China and Switzerland advanced efforts to deepen economic ties this week, concluding the fourth round of negotiations on upgrading their Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Switzerland from Tuesday to Thursday, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Officials from both sides engaged in intensive talks covering trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin, trade facilitation, e-commerce, environment, and economic and technical cooperation, achieving what the ministry described as "positive progress."
Signed in July 2013 and implemented a year later, the Sino-Swiss FTA has been pivotal in boosting bilateral trade and investment growth. In September 2024, the two countries formally launched negotiations to modernize and expand the pact.
Fourth round of Sino-Swiss FTA upgrade negotiations held in Switzerland
Tokyo stocks closed mixed on Friday as the earnings of major companies showed diverse results, with artificial intelligence and semi-conductor stocks slumping while video games firm Nintendo enjoyed a bump amid a recent sales boost.
The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 76.55 points, or 0.12 percent, from Thursday at 65,606.71. The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 19.08 points, or 0.47 percent, higher at 4,074.93.
Timothy Pope, an analyst for the China Global Television Network (CGTN), gave his assessment of the day's trading in Tokyo.
"Over in Japan, the markets were mixed today. The Nikkei 225 dragged a bit lower by its AI and chip-related heavyweights. It finished the day down only about 0.1 percent, but it had been down more than 1.5 percent earlier on in the session," he said.
"Two of today's notable stocks, SoftBank and Nintendo, reported earnings yesterday. SoftBank was down 2.5 percent. Its earnings were predictably complicated: profits were better than expected, but still down 18 percent year on year. It reported 1.86 trillion yen in investment gains, but -- this is a crucial one -- no valuation gain from its massive investment in OpenAI. Nintendo shares, meanwhile, were up 5.3 percent after quarterly operating profit jumped by 150 percent. It says thanks there are due to strong demand for software for the Switch and Switch 2 (games consoles), and also a hefty refund from U.S. tariffs," said Pope.
Tokyo stocks end mixed as heavyweights diverge: analyst
