PRE-MARKET JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: Sony (6758 JT) is reportedly nearing a USD 1bln deal with TCL on home entertainment

ANA Holdings (9202 JT) - Co. will consolidate operations at two air cargo subsidiaries and eliminate overlap in destinations to cut costs in its cargo segment. (Nikkei)

Fujitsu (6702 JT) - Co. plans to double its European defence business staff to 2,000 to capture demand for dual-use technology. (Nikkei)

Sony (6758 JT) - Co. is reportedly nearing a USD 1bln deal with TCL on home entertainment, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. (Newswires)

Toyota Motor (7203 JT) - Co. plans to invest USD 1bln to increase US capacity to build electric and hybrid vehicles for the North American market. (Nikkei)

Tokio Marine Holdings (8766 JT) - Berkshire Hathaway is to take a 2.49% stake in the Co. It was also reported that Tokio Marine announced a share buyback of up to 48.2mln shares, representing 2.6% of its issued share capital, for up to JPY 287.4bln. (Nikkei/Newswires)

Japan's largest trade union group, Rengo, said preliminary data showed average wage hikes of 5.26% for 2026 (vs last year's prelim 5.46%). (Newswires)

Japan's Vice Minister of International Affairs said the IEA's 400mln bbl of oil release is "not enough" to ease a very tight market. It was separately reported that Japan’s government is considering intervention in oil futures and inquired about methods for oil futures intervention, according to sources. (Newswires)

Celltrion (068270 KS) - Co. is said to spend KRW 1.2tln on building new plants in South Korea. (Newswires)

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Co. is reportedly to issue new ADS shares for a US New York listing. (Newswires)

Autos - Hyundai Motor (005380 KS), BMW Korea and two other carmakers will voluntarily recall more than 400,000 vehicles in South Korea to address defective components. (Yonhap)

Geopolitical - North Korean leader vowed an 'irreversible' nuclear status, while he formally called South Korea the "most hostile state" and warned of merciless consequences if provoked. (KCNA)