PRE-MARKET JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: Mizuho Financial Group (8411 JT) 9-month (JPY) profit attributable rose 19.2% Y/Y to 1.02tln, Co. increased share buyback to up to JPY 300bln from JPY 200bln

Credit Saison (8253 JT) - Co. moves to launch an online bank in Brazil this year. (Newswires)

Hulic (3003 JT) - Co. is said to plan JPY 750bln in M&A by FY2036. (Newswires)

Mizuho Financial Group (8411 JT) - Co. 9-month (JPY) profit attributable rose 19.2% Y/Y to 1.02tln, Co. increased share buyback to up to JPY 300bln from JPY 200bln. (Newswires)

SoftBank (9984 JT) - Co. unit WBS signs contract with Intel (INTC) for memory development. (TV Tokyo)

Tokyo Electron (8035 JT) - Co. 9-month (JPY) net income fell 9.8% Y/Y to 5.0bln, net sales fell 9.5% Y/Y to 146.7bln. (TipRanks)

Toyota (7203 JT) - Co. unit Daihatsu debuted mini commercial EVs with an industry-leading 257-km range. (Nikkei)

Yomeishu Seizo (2540 JT) - Co. is to delist and sell operations, with the Co. in talks with its largest shareholder to go private. (Nikkei)

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (009540 KS) - Co. unit HD Hyundai Samho won a KRW 357.5bln LNG ship order from an Angolan firm. (Yonhap)

Hyundai Motor (005380 KS) - Co. is to deploy AI robots at US plants as Trump tariffs squeeze its North American profits. (Nikkei)

Top South Korean and US diplomats are to hold talks this week in Washington amid Trump's tariff threat. (Yonhap)