The latest Market Talks covering Basic Materials. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

0859 GMT - Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 1.8% higher at 27027.16 on Monday, driven by gains in drug manufacturer Innovent Biologics and Labubu maker Pop Mart International. Innovent led gains, closing 7.4% higher after saying it signed a deal with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly that could lead to up to $8.5 billion in potential milestone payments. The partnership is likely to help fuel the Chinese pharmaceutical company's global expansion, Citi analysts say in a note. Meanwhile, Pop Mart ended 5.8% higher after its CEO recently said sales of its flagship Labubu doll exceeded 100 million units in 2025. Other gainers include Zijin Mining Group, which finished 5.6% higher, and Ping An Insurance, which closed up 4.9%. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)

0823 GMT - European equities follow Asian peers higher at the open as financials trade strongly. Both the Italian FTSE MIB and Spanish IBEX 35 climb thanks to the banks that dominate the indexes, as the pair rise around 1%. UniCredit gains 4.7% in Milan after guiding for revenue and profit growth, while Banco de Sabadell climbs 3.3% in Madrid. Conversely, U.K. banks falter amid pressure on the country's sovereign bonds. NatWest falls 3.1% after announcing plans to acquire Evelyn Partners, while Lloyds Group slips 2.2%. The FTSE 100 nudges up 0.4% as miners gain. Tech stocks also push higher, with STMicroelectronics climbing 4.4% on an extension of its partnership with Amazon, helping the French CAC 40 to gain 0.4%. The German DAX gains 0.7%, boosted by banks and industrials as Commerzbank climbs 2.5%.(josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0820 GMT - London's miners rise in opening trade as precious-metal prices tick upward. In New York, gold futures are up 0.9% at $5,026 a troy ounce while silver climbs 4.5% to $80.39 an ounce. Prices remain elevated after rebounding from recent volatility. Geopolitical uncertainty and central-bank buying are supporting gold prices. Hochschild Mining rises 3.6% while Fresnillo is up 2.1%. Endeavour Mining rises 2.7%. Commodity giant Glencore rises 2%, while Anglo American is up 0.5%. Copper miner Antofagasta is up 3.1%. (adam.whittaker@wsj.com)

0813 GMT - DSM-Firmenich is still far from its ambitions for its core portfolio, but it can now focus on delivering profitable growth, Vontobel's Arben Hasanaj says in a research note. A deal to sell its animal nutrition and health business to CVC Capital Partners and other recent sales of noncore operations allow the Dutch ingredients supplier to focus on human nutrition, health and beauty. DSM aims to deliver organic sales growth of 5% to 7% in the medium term, and an adjusted Ebitda margin of 22% to 23%, but it is still rather far from these levels, the analyst says. The animal nutrition sale will make it easier to compare DSM's performance with that of Swiss peer Givaudan, according to Vontobel. Shares in DSM fall 3.3%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0756 GMT - It took DSM-Firmenich longer than expected to sell its animal nutrition and health business and its deal with CVC Capital Partners for 2.2 billion euros including debt was priced lower than anticipated, Vontobel's Arben Hasanaj says in a research note. The process dragged on, as the prior target for the sale was last year's summer, and price expectations were lowered from the more than 3 billion euros DSM expected at the outset, according to Vontobel. The Dutch ingredients company sought to sell the business given its earnings variability due to vitamin prices and capital demands, the analyst says. Moreover, animal nutrition didn't seem to fit much with the group's core human-focused portfolio, he adds. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0415 GMT - Zijin Mining's output could continue to grow decently given its expansion plans for existing mines and mergers and acquisitions, Citi analysts say in a research note. Zijin is targeting to be among the world's top three miners by 2028 in terms of copper and gold output, stepping up from its previous target at being between the third and fifth ranking globally. The Chinese miner has also guided its 2026 copper and gold output at 1.20 million tons and 105 tons, respectively. While the gold output is largely in line with Citi's expectation, the copper output guidance is slightly lower, potentially due to the impact of the accident in the Kamoa mine in Congo in May 2025, they say. Zijin's H shares are last 4.2% higher at HK$40.74. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0055 GMT - Bulging Chinese iron-ore stockpiles are likely behind a drop in prices for the steel ingredient, says Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Vivek Dhar. Spot iron ore has fallen below $100/metric ton for the first time since the start of August, according to Platts, part of S&P Global Energy. China's stockpiles have risen above 160 million tons for the first time since February 2022, Dhar says. "For context, China's iron ore port stockpiles have only lifted above 160 million tons briefly on three occasions in 2018 and one occasion in 2022," he says. A record high of roughly 162 million tons was recorded in June 2018. "The oversupply narrative facing iron ore markets has been driven predominantly by weak Chinese steel demand," Dhar says. "Rising seaborne supply has also contributed to oversupply concerns." (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0003 GMT - UBS reminds Australian gold producers to be prepared for any prolonged pullbacks in gold prices, as mining costs drift higher. Gold companies have been increasingly "chasing incremental, lower-margin material and production growth albeit at higher unit costs" to take advantage of record-high metal prices, UBS says. "While many gold miners are protected in the short/medium term by puts struck at very strong prices, we continue to watch the recent volatility in gold," the bank says. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2026 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)

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