Hong Kong’s highly anticipated first batch of stablecoin licences did not materialise as expected by the end of March. Industry players said the delay may be caused by a slower-than-expected review process, adding that it could also be due to the regulators’ cautious stance towards launching the first batch of regulated stablecoin licences as the city seeks to cement its status as a digital-asset ...
Hong Kong’s highly anticipated first batch of stablecoin licences did not materialise as expected by the end of March. Industry players said the delay may be caused by a slower-than-expected review process, adding that it could also be due to the regulators’ cautious stance towards launching the first batch of regulated stablecoin licences as the city seeks to cement its status as a digital-asset hub. “I don’t think [the delay] is caused by the market,” said Jack Poon, a member of the task force...
【有線新聞】立法會去年通過先定立後審議的方式，加強規管預先包裝的迷你杯狀蒟蒻果凍。法例明日起（4月1日）生效，禁止高度或闊度不超過45毫米的迷你杯裝蒟蒻果凍在港出售，其他預先包裝的蒟蒻果凍產品亦須在包裝上標示預防哽噎警告字句，違者最高罰款5萬元及監禁半年。 新規定要求： 屬預先包裝食物的果凍，如是以高度或闊度不超過45毫米的迷你杯狀容器包裝的，則不得含有蒟蒻 如屬預先包裝食物的、含有蒟蒻的果凍，其銷售包裝的最外層須以中文和英文清楚可閱地標明下述字樣。 「注意：勿一口吞食，長者及兒童須在監護下食用。」 “Caution: Do not swallow whole. Elderly and children must consume under supervision.” 有關字樣須標明在有關包裝上的顯眼處，並以深色字印在淺色底上或以淺色字印在深色底上的方式標明，字體下亦須劃上底線；或以紅色字印在白色或黃色底上的方式標明。 不屬規管範圍產品： 非預先包裝產品 不含蒟蒻成分的果凍 含蒟蒻成分，但非果凍產品，例如魔芋絲/蒟蒻麵、蒟蒻飯和含蒟蒻飲料 修例針對本地銷售 外地購買回港不違法 值得注意，今次修例主要針對本地的銷售，市民仍然可從外地購買有關蒟蒻果凍食用。 食安中心發言人表示，根據食品法典委員會，蒟蒻是一種安全的食物添加劑。但由於迷你杯裝蒟蒻果凍的獨特產品設計和其結實質地，如食用方法不當可能會增加哽噎風險，尤其是對兒童和長者而言。 食安中心已就修訂建議諮詢食物安全專家委員會，立法會食物安全及環境衞生事務委員會和食物及環境衞生諮詢委員會，以及透過業界會議和論壇諮詢相關業界，並已聽取業界的意見。食安中心會加強巡查和繼續與持份者合作加強宣傳。
China’s listed companies announced the most share buybacks in almost a year last month as the escalating war in Iran drove down stock prices. A total of 43 Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed firms pledged in March to repurchase a combined 25.6 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) of shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was the largest monthly total since 67.6 billion yuan of buybacks were annou...
China’s listed companies announced the most share buybacks in almost a year last month as the escalating war in Iran drove down stock prices. A total of 43 Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed firms pledged in March to repurchase a combined 25.6 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) of shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was the largest monthly total since 67.6 billion yuan of buybacks were announced in April last year when shares tumbled after US President Donald Trump unveiled higher global tariffs. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 6.5% in March, its biggest monthly decline more than four years, as the Iran war pushed up oil prices and sparked concern about slowing global growth. That was still less than the 7.4% decline suffered by the MSCI All Country World Index , leading some investors to consider China something of a haven from the crisis. Home-appliance maker Midea Group Co. led the buyback announcements among mainland-listed firms, pledging to repurchase as much as 13 billion yuan of its stock. Midea shares jumped nearly 6% in Shenzhen following the news. Another appliance maker, Haier Smart Home Co. , said it planned to buy back 6 billion yuan of shares, while Juneyao Airlines Co. said it was aiming for 500 million yuan. Hong Kong-listed companies also stepped up actual buybacks. Aluminum-product manufacturer China Hongqiao Group Ltd.’s made HK$1.8 billion ($230 million) of repurchases, while toy-wholesaler Pop Mart International Group Ltd. bought back HK$1.2 billion of shares during the month, though its stock still slid almost 40% in March. Still, buyback pledges don’t guarantee execution. Chinese companies aren’t required to complete the full amount announced, and some programs are allowed to lapse once self-imposed deadlines pass. A number of the repurchase plans unveiled in April 2025 were less than 50% completed, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
SiyueSteuber/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The recent presentation from Adobe ( ADBE ) has not been enough to stop the downward drift the stock has been in for more than two years now. As of today, we have a price of $240 per share, which represents a destruction in market capitalization that, in my opinion, has not been driven by a single catalyst but rather by the combination of different fa...
SiyueSteuber/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The recent presentation from Adobe ( ADBE ) has not been enough to stop the downward drift the stock has been in for more than two years now. As of today, we have a price of $240 per share, which represents a destruction in market capitalization that, in my opinion, has not been driven by a single catalyst but rather by the combination of different factors and the broader market context, making it difficult to sustain the 40x earnings valuation it once reached. Data by YCharts And to begin with, if none of us were allowed to check a stock price, and we were only shown the numbers of a company generating $26B in ARR growing at 10.9% YoY, with 89% gross margins and $2.96B in OCF this last Q1, I would think of a price close to highs in a normal market environment. Unfortunately, this is not the reality, and that is why I have decided to give my view on ADBE’s current situation, as well as its potential upside after analyzing the numbers and, more importantly, what the price is not telling us. Is Creative Cloud Being Replaced? My view is no, if I look at the core workflows of professionals, although I do detect some compression in market share that I would like to explain. For me, there is no verifiable evidence that AI tools are replacing the full professional pipeline of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, or Illustrator. Over the past 5 years, the number of paid subscribers has grown from around 21M to 41M , and ARR also grew 11.5% in FY25 , in line with previous years. This shows me that .PSD and .PRPROJ formats, which are the standard for client-agency workflows, still carry too high a switching cost to migrate processes. That is why enterprise churn could be considered practically zero, and I do not see a competitor meaningfully eroding this part of the business. That said, we can talk about pressure in the stock photography vertical, where ADBE has around $450M in ARR (1.9% of total revenue), following management’s comments dur...
Chinese artificial‑intelligence firms have emerged as one of the most volatile pockets of Asia’s equity markets, with shares of newly listed model developers and chip designers swinging on retail flows. Half of the region’s top 10 most volatile stocks based on 90-day annualized volatility are recent IPOs from the sector, according to Bloomberg calculations for firms valued above $10 billion. Moore...
Chinese artificial‑intelligence firms have emerged as one of the most volatile pockets of Asia’s equity markets, with shares of newly listed model developers and chip designers swinging on retail flows. Half of the region’s top 10 most volatile stocks based on 90-day annualized volatility are recent IPOs from the sector, according to Bloomberg calculations for firms valued above $10 billion. Moore Threads Technology Co. , for example, soared more than 700% in five days before nearly halving, while AI model developer MiniMax Group Inc. climbed more than 450% since its January debut. Chinese stocks — especially those listed in Hong Kong — are no stranger to speculative swings. But the recent surge in volatility has been amplified by thin institutional ownership and the frenzy around all things AI. The swings could intensify as some companies move toward inclusion into trading links with onshore exchanges, opening the door for mainland investors who are even more inclined to quick, momentum-driven trading. “All these new AI stocks are almost entirely valued on their AI roadmap. That means their earnings and sentiment are highly sensitive to the whole AI story in China,” said Jasmine Duan , senior investment strategist at RBC Wealth Management Asia. “There is risk in chasing the rally because some of their business models are not proved, and change can be quite rapid.” The latest hype around China’s token consumption highlights just how extreme those moves can be. Investors are starting to bet that token sellers like MiniMax and Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC Ltd., known as Zhipu, are best positioned to benefit from the rising demand for tokens — which measures data units processed by AI models for generating text and other inputs. That optimism has drawn in the retail crowd. Exchange data show that institutions required to disclose their holdings account for just 9.3% of MiniMax’s shares, with the remainder held by individuals and non-reporting investors. Among Asia’s ...