PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE & SOUTH KOREAN STOCK NEWS: SoftBank Group (9984 JT) launched an OpenAI-powered cybersecurity service for Japanese enterprises as it seeks to expand its AI-driven security offerings

AUSTRALIA

Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT AT) - Co. cut FY26 underlying pretax profit guidance to AUD 275mln-295mln from 310mln-345mln, citing temporary headwinds from the Middle East conflict, and announced a AUD 200mln share buyback. (Dow Jones Newsplus)

Growthpoint Properties Australia (GOZ AT) - Co. maintained FY26 (AUD) FFO guidance of 23.0-23.6cps and FY26 distribution guidance of 18.4cps, while directly held portfolio occupancy increased to 96% as at May 31 and WALE stood at 5.7 years. (Motley Fool)

Sims (SGM AT) - Co. raised FY26 underlying EBIT guidance to AUD 420mln-435mln from 350mln-400mln, citing strength across nonferrous markets, improved ferrous trading conditions and strong demand for data-centre equipment decommissioning. (Dow Jones Newsplus)

Broker Ratings/Price Target

Charter Hall (CHC AT) Price Target Raised 15% to AUD26.50/shr by Citi.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises (DMP AT) Price Target Cut 8.3% to AUD22.00/shr by UBS.
Karoon Energy (KAR AT) Cut to Underperform From Neutral, price target cut 25% to AUD1.50/shr by Macquarie.
Wildcat Resources (WC8 AT) Started at Outperform, price target AUD0.90/shr by Macquarie.

JAPAN

Marubeni (8002 JT) - Co. acquired US natural gas developer EagleRidge Energy II to secure fuel supply for the growing US data-centre sector. (Nikkei)

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (9432 JT) - Co. faces increasing competition in next-generation optical network infrastructure as advances by US technology companies and AI-driven demand reshape the sector. (Nikkei)

SoftBank Group (9984 JT) - Co. launched an OpenAI-powered cybersecurity service for Japanese enterprises as it seeks to expand its AI-driven security offerings. (Nikkei)

Tokio Marine Holdings (8766 JT) - Co. plans to pursue mergers and acquisitions in Australia, Canada and other markets through its partnership with Berkshire Hathaway to broaden its investment opportunities and geographic diversification. (Nikkei)

SOUTH KOREA

Hanwha Ocean (042660 KS) - Co. signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Kanata Clean Power for a proposed floating LNG project in Canada. (PR Newswire)

Hanwha Aerospace (012450 KS) - Co. will acquire an additional stake in Korea Aerospace Industries (047810 KS) valued at KRW 500bln to strengthen the companies' strategic partnership. (Yonhap)

LG Innotek (011070 KS) - Co. aims to generate KRW1tln in operating profit from its package solutions business by 2031 as demand for semiconductor substrates rises amid the AI boom. (Yonhap)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) – Co. ADR listing is expected mid-July, with the process said to be in final stages. It was separately reported that rumours circulated that SK Hynix plans to launch a KRW 100tln shareholder return plan, although the official response is that they have never discussed that specific scale. (Newswires)

SK Group - SK Group's listed firms exceeded KRW 2,000tln for the first time on Tuesday, which was mainly fuelled by a recent surge of its memory chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. (Yonhap)

Energy - South Korea and the UAE discussed energy supply ties amid supply chain uncertainties. (Yonhap)