China to expand opening-up areas with focus on service sector: official

The Ministry of Commerce has vowed to focus on the service sector to expand market access and opening-up areas.

Wang Ya, head of the foreign investment management department under the commerce ministry, told a press conference on Monday that in terms of broadening market access, China will steadily expand the pilot program for opening up vocational skills training institutions, vocational colleges and high-level universities of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine to the outside world.

The ministry will support more foreign-funded institutions in using risk management tools including treasury bond futures, and support foreign-funded institutions in conducting fund investment advisory business in accordance with the law, he said. At the same time, the country will guide foreign investment towards production-oriented and modern service industries, continue to increase policy supply, encourage foreign investment to participate in the integration, digitalization and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the service sector, and vigorously attract foreign-funded enterprises to set up regional headquarters, research and development centers and other functional institutions in China, so as to help expand and improve the quality of China's service industry, he said.

"Since 2025, we have accelerated and intensified the comprehensive pilot program for expanding the opening up of the service sector. We have added nine new pilot cities and put forward a number of personalized pilot tasks based on local conditions. Next, we will work with relevant departments and provincial and municipal authorities to ensure the detailed implementation of all pilot tasks, so as to better play a leading role in the opening up, innovation and high-quality development of the service sector across the country," Wang said.

China to expand opening-up areas with focus on service sector: official

Tokyo stocks tumbled on Tuesday, with the benchmark Nikkei index falling below the 70,000 mark after snapping an eight-session winning streak, as investors took profits amid concerns over an overheated market.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 2,565.58 points, or 3.55 percent, from Monday at 69,788.38.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 104.67 points, or 2.56 percent, lower at 3,990.38.

On the top-tier Prime Market, nonferrous metal, electric appliance, and information and communication issues were notable decliners.

The Nikkei briefly traded higher at the open but soon reversed course as selling pressure mounted after the index had surged more than 8,100 points during its eight-session advance.

Heavyweight technology shares, particularly recent gainers such as Kioxia Holdings Corp. and Tokyo Electron, led the decline. The selloff was partly cushioned as dip-buyers stepped in.

Losses extended in the afternoon, with the Nikkei diving more than 3 percent toward the close.

Tokyo stocks slump on overheating concerns