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By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) -Breathless bulls took a break on Friday as record-setting stocks and gold prices dipped and the dollar headed for its best week in over a year after a run of falls for the yen and euro. A day after a historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the political developments were still coming thick and fast – and continuing to move markets. Japan's yen was jolted out of its slide and the Nikkei dropped 1% on news the Komeito party was quitting its coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). [/FRX] That raised doubts over still-to-be-confirmed new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose pledges of major fiscal stimulus and calls for the Bank of Japan to hold off rate hikes have sapped the yen and lifted the Nikkei 6% until Friday. "If Takaichi doesn't become prime minister, or at least can't govern effectively, you don't really have much of a 'Takaichi trade'," said Chris Scicluna, head of research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe. European markets also saw a low key start [.EU] as traders there waited to see whether France's President Emmanuel Macron can find a way out of his country's political crisis. He is expected to name his sixth prime minister in under two years later, a personality who faces the vexing mission to steer a belt-tightening budget through a deeply fragmented parliament. The pan-European STOXX 600 was steady at 571 points, heading for a third straight weekly gain. The CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3% on the day along with the euro, although that is set for its worst week since July. [/FRX] The yield gap between 10-year French government bonds and uber-safe German Bunds — a market gauge of the risk premium investors demand to hold French debt — was also back at 80 bps having surged to 88 bps earlier in the week. "At the moment the market is happy," Daiwa's Scicluna said, referring to the prospect of the French crisis easing. "Next year could well be another very different situation though," he added, referring to if it all falls apart again. "Spreads could break out to the highest levels since Mario Draghi's 'whatever it takes' speech," he said, referring to then ECB President Draghi's speech in 2012 aimed at ending the euro crisis. RARE EARTH CURBS U.S. stock futures found a bottom in Europe, with corporate earnings season for the third quarter due to kick off on Wall Street next week. S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.1%, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was on course for a 1.6% weekly rise, its best since November, despite a 0.2% dip on the day. Chinese stocks had tumbled 1.4% overnight meanwhile, after Beijing expanded its rare earths export controls on Thursday, tightening control over the sector ahead of talks between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.  Beijing also ramped up enforcement of its chip import restrictions, aiming to reduce domestic technology companies' dependence on U.S. products such as Nvidia's artificial intelligence processors, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. With the U.S. government still in shutdown mode, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to 4.12% compared with its U.S. close of 4.14%. Traders expect the Federal Reserve will cut U.S. interest rates again on October 29, with Fed funds futures pricing a 94.6% probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. ALL THAT GLITTERS Gold edged back up to $4,000-an-ounce in Europe, having seen a brief bout of selling after topping the threshold for the first time ever this week. Silver which has risen even more than gold this year was also back above the $50 mark that it breached for the first time on Thursday. [GOL/] Multiple factors aided the rally, including geopolitical risks, robust central bank buying, exchange-traded fund inflows, expectations of U.S. rate cuts, and trade-related uncertainties. In energy markets, Brent crude slid 0.7% to $64.72 per barrel, after Israel's government ratified a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday, clearing the way to suspend hostilities in Gaza within 24 hours and free Israeli hostages held there in days.  (Additional reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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By Julie Zhu and Liam Mo HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese humanoid robot maker AgiBot plans to launch an initial public offering in Hong Kong next year, eyeing a valuation of HK$40 billion to HK$50 billion ($5.14 billion to $6.4 billion), sources with knowledge of the matter said. AgiBot's listing plans, backed by investors such as Tencent and HongShan Capital Group (HSG), comes as Beijing steps up efforts to develop automation to address its aging population and bolster its position in robotics amid escalating technological competition with the United States. The Shanghai-based company appointed China International Capital Corp Ltd (CICC) and CITIC Securities earlier this year to lead its Hong Kong listing, the sources said. Morgan Stanley has joined the effort in recent weeks, two of the sources added. According to PitchBook, it reached a valuation of $2.07 billion as of March. The company is expected to issue 15%-25% of its shares, one of the sources said. AgiBot plans to file a preliminary prospectus early next year, two of the sources said, with one adding that the firm aims for a public listing by the third quarter of 2026. Details of the IPO, including its timeline, offering size and valuation are subject to change, the sources cautioned, declining to be identified as the plan is not public yet. Reuters is reporting for the first time AgiBot's listing plans, the valuation target and appointed banks. AgiBot and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. CICC and CITIC did not respond to emailed queries from Reuters. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX), the city's exchange operator, declined to comment on individual companies or their transactions. ROBOTS IN VOGUE Founded in 2023 by former Huawei employees Deng Taihua and Peng Zhihui, Agibot gained prominence after Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected the company's robots during a visit to Shanghai earlier this year. The company produces humanoid robot series called Yuanzheng and Lingxi, as well as data collection tools used for model training, which it also sells externally. The company aims to deploy its humanoid robots across various sectors including manufacturing and logistics. At its data collection site in Shanghai, the company trains its robots to carry out tasks such as folding clothes, making coffee and washing toilets. In August, Agibot announced a partnership worth tens of millions of yuan with automotive parts maker Fulin Precision Engineering to deploy nearly 100 Yuanzheng robots at Fulin's factories. In the same month, the company also completed a strategic financing round with investors including LG Electronics and Mirae Asset. Chinese automaker BYD and asset manager Hillhouse Investment are also among its investors, according to corporate database Qichacha. The plan would make Agibot one of a handful of humanoid robot companies seeking to tap the capital markets, as the sector attracts dozens of new Chinese startups as well as large established firms such as home appliance maker Dreame Technology and smartphone seller Xiaomi. AgiBot's IPO would follow Ubtech Robotics, the first humanoid robot company to list in Hong Kong in late 2023. Ubtech's shares have surged 150% this year, outperforming the Hang Seng Index, which has risen 32%. Rival Unitree Robotics is targeting a valuation of up to 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) for its planned IPO on Shanghai's STAR board, Reuters reported last month. Hong Kong, fuelled by an influx of Chinese companies, has emerged as the leading global bourse by volume of IPOs and second listings combined this year, surpassing the New York Stock Exchange, according to data from LSEG. More than 270 companies have filed publicly for initial or second listings in the city as of Friday, according to the Hong Kong Exchange. Total funds raised from such offerings, predominately by Chinese companies, have reached nearly $24 billion so far this year, exceeding $11.3 billion in all of 2024, LSEG data showed. ($1 = 7.7808 Hong Kong dollars) (Reporting by Julie Zhu and Liam Mo; Editing by Brenda Goh and Jacqueline Wong)

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By Akash Sriram (Reuters) -Global space investment hit a record $3.5 billion in the third quarter, driven by a wider range of startups and continued defense spending, according to a report released Friday by space-focused investment firm Seraphim Space. Investments, from rocket-makers to low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, jumped from $1.79 billion in the same period last year, solidifying space as a leading growth sector in technology alongside AI. Analysts said the record quarter reflects a maturing market, with investment now spread across more companies rather than being dominated by a handful of big-ticket deals. “Historically, most of the capital in the sector was concentrated in just a couple of players, SpaceX and OneWeb,” said Lucas Bishop, investment associate at Seraphim Space. “What we’re seeing now is a far more diverse set of investable companies, signaling that space has evolved into a broader, more mature market." While hardware-focused defense tech firms such as Hadrian, Apex and Hermeus led the top deals in the U.S., China's Galactic Energy raised the most with a $336 million round last month. Funding is increasingly being driven by government efforts to build up domestic space and defense industries in the U.S., China and Europe, the report said. Analysts expect the momentum to carry into 2026 as commercial satellite networks expand and governments ramp up procurement, opening new opportunities for dual-use technologies across civilian and defense markets such as OneWeb and SpaceX's Starshield program. Public space companies have surged with Rocket Lab and Planet Labs having more than doubled, while AST SpaceMobile has more than tripled after showcasing satellite-to-phone broadband. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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