KBW Ventures, the Saudi venture capital firm, announced its investment in Astromech, an American company that uses artificial intelligence to develop predictive artificial intelligence models of evolutionary biological change.
Astromek, which operates within Colossal Biosciences, leverages genomic data sources collected by Colossal to create predictive AI models of how living systems evolve.
Astromech aims to enable scientific breakthroughs in the fields of drug discovery and organism conservation by identifying evolutionary vulnerabilities.
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Prince Khalid bin Al-Waleed, founder of KBW Ventures, stressed the importance of investing in Astromek, pointing out that KBW Ventures has invested for more than 10 years in the fields of biosciences and advanced technologies, which is in line with national priorities.
He added: “We are proud to see Saudi Arabia attaching great importance to the health care and biotechnology sectors within the framework of (Vision 2030), and seeking to strengthen its position as a regional and global center for innovation and investment in this promising field.”
This investment expands the existing relationship between KBW Ventures and Colossal Biosciences and its founders, Ben Lamm and George Church. In 2023, KBW participated in the Series B financing round for Colossal at a valuation of $1 billion, and Colossal later raised $200 million in the Series C round at a valuation of $10.2 billion in 2024.
This investment by Prince Khalid bin Al-Waleed indicates a notable development in the growing participation of Gulf countries in supporting medical biotechnology innovations that will have a positive global impact.
Through this investment in Astromek, KBW Ventures continues to participate in the medical biotechnology investment landscape.
Pressure returned to Japanese markets, Monday, with government bond yields rising toward their highest levels in decades, driven by accelerating service inflation and growing expectations of further interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, while the Nikkei index ended a five-session winning streak under pressure from technology and semiconductor stocks.
The ten-year government bond yield rose two basis points to 3.095 percent, approaching the highest close since August 1996, while the two-year bond yield, which is more sensitive to monetary policy expectations, rose 1.5 basis points to 1.950 percent, equaling the 31-year peak recorded last week.
The 30-year bond yield also rose a basis point to 4.165 percent, a sign that selling pressures are extending across the yield curve.
The moves came after Bank of Japan data showed that the producer services price index rose 3.7 percent on an annual basis in August, the fastest pace in more than two years, compared to 3.6 percent in July.
The data is important because it reflects the expansion of inflationary pressures into the services sector, at a time when the central bank is monitoring the ability of companies to pass on higher labor costs to prices.
Tightening expectations were also strengthened after the publication of the minutes of the Bank of Japan's meeting in July, which showed that members of the Monetary Policy Board saw the need to focus more on inflation risks, while some of them called for raising interest rates at a faster pace.
The bank raised the interest rate this month to 1.25 percent, the highest level in 31 years, amid pressures resulting from rising prices, a weak yen, and import costs.
Ataru Okumura, chief interest rate strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said that major advanced economies share factors that fuel inflation, such as financial expansion and rising commodity prices. Which may reinforce the belief that the Bank of Japan will eventually be forced to tighten monetary policy further.
Attention is now turning to the 40-year bond auctions, on Tuesday, and the two-year bond auctions, on Wednesday, in a new test of investors’ appetite as yields rise.
The Ministry of Finance is also scheduled to hold a regular meeting with the main dealers, amid anticipation of the possibility of discussing reducing the quantities offered in auctions to enhance liquidity for bonds with maturities ranging between five and 11 years.
Takuya Onizawa, fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, said that the focus is on whether the cuts will actually be implemented, their size, and the tools that will be used to compensate for them.
In the stock market, the Nikkei index fell by 0.73 percent to close at 65,877.62 points, ending a series of increases that lasted five sessions during which it achieved about 4.5 percent. The broader Topix index fell 0.40 percent to 4,112 points.
The Nikkei had risen earlier in the session by about one percent to 67,034.74 points, the highest level since mid-August, before the gains dissipated.
Maki Sawada, equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said that the level of 67,000 points has become seen as a major resistance level for the index.
Stocks were under pressure as Nasdaq futures declined during Asian trading before the American company Micron Technology announced its quarterly results on Wednesday. Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management, said that the weakness of US contracts prompted investors to sell, in addition to rebalancing positions at the end of the first half of the Japanese fiscal year.
He added that the US semiconductor index has been moving within a wide range since June 20, suggesting that this pattern will continue during the next three or four months, and that the Nikkei will move in a similar manner.
Technology stocks were among the biggest losers; “Socionext” shares fell 5.15 percent, “Ebiden” 4.43 percent, and “Kioxia Holdings” 4.37 percent. The number of declining stocks within Nikkei reached 171 stocks, compared to 53 rising stocks and one stock remaining stable.
In contrast, some financial stocks benefited from the higher yield environment. Mizuho Financial Group shares rose 2.01 percent to record the highest close since June 2007, while Dai-ichi Life Holdings rose 1.91 percent. Ebara led the gains, rising 2.82 percent.
Chinese stocks fell strongly on Monday, and the leading stock index fell to its lowest level in a year with the decline of optimism that followed the summit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, and investors returned to focusing on internal economic imbalances, geopolitical risks, and US restrictions on technology, while the yuan recorded a slight decline against the dollar. The CSI 300 index of leading stocks closed down 2.2 percent, the largest loss in five weeks, after touching the lowest level since August 2025. The Shanghai Composite Index also fell 1.7 percent. In contrast, Hong Kong shares rose 0.5 percent. The Hong Kong market will remain open during most of the Chinese “Golden Week” holiday, which begins on October 1, with the exception of the first of the month. The losses came despite the United States and China announcing their agreement to reduce customs duties on goods worth $30 billion in each direction, amounting to $60 billion in mutual trade, in addition to launching a dialogue on artificial intelligence after Xi and Trump’s meeting in Washington. But investors seemed less convinced that the results of the summit meant the end of the fundamental differences. OCBC Bank said that the United States and China, despite the positive image presented by the summit, still differ on technology, security, trade, and the broader structure of international governance. Technological concerns were renewed after US lawmakers presented a draft law to prevent the federal government from equipping sensitive government systems with Chinese components used to transfer data within artificial intelligence data centers. The move put strong pressure on Chinese optical communications equipment companies. “E-Optolink Technology” shares fell 8 percent in Shenzhen, while “Innolight Technology” shares lost 9 percent in Shenzhen and 12 percent in Hong Kong, after the names of the two companies were explicitly mentioned in the move by American lawmakers. The CSI 300 telecommunications services index fell by more than 6 percent to its lowest level in two months, while the “Star” market indexes for technology, “Chainext” and small companies fell by about 4 percent each. Chip companies were also under pressure after reports that China might allow some local companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, to purchase chips from Nvidia designed for advanced professional computing devices, which affected investors' appetite for some local alternatives. Caution has increased with the approach of a week-long holiday starting on October 1. Chiangkai Securities said that a state of risk aversion is spreading in the market before the long holiday. The pressures came at a time when new data showed Chinese industrial companies' profit growth slowed to 4.2 percent year-on-year in August, from 11.2 percent in July, re-highlighting weak domestic demand and the imbalance between the strength of production and consumption. In the currency market, the yuan fell slightly to about 6.7142 against the dollar, with attention shifting from the top to the fundamentals of the economy. The dollar index rose to 101.09 points, approaching the highest level in two months. However, Chinese institutions believe that strong exports can continue to support the currency during the fourth quarter. Huatai Futures said that trade and geopolitical factors temporarily receded into the background after the two leaders' meeting, and that the yuan is still on an upward path, but at a slower pace. COFCO Futures said that the tariff reduction agreement may help keep Chinese exports strong, providing support for the currency, but it warned of a widening of the revenue differential between China and the United States and a change in external demand. High US Treasury bond yields constitute an additional obstacle to the rise of the yuan, as they increase the attractiveness of the dollar. The People's Bank of China had pledged to stabilize market expectations and beware of "herd behavior," and set the reference price for the yuan at 6.7399 to the dollar, the strongest level since February 2023. Monday's movements show that the Washington summit succeeded in alleviating some of the commercial risks, but it was not enough to change investors' moods in a sustainable manner. As the long holiday approaches, the weakness of the domestic economy, the technological confrontation with Washington, and the rise in US yields have returned to become the main drivers for stocks and the yuan.
