Nikkei Futures Rise After Prior Session’s Losses

Dec 03 19, 06:11 GMT

General Trend:

Australian equity markets underperformed amid RBA decision, decliners include consumer staples and financials
Hang Seng Futures erase losses as government plans 4th round of stimulus measures
Decliners in Japan include Marine/Transportation and Iron/Steel companies, banks also drop
Nintendo rises as Tencent is expected to give a Switch update on Dec 4th
Fast Retailing is due to report its Nov sales after the Tokyo close
Japan’s economic stimulus package may now total ¥25T, above the previously speculated ¥10T figure; government may decide on stimulus package later this week (Japanese press)
Japan sells 10-year JGBs at lowest bid to cover since 2016
Australia Q3 GDP data due for release on Wed (Dec 4th)
US Treasury Sec Mnuchin to appear at US House committee hearing on Dec 5th (Thursday)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.6%
(AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) LEAVES CASH RATE TARGET UNCHANGED AT 0.75%; AS EXPECTED
(AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 CURRENT ACCOUNT (A$): 7.9B V 6.1BE
CTX.AU Rejects bid from Couche Tard, saying it undervalues the company
ORE.AU Gives Q2 lithium carbonate pricing guidance: Expect lithium chemical pricing to recover in the mid-term, will meet current pricing in order to maintain market share

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -1.3%
(JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Economy is picking up but still at low level; To compile econ measures looking at consumption
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Losing trust in Japan’s finances could spike yields; important to find balance between growth and fiscal discipline – speaking in Parliament
(JP) Japan govt reportedly to select stimulus package worth ¥25T – Nikkei
(JP) Japan Cabinet Sec Suga: Economic measures will not be based on a certain scale and will likely be compiled soon
4502.JP Files lawsuit against Mylan over breaching a license agreement stemming from the settlement of a patent-infringement case over Colcrys
4503.JP Astellas Pharma to acquire Audentes Therapeutics at $60/shr cash for $3.0B
7956.JP Reports 9M Net ¥9.6B v ¥12.2B y/y, Op ¥13.9B v 16.9B y/y, Rev ¥77.5B v ¥79.4B y/y; Cuts FY19/20 Net ¥11.8B v ¥15.77Be, Op ¥16.8B v ¥22.09Be (prior Net ¥14.3B, Op ¥20.0B)
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.1T v ¥2.1T indicated in 0.1% 10-year JGBs: avg yield: -0.042% v -0.099% prior, bid to cover 3.28x v 3.62x prior (lowest btc since Aug 2016)

Korea

Kospi opened -0.8%
(KR) SOUTH KOREA Q3 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 0.4% V 0.4%E; Y/Y:2.0% V 2.0%E
(KR) South Korea to appoint new Premier Kim Jin-Pyo – South Korea Press
(KR) North Korea Foreign Min: Dialog with the US has been nothing but a trick; will not continue talks with US, it is using talks for its upcoming elections
005930.KR US Sec of State Pompeo: Samsung is a legitimate substitute to China companies for building 5G networks across the EU – op-ed in Politico

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.2%
(CN) China has banned US military visits to Hong Kong due to human rights bill
(HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: Will soon announce fourth round of relief measures; foresees fiscal deficit in Hong Kong over next 1-2 years
(CN) China President Xi: Will work with Russia to counter ‘western interference;’ will ramp up coordination with Russia to deal with criticism of treatment of Muslim Chinese in western Xinjiang – speaking to Russian Security Council Sec Patrushev
China Global Times releases list of possible counter measures China is considering taking against the US in response to Hong Kong Bill
(CN) China soybean revitalization plan calling on farmers in Heilongjiang Province to increase soybean production in 2020 in order to reduce reliance on US amid the trade war – Chinese press
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 10th consecutive session; Net drains CNY0B v CNY0B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0223 v 7.0262 prior

North America

BOLD To be acquired by Astellas Pharma at $60/shr cash for $3.0B
(CN) Bipartisan group of US Senators want Pres Trump to probe China social credit system as applied to foreign companies – SCMP
(US) US State Dept Official: China has made false accusations of foreign interference in its sanctioning of US NGOs in Hong Kong

Europe

(FR) US issues decision in response to France digital tax: USTR will take action against digital tax regimes that discriminate against US companies; proposes $2.4B tariffs on French goods; also considering probe on Austria, Turkey and Italy over digital tax
(IE) Ireland Nov Consumer Confidence: 77.1 v 69.5 prior (fastest rise since 2015)

Levels as of 12:15ET

Hang Seng -0.3%; Shanghai Composite 0.0%; Kospi -0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.7%; ASX 200 -2.2%
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.1%
EUR 1.1083-1.1071; JPY 109.20-108.95; AUD 0.6844-0.6815; NZD 0.6513-0.6493
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,466/oz; Crude Oil +0.4% at $56.16/brl; Copper +0.1% at $2.65/lb