[China's Foreign Exchange Reserves Grew for the 6th Consecutive Month]

Australian port authority Pilbara Ports resumed operations at Port Hedland at 12pm local time (4am GMT) on 8 February because Cyclone Mitchell passed the area. Port Hedland is a major iron ore export hub in Western Australia (WA). Pilbara Ports has not reopened the ports of Ashburton, Cape Preston West, Dampier, and Varanus Island, it said on 8 February. It cleared all berths at the export hubs, which handle LNG and iron ore exports, because of expected cyclonic weather on 6 February. Cyclone Mitchell has passed WA's iron ore-rich Pilbara region and moved to the southern part of the state, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

Recently, the China Construction Machinery Association released the latest data for the "Construction Machinery Market Index" for January 2026. The data showed that in January, the average monthly working hours for China's main construction machinery products were 72.5 hours, up 23.9% YoY, but down 5.19% MoM. Among them, excavators recorded 62.8 hours. In January, the average monthly operating rate for China's main construction machinery products was 48.1%, down 2.63 percentage points YoY and down 3.63 percentage points MoM. Among them, the excavator operating rate was 48.6%.

On February 9, monitoring by the China Index Academy showed that in January 2026, a total of 105,000 foreclosed properties were listed nationwide, up 3.6% YoY, with a cumulative 113,000 auction rounds held. Ultimately, 16,000 units were sold, up 2.0% YoY, resulting in an inventory clearance rate of 14.9%. The total transaction value reached 21.59 billion yuan, down 3.4% YoY, while the average transaction price was 5,204 yuan per square meter, down 2.7% YoY, and the average discount rate stood at 71%. By property type, residential properties accounted for 54.2% of the transaction value, representing the most-traded segment.