PRE-MARKET JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: Kioxia Holdings (285A JT) expects October-December 2026 net profit to rise 15-fold Y/Y to JPY 1.36tln

Daiwa Securities Group (8601 JT) - Co. fund plans to offer roughly JPY 30bln in digital real estate securities tied to its acquisition of most of Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho from Blackstone, as part of a roughly USD 2bln property transaction. (Nikkei)

Fast Retailing (9983 JT) - Co.'s Uniqlo is shifting its China strategy from store expansion towards improving individual store profitability, beginning with a relocated flagship store in Shanghai. (Nikkei)

Kioxia Holdings (285A JT) - Co. expects October-December 2026 net profit to rise 15-fold Y/Y to JPY 1.36tln, supported by strong AI-driven memory demand and higher semiconductor prices. (Nikkei)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011 JT) - Co. plans to invest USD 490mln to expand gas turbine manufacturing and maintenance capacity at its Georgia facility in the US, driven by rising electricity demand from data centres. (Nikkei)

Murata Manufacturing (6981 JT) - Co. plans to invest JPY 1tln over five years to expand capacitor production for AI servers and devices, with capacity additions in Japan, the Philippines, China and Thailand. (Nikkei)

Omron (6645 JT) - Co. aims to produce up to 3mln blood pressure monitors annually at its Chennai plant in India, with exports to Europe expected to begin as early as 2027. (Nikkei)

Sojitz (2768 JT) - Co. plans to begin importing rare earth yttrium from Malaysia as early as 2027 through Australian partner Lynas, seeking to diversify supplies away from China. (Nikkei)

Toyota Motor (7203 JT) - Co. and Waymo plan to launch autonomous robotaxi services in Japan in 2027 using the bZ4X electric vehicle, with potential expansion to the UK and other markets. (Nikkei)

• Japan's government is considering taxing income earned by overseas residents operating property rental and parking businesses in Japan, amid rising foreign ownership of real estate. (Nikkei)

HL Mando (204320 KS) - Co. Q3 (KRW) net loss 42.5bln (prev. profit 49.2bln Y/Y), EBIT fell 45.3% Y/Y to 51.5bln, rev. flat Y/Y at 2.32tln. (Yonhap)

HS Hyosung (487570 KS) - Co. Q3 (KRW) net rose 355.8% Y/Y to 25.7bln, EBIT rose 158.9% Y/Y to 38.1bln, rev. rose 28.7% Y/Y to 467.4bln. (Yonhap)

HS Hyosung Advanced Materials (298050 KS) - Co. Q3 (KRW) net profit 16.4bln (prev. loss 3.5bln Y/Y), EBIT rose 167.2% Y/Y to 51.6bln, rev. rose 12.3% Y/Y to 899.8bln. (Yonhap)

Hyosung Heavy Industries (298040 KS) - Co. Q3 (KRW) net rose 49.1% Y/Y to 226.3bln (exp. 214.1bln), EBIT rose 10.8% Y/Y to 243.5bln, rev. rose 7.2% Y/Y to 1.74tln. (Yonhap)

Hyosung TNC (298020 KS) - Co. Q3 (KRW) net rose 256.6% Y/Y to 55.8bln, EBIT rose 96.7% Y/Y to 110.2bln, rev. rose 6.1% Y/Y to 2.13tln. (Yonhap)

HD Hyundai (267250 KS) - Co.'s robotics subsidiary partnered with Palantir Technologies to develop physical AI solutions aimed at transforming industrial workplace operations. (Yonhap)

Hanwha Systems (272210 KS) - Co. won a contract to develop synthetic aperture radar satellites for South Korea's microsatellite constellation to enhance national security and disaster response capabilities. (Yonhap)

Korea Electric Power (015760 KS) - Co.'s subsidiary Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power ended negotiations with a consortium comprising Daewoo E&C and Doosan Enerbility over the Czech Dukovany nuclear project, prompting the South Korean government to establish an emergency management system to keep the project on track. (Yonhap)

POSCO Holdings (005490 KS) - Co.'s POSCO steelmaking subsidiary's union will vote this week on a tentative wage agreement reached with management following 30 rounds of negotiations and partial strikes in September. (Yonhap)

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150 KS) - Co. signed a KRW 879.3bln contract to supply multilayer ceramic capacitors for AI servers to a global company, with the one-year agreement beginning December 21st. (Yonhap)

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited its Advanced Package Lab in Japan, which serves as a global R&D hub for technologies designed to enhance AI chip performance. (Yonhap)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Parent SK Group will retain the CEOs of major affiliates, including SK hynix, while reshuffling leadership at its energy-related units. (Yonhap)

• North Korea tested a cluster-bomb warhead designed for tactical ballistic missiles on Saturday and pledged to deploy various types of cluster warheads by year-end, according to state media. (Yonhap)

• South Korean Trade Balance (Oct) 42.50B vs. Exp. 37.24B (Prev. 49.97B)
• South Korean Exports (Oct YY) 93.7% vs. Exp. 93.2% (Prev. 83.7%)
• South Korean Imports (Oct YY) 36% vs. Exp. 39.9% (Prev. 26%)

A 15-fold jump in quarterly profit guidance from a pure-play NAND producer is the kind of print that only appears at the steep part of a memory upcycle, when spot and contract pricing are rising faster than costs and operating leverage does the rest. Episodes of this kind have tended to be self-reinforcing for a while: tight supply discipline after a prior downturn meets a demand shock, here AI-driven storage and server buildout, and pricing power persists until new capacity or demand softness breaks it. The read-across is the established pattern: NAND and DRAM move together through the cycle, so guidance of this magnitude from Kioxia historically colours expectations for the broader complex, and the wire carries the corroborating detail, SK Hynix leadership continuity, Samsung Electro-Mechanics signing a sizable AI-server capacitor contract, and Murata committing heavy capex to the same demand pool. The distinction worth drawing is between a pricing story and a volume story: guidance built on higher realised prices fades with the cycle, while locked-in AI supply agreements extend it. What bears watching next is peer confirmation in the Korean memory names' own prints, contract price trajectory in the memory complex, and whether capex announcements of the Murata type start to sow the next downcycle, which is how these episodes have historically ended.