PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE & SOUTH KOREAN STOCK NEWS: MSCI maintains South Korea's Emerging Market status

AUSTRALIA

ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ AT) - Co. loan has been linked to alleged unauthorised land clearing in critical Queensland koala habitat. (AFR)

Baby Bunting (BBN AT) - Co. expects FY26 proforma net profit of AUD 16.0mln-17.0mln, total sales of AUD 553mln-555mln, like-for-like sales growth of 3.5%, gross margin above 41%, “Store of the Future” sales growth of 18%, online sales growth of 16%, and said trading softened through Q4. (Dow Jones Newswires)

BWP Trust (BWP AT) - Co. declared a 2H dividend of AUD 0.0983/security. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Iluka Resources (ILU AT) - Co. signed a AUD 220mln rare earths offtake deal with an unnamed car maker. (AFR)

Transurban Group (TCL AT) - Co. declared a 2H distribution of AUD 0.35/security. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Broker Ratings/Price Target

• A2 Milk (A2M AT) Raised to Buy from Neutral, price target cut 12% to NZD 9.20/shr by UBS.
• APA Group (APA AT) Initiated at Buy, price target AUD 11.10/shr by Citi.
• Iluka Resources (ILU AT) Price target cut 4.8% to AUD 8.00/shr by Macquarie.
• Reliance Worldwide (RWC AT) Price target raised 8.9% to AUD 4.90/shr by Macquarie.

JAPAN

Rakuten Group (4755 JT) - Co. will form a satellite business joint venture in Japan with US-based AST SpaceMobile this year to provide direct-to-mobile communications. (Nikkei)

SoftBank Corp. (9434 JT) - Co. plans to start making AI servers at a former Sharp plant near Osaka in fiscal 2027. (Nikkei)

Sony Group (6758 JT) - Co. subsidiary will start shipping new smartphone image sensors this month that increase image resolution by more than 20% compared with earlier models. (Nikkei)

Toyota Motor (7203 JT) - Co. plans to cut production outside Japan by around 100k vehicles by February 2027 amid weaker demand linked to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. (Nikkei)

Tech - Blackstone (BX US) plans to invest USD 30bln in AI data centres in Japan over the next three to five years. (Nikkei)

Other News

Japan is moving to include economic security benefits, including supply stability, when evaluating mergers and acquisitions by large corporations. (Nikkei)

SOUTH KOREA

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Co.’s HBM4 chip sales surpassed USD 1bln, with industry sources expecting revenue to exceed USD 1.2bln by end-June. (Yonhap)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Co. is to begin a US ADR process and will file an ADR-linked share sale plan with South Korea’s FSS. (Newswires)

S-1 Corp. (012750 KS) - Activist investor Flashlight revealed a stake in the Co. (Newswires)

Homeplus - A Seoul court ordered the Co. to submit a plan to secure about KRW 200bln in funding by next week as part of its court-led restructuring process. (Yonhap)

Other News

South Korea will continue pushing for inclusion in MSCI’s developed-market category after the index provider kept the country in the emerging-market category. (Yonhap)