General Trend:
- Asian equities trade generally higher following Friday’s gains in the US: Nikkei lags
- Shanghai Composite moves between gains and losses in early trade
- US/China expected to resume trade talks later this week
- Australian earnings in focus: Woolworths, Fortescue Metals and Ansell all decline after reporting financial results
- Australian financial services firm Eclipx rises on takeover bid
- US and China are expected to resume trade talks on Aug 22-23rd; talks expected to be held among lower ranking officials
- BHP expected to report earnings on Tuesday’s session
- RBA to release minutes for Aug policy meeting on Tuesday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat
- ASX 200 Resources index +1%, Utilities +0.8%, REIT +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.4%, Telecom +0.3%; Financials -0.7%
- (AU) Australia PM Turnbull: Enjoys the confidence of cabinet and party
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%, Hang Seng +0.2%
- Hang Seng Info Tech index +2.2%, Services +1.8%, Telecom +1.7%, Energy +1.4%, Property/Construction +0.9%, Utilities +0.8%, Financials +0.3%; Industrial Goods -1.4%
- (CN) Share buybacks by State Owned Enterprises (SOE) can be used to help China equity market – Chinese Press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY120B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY90B injected in 7-day reverse repos prior: Net: CNY120B injection v CNY90B injection prior
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.8718 v 6.8894 prior
- (CN) China FX Regulator SAFE: Domestic commercial banks sold a net of $9.4B in forex in July
- (CN) China Banking and Insurance Regulator has asked financial institutions to continue to support companies that are having temporary operational difficulties – financial press
- (CN) US and China reportedly plot roadmap to resolve trade dispute before Pres Trump-Pres Xi meeting in Nov – press
- (CN) China begins 1-month safety inspections related to coal mines
- Walmart is actively working on plans to mitigate China tariffs, asking suppliers to change sourcing – press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened flat
- TOPIX Marine Transportation index -1.1%, Information & Communications -0.6%, Retail trade -0.6%, Electric Appliances -0.5%; Real Estate +0.6%
- Tokyo Steel: Maintains Sept prices for H-beam and hot-rolled coil steel products
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.5%
- (CN) China President Xi is expected to visit North Korea in Sept – financial press
- (KR) South Korea government said to plan to increase the 2019 budget by 9.7% to KRW470T – Local Press
Other
- (IN) Fitch: India sovereign credit risk from Rupee currency (INR) decline is ‘limited’
- (MY) China Premier Li: China is ready to boost imports of Malaysia goods to ‘large extent’
- (TH) Thailand Q2 GDP Q/Q: 1.0% v 0.9%e; Y/Y: 4.6% v 4.3%e
North America
- (MX) According to Mexico farm lobby, the US said to retract demand related to agriculture from NAFTA negotiations – financial press
Europe
- (TR) S&P cuts Turkey sovereign rating one notch to B+ from BB-; outlook stable (from Aug 17th)
- (TR) Moody’s cuts Turkey sovereign rating one notch to Ba3 from Ba2; outlook negative (from Aug 17th)
- (TR) US said to reject Turkey’s offer to tie release of US pastor to bank relief – US financial press
- (DE) Germany Finance Ministry Monthly Report: Cites Turkey as global economic risk
- (IT) Italy expected to launch its infrastructure plan in Sept – financial press
- (UK) UK said to plan to allow EU migrants to remain under a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit – UK Press
- (UK) Aug Rightmove House Prices M/M: -2.3% v -0.1% prior; Y/Y: 1.1% v 1.4% prior
- (GR) ESM: Greece has successfully concluded its bailout program (as expected)
- (GR) Greece Central Bank Chief Stournaras: Said if we backtrack on what we have agreed, now or in the future, the markets will abandon us and we will not be able to refinance maturing loans on sustainable debt terms.
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.2%, ASX 200 flat, Hang Seng +0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi +0.1%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 flat; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax flat; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.1442-1.1427 ; JPY 110.61-110.40 ; AUD 0.7317-0.7294 ;NZD 0.6643-0.6615
- Aug Gold +0.7% at $1,192/oz; Sept Crude Oil -0.4% at $64.96/brl; Sept Copper -0.5% at $2.648 /lb
