EU leaders brace for frosty China summit as trade frictions bite
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China, Hong Kong shares extend rally on Tibet dam project boost
The Hang Seng Index rose to 25,130, the highest since November 2021. The CSI 300 Index touched its strongest point since November 2024. Some construction and power stocks extended rallies after China announced the start of construction on a $170 billion hydropower dam in Tibet. Easing U.S.-China tensions, Beijing’s push for long-term funds to invest in stocks and renewed confidence in the country’s manufacturing sector lifted sentiment.
SHANGHAI, July 22 (Reuters) – China stocks closed at an eight-month high on Tuesday, while Hong Kong shares extended gains to a multi-year peak, driven by construction and power firms after work began on a major dam project in Tibet, billed as the world’s largest.
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** The Hang Seng Index rose to 25,130, the highest since November 2021, while the CSI 300 Index touched its strongest point since November 2024.
** Some construction and power stocks extended rallies after China announced over the weekend the start of construction on a $170 billion hydropower dam in Tibet.
** “Investors usually don’t care much about the real economy in such a bull market, especially with the rise of their confidence in Beijing’s capability in handling any economic cracks,” said Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.
** Easing U.S.-China tensions, Beijing’s push for long-term funds to invest in stocks and renewed confidence in the country’s manufacturing sector lifted sentiment, Lu noted.
** “However, if stock markets lose steam, investors might shift more attention to the real economy, which will likely face some challenges in the second half of this year,” Lu said.
** U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Washington and Beijing would hold talks “in the very near future,” with discussions potentially covering China’s purchases of Iranian and Russian oil.
Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sumana Nandy
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Blinkit parent Eternal jumps 15% on quick-commerce strength
Indian online delivery firm Eternal (ETEA.NS) jumped nearly 15% on Tuesday after the parent of Zomato and Blinkit reported robust quarterly revenue. At least ten brokerages hiked price targets on the stock after results, while at least four upgraded ratings.Shares of the company rose 14.6% to 311.25 rupees as of 9:42 a.m. IST and were the top gainer on benchmark Nifty 50 index.
July 22 (Reuters) – Indian online delivery firm Eternal (ETEA.NS) , opens new tab jumped nearly 15% on Tuesday after the parent of Zomato and Blinkit reported robust quarterly revenue, lifting expectations for continued growth in its quick-commerce business.
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“We overestimated the competitive threat,” analysts at Jefferies said, citing the unit’s growth, improved margins and expectations of higher growth in the future.
At least ten brokerages hiked price targets on the stock after results, while at least four upgraded ratings, data compiled by LSEG showed.
The median price target on the stock has risen to 311 rupees from 287.5 rupees a month ago, the data showed.
Shares of the company rose 14.6% to 311.25 rupees as of 9:42 a.m. IST and were the top gainer on benchmark Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) , opens new tab , which trading flat.
Shares of rival Swiggy were up 5.3% on the day.
Eternal’s food delivery business, Zomato, is its profitable arm and has historically contributed the larger share of revenue, but Blinkit is closing the gap fast.
Analysts at Nuvama said Blinkit “outshines on growth”, as Eternal’s quick commerce business posted a 127% on-year rise in net order value at 92.03 billion rupees ($1.07 billion), surpassing growth at its food-delivery business for the first time.
($1 = 86.2270 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Manvi Pant; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
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‘Japanese First’ party emerges as election force with tough immigration talk
The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday. The party won 14 seats adding to the single lawmaker it secured in the 248-seat chamber three years ago. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house, leaving them further beholden to opposition support following a lower house defeat in October. “Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment,” said Joshua Walker, head of the U.S. non-profit Japan Society. “We were criticized as being xenophobic and discriminatory. The public came to understand that the media was wrong and SanSito was right,” Sohei Kamiya, the party’s 47-year-old leader, said in an interview with local broadcaster Nippon Television.
Party has also pledged tax cuts and welfare spending
Leader says he wants to expand lower house presence
TOKYO, July 21 (Reuters) – The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday, gaining support with warnings of a “silent invasion” of immigrants, and pledges for tax cuts and welfare spending.
Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the party broke into mainstream politics with its “Japanese First” campaign.
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The party won 14 seats adding to the single lawmaker it secured in the 248-seat chamber three years ago. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house.
“The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,” Sohei Kamiya, the party’s 47-year-old leader, said in an interview with local broadcaster Nippon Television after the election.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house, leaving them further beholden to opposition support following a lower house defeat in October.
“Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment. It’s more of a weakness of the LDP and Ishiba than anything else,” said Joshua Walker, head of the U.S. non-profit Japan Society.
In polling ahead of Sunday’s election, 29% of voters told NHK that social security and a declining birthrate were their biggest concern. A total of 28% said they worried about rising rice prices, which have doubled in the past year. Immigration was in joint fifth place with 7% of respondents pointing to it.
“We were criticized as being xenophobic and discriminatory. The public came to understand that the media was wrong and Sanseito was right,” Kamiya said.
Kamiya’s message grabbed voters frustrated with a weak economy and currency that has lured tourists in record numbers in recent years, further driving up prices that Japanese can ill afford, political analysts say.
Japan’s fast-ageing society has also seen foreign-born residents hit a record of about 3.8 million last year, though that is just 3% of the total population, a fraction of the corresponding proportion in the United States and Europe.
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Item 1 of 5 Japan’s Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya delivers a speech during the party’s rally in Tokyo, Japan, July 21, 2025, a day after the upper house election. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon [1/5] Japan’s Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya delivers a speech during the party’s rally in Tokyo, Japan, July 21, 2025, a day after the upper house election. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, told Reuters before the election that he had drawn inspiration from U.S. President Donald Trump’s “bold political style”.
He has also drawn comparisons with Germany’s AfD and Reform UK although right-wing populist policies have yet to take root in Japan as they have in Europe and the United States.
Post-election, Kamiya said he plans to follow the example of Europe’s emerging populist parties by building alliances with other small parties rather than work with an LDP administration, which has ruled for most of Japan’s postwar history.
Sanseito’s focus on immigration has already shifted Japan’s politics to the right. Just days before the vote, Ishiba’s administration announced a new government taskforce to fight “crimes and disorderly conduct” by foreign nationals and his party has promised a target of “zero illegal foreigners”.
Kamiya, who won the party’s first seat in 2022 after gaining notoriety for appearing to call for Japan’s emperor to take concubines, has tried to tone down some controversial ideas formerly embraced by the party.
During the campaign, Kamiya, however, faced a backlash for branding gender equality policies a mistake that encourage women to work and keep them from having children.
To soften what he said was his “hot-blooded” image and to broaden support beyond the men in their twenties and thirties that form the core of Sanseito’s support, Kamiya fielded a raft of female candidates on Sunday.
Those included the single-named singer Saya, who clinched a seat in Tokyo.
Like other opposition parties, Sanseito called for tax cuts and an increase in child benefits, policies that led investors to fret about Japan’s fiscal health and massive debt pile, but unlike them it has a far bigger online presence from where it can attack Japan’s political establishment.
Its YouTube channel has 400,000 followers, more than any other party on the platform and three times that of the LDP, according to socialcounts.org.
Sanseito’s upper house breakthrough, Kamiya said, is just the beginning.
“We are gradually increasing our numbers and living up to people’s expectations. By building a solid organization and securing 50 or 60 seats, I believe our policies will finally become reality,” he said.
Reporting by Tim Kelly and John Geddie and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Dale Hudson and Lincoln Feast.
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Ukraine needs at least $120 billion for defence next year, minister says
Ukraine will need at least $120 billion for defence spending next year, defence minister says. Negotiations are ongoing with NATO and EU members as Ukraine seeks $60 billion in funding.
KYIV, July 22 (Reuters) – Ukraine will need at least $120 billion for defence spending next year, Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.
Negotiations are ongoing with NATO and EU members as Ukraine seeks $60 billion in funding from partners, he added in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
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Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Andrew Heavens
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Washington says China will not let US government employee leave the country
The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the Chinese government had blocked a US Patent and Trademark Office employee from leaving. The individual’s name and whether the person was detained were not disclosed. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said he did not have specific details to provide when asked about the case during a regular press briefing on Tuesday. Washington and Beijing have had friction for years over issues ranging from tariffs to the origins of COVID-19, and Taiwan.. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a U.s. citizen who works for the Commerce Department had traveled to China several months ago to visit family.
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WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the Chinese government had blocked a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee visiting the Asian country in a personal capacity from leaving.
“We are tracking this case very closely and are engaged with Chinese officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” a State Department spokesperson said.
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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is part of the federal Department of Commerce.
The individual’s name and whether the person was detained were not disclosed.
The U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said he did not have specific details to provide when asked about the case during a regular press briefing on Tuesday.
“China is a country ruled by law, and all matters concerning entry and exit are handled according to the law,” he said.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a U.S. citizen who works for the Commerce Department had traveled to China several months ago to visit family. The man was being prevented from leaving the country after he failed to disclose on his visa application that he worked for the U.S. government, the newspaper said, citing sources.
Beijing has used exit bans on both Chinese and foreign nationals in connection with civil disputes, regulatory enforcement and criminal investigations. Analysts say the tactic is at times used to crack down on local dissent and also as diplomatic leverage in disputes with other nations.
Washington and Beijing have had friction for years over issues ranging from tariffs to the origins of COVID-19, and Taiwan.
Mao was the latest of several executives from foreign corporations to be stopped as they tried to depart China.
The U.S. bank suspended all employee travel to China after Mao’s exit ban, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week, saying Mao was a U.S. citizen.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Xiuhao Chen in Beijing; Editing by Chris Reese, Cynthia Osterman and Tomasz Janowski
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