars, both ahead of a BoJ policy announcement due the same day. Episodes of this kind have followed a familiar sequence: verbal escalation from the Ministry of Finance, then rate checks as a warning shot, then actual size, and it is the presence of rate checks alongside reported intervention that marks the serious phase rather than the jawboning phase. Historically, unilateral yen-buying intervention has tended to slow rather than reverse a trend unless it is paired with a shift in the policy differential, which is precisely why the pairing with a BoJ decision matters: intervention buying time into a hawkish surprise has worked in past cycles, intervention against an unchanged stance has tended to fade. The Mizuho, Panasonic, SK Hynix and Fortescue prints are the usual session fare, but the distinguishing feature of coordinated-looking intervention across two North Asian authorities is rarer and has historically drawn follow-up commentary from both capitals and sometimes Washington. The tells going forward are any official confirmation of size, whether the BoJ's announcement validates the move, and whether won and yen strength holds into the European handover, where thin liquidity has previously amplified or unwound intervention-led gaps.