General Trend:
- Kospi outperforms as chipmakers rise
- Australian and Japanese Financials generally track US gains
- Fast Retailing (largest Nikkei component) rises over 3.5% after reporting Aug sales figures
- Financials and Tech firms trade generally lower in HK
- BHP declines over 1.5% amid ex-dividend
- Shanghai Composite traded flat during the morning session, IT shares declined
- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thursday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$36.3B v A$56.8B prior
- (AU) Victoria state (Australia) reports 113 additional coronavirus cases v 90 prior; 15 additional deaths
- (AU) Australia Aug Final PMI Services: 49.0 v 48.1 prelim (confirms 1st contraction in 3 months)
- (AU) Australia July Trade Balance (A$): 4.6B v 5.4Be
- (AU) Australia Aug AiG Performance of Construction Index: 37.9 v 42.7 prior
- (NZ) New Zealand Aug ANZ Commodity Price M/M: -0.9% v 2.3% prior
- (NZ) New Zealand Debt Management Office (DMO) sells NZ$950M v NZ$950M indicated in 2023, 2029 and 2033 bonds
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%, Shanghai Composite flat
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.8319 v 6.8376 prior (Strongest since May 13th, 2019)
- (CN) CHINA AUG CAIXIN PMI SERVICES: 54.0 V 53.9E (4TH STRAIGHT EXPANSION)
- (CN) China reportedly plans broad chip sector support in order to compete with US – press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY120B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY20B in 7-day prior
- (CN) State Dept announces new limits on Chinese diplomats in the US; diplomats must seek US approval for visits to universities and large cultural events – press
- (HK) Hong Kong Aug PMI (whole economy): 44.0 v 44.5 prior (30th month of contraction)
- (CN) China sells 1.35Mt of corn (33.6% of total offers) from state reserves
Japan
- Nikkei225 opened +1.2%
- (JP) Japan Aug Final PMI Services: 45.0 v 45.0 prelim (confirms 6th straight contraction)
- (JP Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga confirms intention to run for LDP leadership (as speculated) [from Sept 2nd]
- (JP) LDP Party Leader Candidate Kishida: Would seek to bring manufacturing back to Japan; Cannot change current monetary and fiscal policy in Japan Suddenly (referring to Abenomics)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Board member Kataoka (Ultra-Dove): Must try to curb downward pressure on prices as much as possible
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥900B v ¥900B indicated in 0.6% 30-year JGBs, avg yield 0.6110% v 0.6170% prior, bid to cover 3.50x v 3.44x prior
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.8%
- (KR) South Korea reported to be deciding on extending level 2.5 social distancing over the weekend
- (KR) South Korea President Moon: South Korea to create KRW20T fund for ordinary people, Policy initiatives over next 5 years
- (KR) South Korea confirms 195 additional coronavirus cases v 267 prior; 3 additional deaths
- (KR) South Korea: Halts 4 nuclear reactors ahead of typhoon; Says no radiation leak, reactors in stable condition
- (KR) South Korea Aug Foreign Reserves: $419B v $416.5B prior (record high)
Other Asia
- (SG) Singapore Aug PMI (whole economy): 43.6 v 45.6 prior
- (SG) Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): Domestic systemically important banks that are incorporated in Singapore will be able to pledge eligible residential property loans as collateral at the MAS SGD Term Facility.
North America
- (US) Fed’s Daly (non-voter): No pressing need to give forward guidance on rate path; Rates aligned with expectations
Europe
- (EU) The increase in Euro is worrying ECB Officials because of falling prices (deflation) – FT [follows recent comments from ECB’s Lane on the Euro and record low Euro Zone Aug Core CPI]
- (IE) Ireland Aug Services PMI: 52.4 v 51.9 prior
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +1.1%, ASX 200 +0.7% , Hang Seng -0.5%; Shanghai Composite -0.1% ; Kospi +1.3%
- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.2%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 +0.4%
- EUR 1.1856-1.1806 ; JPY 106.29-106.12 ; AUD 0.7340-0.7309 ;NZD 0.6778-0.6752
- Gold +0.2% at $1,948/oz; Crude Oil +0.1% at $41.55/brl; Copper -0.1%% at $3.0265/lb
