International Early Morning News | Iran Claims Nuclear Facilities Were Attacked by US and Israel Airstrikes

Middle East Fighting丨Iran Says Nuclear Facilities Were Hit in US-Israel Airstrikes

The conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran continues. Iran’s nuclear facilities were attacked by the US and Israel, including a nuclear facility equipped with a heavy-water reactor, and a uranium-processing material “yellowcake” production plant. The US and Israel also carried out airstrikes on Iran’s two largest steel plants and supporting power plants. Iran’s Foreign Minister Aragchi said that the Israeli side would pay a heavy price for its crimes. A spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Rezaei, said Tehran is considering withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Israel Defense Forces announced that Israeli forces struck Iran’s main missile and mine production facilities, and also targeted the production bases of the other side’s ballistic missiles and air-defense systems. Iran, meanwhile, said it retaliated with drones and missiles. In addition, satellite images released by Iran show that multiple US military aircraft at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia were damaged.
(See more: Middle East War Scenes丨Images Show Multiple Tanker Aircraft at Saudi US Military Base Destroyed After Iran Releases Them)

Middle East Situation丨Iran Expels 3 Cargo Ships 霍爾木茲 Strait Closed

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that three container ships of different nationalities, after receiving warnings from the navy and police, were forced to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz and it announced that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed.

Middle East Situation丨US President’s envoy: Talks With Iran Expected This Week

US President’s envoy Witkoff said talks with Iran are expected to take place this week, and that a response from Iran to the 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the US is expected soon. US Secretary of State Rubio said the US expects its military actions against Iran will end within weeks rather than months. This is the first time a senior US official has hinted that the duration of the conflict could exceed the four to six weeks planned by Trump. Rubio also said the US can still achieve its goals for military action against Iran without deploying ground forces. In response to possible Israeli-US ground war, Iranian Parliament Speaker Kalibaf made a tough statement, questioning whether the US has the ability to protect US troops entering Iranian territory, because even troops at US bases in the Middle East cannot provide security assurances. He called on hotels in Middle Eastern countries to refuse to book rooms for fleeing US troops.

Rubini: US Escalates Chances of a War With Iran by More Than 50%

“Doctor Doom” and economist Rubini said that Trump may escalate the war against Iran in order to achieve victory, rather than back down and take on the risk of more severe consequences for the economy and the international order. The chance of the situation escalating is more than 50%, which could cause the US to repeat the misstep of the 1970s.

US Stocks Performance丨Dow Closes Down Nearly 800 Points, Falls Into a Technical Correction

Trump delayed by 10 days the deadline for strikes on Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure, but Iran’s nuclear facilities and steel plants were attacked. Market anxiety rose, and yields on US long-term Treasuries climbed. On Friday, the Dow fell 896 points to a low of 45063, and even at the close it was down 793 points, or 1.73%. The S&P 500 retreated 1.67%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.15%. The China G2 Index (Gold Dragon China Index) dropped 1.9%. The Dow is down 10.5% from its recent high and, following the Nasdaq, has also entered a technical correction. For the week to date, the Dow is down 0.9%, and the S&P 500 is down 2.1%. Both have declined for a fifth consecutive week, and the Gold Dragon index is down 2.2%.

Offshore Focus Quick Brief

￭ Federal Reserve Governor Cook said the Iran war has increased the inflation risk today. Another governor, Ball, believes it is necessary to take time to assess the situation and is concerned that the impact of tariffs on inflation will continue beyond this year.
￭ New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimates that last year, Wall Street employees’ average bonuses rose by 6% to $246,900, and the overall bonus pool jumped to $49.2 billion, setting new highs for the second consecutive year.
￭ EPFR Global data shows that as of the week ending March 25, global equity funds saw outflows of $29 billion. Among them, US stock funds recorded redemptions of $23.6 billion, the most in 13 weeks, while gold funds recorded outflows of $6.3 billion.
￭ Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is considering an IPO as early as October in the US; The Information reported that Anthropic could list as early as the fourth quarter, potentially raising more than $60 billion.
￭ The final reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index in the US for March was 53.3, below the initial reading. Inflation expectations for the coming year are 3.8%, far higher than a month earlier.
￭ US 10-year Treasury yields rose by as much as 7.02 basis points to 4.4819%, while 2-year Treasury yields fell by 8 basis points to 3.904%.
￭ The US Dollar Index rose as much as 0.31% to 100.21. The euro slipped back 0.22% repeatedly, and the Japanese yen once fell to 160.42 per US dollar.
￭ Bitcoin fell by as much as 5.2% to $65,532.
￭ Spot gold price rose as much as 4.09%, reaching a high of $4,554.93 per ounce, and closed at $4,492.74, still up 2.60%. Spot silver closed at 69.7105, up 2.56%.
￭ International oil prices fell first and then rebounded. NYMEX crude fell 2.54% at one point, but closed up 5.46% to $99.64 per barrel. Brent crude turned up 4.22% to close at $112.57.
￭ ECB governing council member Wunsch: If the Iran conflict has not ended by June, the ECB may have to take rate-hike action. He said he feels reassured about the market’s bets that there will be at least two rate hikes this year.
￭ Pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.95%. Stocks in the UK, France, and Germany fell by 0.05%, 0.87%, and 1.38% respectively.
￭ Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dar held a phone call, during which they said they support Pakistan in continuing its role as a mediator in the Iran situation.
￭ The Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army released footage showing that Philippine naval vessels recently approached Chinese vessels dangerously. It warned the Philippines to strictly control the activities of its forces at sea and in the air, and immediately stop provocative and risky actions and smear-and-promo activities.
￭ Japanese Minister of Justice Yoko Hiraguchi announced that Japan will tighten the requirements for foreign nationals to naturalize and obtain Japanese citizenship, including changing the required residency period from “more than 5 years” to “more than 10 years,” and requiring a review of tax payment status over the most recent 5 years, etc. The new measures will take effect starting April this year.

Local Focus Quick Brief

￭ The ADR Hong Kong stock proportion index closed at 24651, 301 points below Hong Kong. Alibaba (09988) fell 2%. Tencent (00700), Xiaomi (01810), Meituan (03690), and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0088) fell by more than 1%.
￭ Hang Seng Index futures night session closed at 24630, with a discount of 322 points.
￭ Residents of Block 7 of Hongfu Court can return to collect belongings starting April 20 in batches. Each household allows up to 4 residents to enter and exit together once, and stay for up to 3 hours.
￭ Under the MTR fare adjustment mechanism, fares for this fiscal year remain unchanged, freezing them for the second consecutive year.
￭ Singapore’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong visited the Hong Kong park of the Heung Tai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in the Northern Metropolis.
￭ Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388) announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian Exchange, covering cooperation in areas including dual listings, ETF, index and investment product development, Islamic finance products, and carbon markets.
￭ Alvin Chan, CEO of Hong Kong Investment Corporation, said the company’s internal rate of return has reached double digits since its full operation in 2024. Every 1 yuan invested has brought over 8 yuan of capital co-invested. Many of these are overseas funds, and the company hopes it can play a better role in attracting investment going forward.
￭ Data from the Rating and Valuation Department shows that in February, the private residential property price index for the whole of Hong Kong rose to 307.6, the highest in nearly two years, up 1.59% month-on-month and up 7.7% year-on-year.
￭ The local secondary home price index rose 4.7% in the first quarter. Price gains in Hong Kong Island outperformed the overall market. Centaline Property said that lower mortgage rates and bank mortgage incentive schemes are beneficial for home prices to continue rising in the short term.
￭ Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (01398) earned 0.7% more last year, and the ratio of non-performing loans declined. The final dividend was RMB 0.1689, and together with the interim dividend, total dividends for the year were RMB 0.3103.
￭ China Construction Bank (00939) saw a 0.99% increase in net profit last year. The final dividend was RMB 0.2029, and together with the interim dividend of RMB 0.1858, total dividends for the year were RMB 0.3887, down 3.55% year-on-year.
￭ Bank of Communications (03328) saw a 2.18% increase in profit last year. The final dividend was RMB 0.1684.
￭ China Merchants Bank (03968) saw a 1.21% increase in profit last year. The final dividend was RMB 1.003, and total dividends for the year were RMB 2.016.
￭ BYD Company Limited (01211) saw profit fall 18.97% last year. The final dividend was RMB 0.358.
￭ BYD Electronic (00285) saw profit fall 17.61% last year. The final dividend was 15.6 sen RMB.
￭ Tidesign (02526) closed at 192.7 yuan in the grey market, up 94.65% from the IPO price. The shares were priced at 99 yuan. The public offer was oversubscribed by 1072.37 times. The chance of getting one lot in the subscription was 3%.
￭ Panoramic Vision (06636) closed at 61.55 yuan in the grey market, up 53.88% from the IPO price. Shares were priced at 40 yuan per share. The public offer was oversubscribed by 4590.37 times. The chance of getting one lot in the subscription was 10%.
￭ Hantian Tiancheng (02726) closed at 105 yuan in the grey market, up 37.69% from the IPO price. Shares were priced at 76.26 yuan per share. The public offer was oversubscribed by 49.66 times. The chance of getting one lot in the subscription was 20%.
￭ Huan Yan Robotics (01021) closed at 17.92 yuan in the grey market, up 5.41% from the IPO price. Shares were priced at 17 yuan per share. The public offer was oversubscribed by 5058.38 times. The chance of getting one lot in the subscription was 5%.
￭ Agile Group (03383) sold non-core assets for RMB 1.15 billion. The net proceeds will mainly be used to repay the seller’s debts and other operating liabilities.