Australia May imports MoM +2.6% (prior +0.8%).

European weather services have issued a red wildfire alert as record heat and below‑normal rainfall sharply increase fire risk and more extreme conditions loom. In France, over 800 firefighters are tackling a blaze that began on Wednesday, which has burned roughly 12 sq km across Hérault, Aude and Bouches‑du‑Rhône. Last year France recorded its worst wildfires in 70 years, with more than 170 sq km scorched and vineyards and farms destroyed.

A-shares opened lower and slid through the morning session. At midday the Shanghai Composite was down 0.9%, the Shenzhen Composite Index down 2.09% and the ChiNext Index down 3.47%; combined turnover topped 2.2 trillion yuan and more than 2,000 stocks were lower. The STAR 50 Index fell over 4% intraday. Precious-metals names outperformed, with several miners — including Xianglu Tungsten, Chifeng Gold, Zhaojin Gold and Shanjin International — hitting daily limit-ups. Humanoid-robot concept stocks also rallied, with over ten constituents at limit-up. Advanced packaging warmed, while semiconductor equipment continued to weaken; compute-hardware plays, glass-substrate and memory-chip sectors posted the largest declines.