PRE-MARKET AUSTRALIAN, JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCKS NEWS: New Hope Corporation (NHC AT) FY (AUD) net fell 63% Y/Y to AUD 161.0mln, rev. fell 0.5% Y/Y to AUD 1.77bln

AUSTRALIA Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA AT) - Co.’s ASB subsidiary CEO Vittoria Shortt will step down on December 11 and will be succeeded by Sinead Taylor, currently Group Executive Institutional Banking & Markets, while the Co. is searching for Taylor’s successor. (Dow Jones Newswires) Meridian Energy (MEZ AT) - Co. reported national hydro storage at 155% of average and total August generation rose 21.1% Y/Y. (Motley Fool) National Australia Bank (NAB AT) - Co. called in McKinsey and KPMG to review its corporate and institutional banking business. (AFR) Netwealth Group (NWL AT) - Co. agreed to acquire AI-enabled financial advice workflow and automation platform Paradino for up to AUD 29mln, comprising AUD 15mln cash and AUD 5mln in stock upfront, up to AUD 9mln in earnouts and retention payments over four years, and a further AUD 10mln investment in Paradino over two years. (Dow Jones Newswires) New Hope Corporation (NHC AT) - Co. FY (AUD) net fell 63% Y/Y to AUD 161.0mln, rev. fell 0.5% Y/Y to AUD 1.77bln, dividend AUD 0.30/shr; Co. also reported coal resources increased by 262mln tonnes at Bengalla Mine and by 151mln tonnes at New Acland Mine in 2026. (Dow Jones Newsplus/Motley Fool) Woolworths Group (WOW AT) - Suppliers say the Co. is threatening to remove products unless they accept new terms aimed at keeping customer prices consistently lower. (AFR) Healthscope - Calvary Health Care-led consortium won the battle for Healthscope and agreed to acquire 25 hospitals, with the assets valued at around AUD 600mln after the consortium reportedly increased its offer by AUD 60mln in recent weeks, while Healthscope lenders are expected to recover around AUD 400mln from the deal. (AFR) Other News OpenAI threatened to walk away from local training facilities unless the Labor government backs down on creative industry protections. (The Australian) JAPAN Kioxia Holdings (285A JT) - Co. considers raising USD 10bln in US listing, while Co.-linked startup EmotionX will launch a full-scale cloud service that allows encrypted data to be analysed without first being decrypted, with potential applications in defence and finance. (Newswires/Nikkei) Leopalace21 (8848 JT) - Hikari Tsushin (9435 JT), MBK Partners and an NEC (6701 JT) unit launched a USD 1.7bln buyout for the Co., with Hikari Tsushin to conduct a tender offer aimed at taking it private. (Nikkei) Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306 JT) - Co. and Citi are participating in trials of SWIFT’s blockchain-based digital ledger for 24-hour cross-border bank transfers, aimed at speeding up transactions and reducing fees. (Nikkei) TDK (6762 JT) - Co. plans to ramp up production of thin-film inductors used in AI servers and expects to invest around USD 260mln across two factories over the next three years to increase capacity. (Nikkei) Toyota Motor (7203 JT) - Co. is shifting its hydrogen fuel-cell strategy in Europe towards commercial vehicles, including trucks and pickups, as adoption of passenger fuel-cell vehicles remains limited amid high hydrogen costs and scarce refuelling infrastructure. (Nikkei) SOUTH KOREA Kia (000270 KS) - Co. unveiled its PV7, its second purpose-built vehicle, at the IAA Transportation commercial vehicle exhibition in Germany. (Yonhap) Korean Air (003490 KS) - Co. will launch free Starlink-powered in-flight Wi-Fi on select flights, becoming the first East Asian full-service airline to offer the service. (Nikkei) POSCO International (047050 KS) - Co.’s US subsidiary will raise KRW 532.9bln through a rights offering to acquire US shale gas assets. (Yonhap) Energy Prosecutors requested arrest warrants for eight current and former executives of domestic petrochemical companies suspected of price fixing involving several trillion won, including OCI (456040 KS) CEO Kim Yoo-shin and former PKC (001340 KS) CEO Jang Young-soo, with LG Chem (051910 KS), Hanwha Solutions (009830 KS), Aekyung Chemical (161000 KS), OCI, Lotte Fine Chemical (004000 KS), PKC and Unid (014830 KS) suspected of colluding for several years to raise prices for eight petrochemical products. (Yonhap) Other News South Korea’s first KRX after-hours stock trading session recorded KRW 1.8trln in trading volume. (Yonhap)