Asia Trades Mixed, Hang Seng Tech Index Drops

General Trend:

• Tech, Property and Gaming firms are among the decliners in Hong Kong
• Shanghai Composite declines by 0.3% during morning session, IT and Consumer firms decline
• Iron/Steel, Real Estate and Air Transportation firms are among the gainers in Japan; Topix banking index declines
• Gainers in Australia include Energy, Resource and Financial firms; Consumer-related companies decline
• Samsung extends gain amid recent order from Verizon
• Taiwan Semi may report Aug sales today (US financial press)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +0.1%
• (AU) Banks in Australia plan to fund government stimulus bill; Financial regulators are expected to direct banks to purchase up to A$240B of additional federal and state government debt as part of a planned change to the bank liquidity rule. – Australian press
• (CN) Australia assisted 2 journalists in returning to Australia from China [Two Australian journalists from ABC and AFR were said to have been moved out of China (press)]
• (AU) Australia Aug 8-22 Payroll Jobs: +0.3%, total wages +0.2%
• (AU) Australia Aug NAB Business Confidence: -8 v -14 prior; Conditions: -6 v 0 prior
• (AU) Victoria state (Australia) reports 55 additional coronavirus cases v 41 prior; 8 additional deaths
• (AU) Australia Port Hedland Aug Iron Ore Exports 46.1Mt v 43.6Mt m/m

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.8%, Shanghai Composite +0.3%
• (CN) China Diplomat Wang: Announces initiative for Global Data Security (as expected): States should not request domestic companies to store data generated and obtained overseas in their own territory
• (CN) US President Trump: China faces decoupling or massive tariffs from the US; US will prohibit federal contracts to companies that outsource to China
• (IN) China Statement: India behavior on border is serious military Provocation; Urges India to stop its dangerous behavior immediately – Statement via China state run TV
• (CN) US could seek to ban cotton from Xinjiang Region (China) due to human rights concerns – NYT
• (HK) Hong Kong Govt reported to ease coronavirus restaurant limit, will allow 4 people per table at restaurants – Press
• (CN) China President Xi: China coronavirus data has been transparent and true
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.8364 v 6.8386 prior
• (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY100B in 7-day prior; Net Inject CNY100B v Net inject CNY20B prior

Japan

• Nikkei225 opened +0.4%
• (JP) JAPAN Q2 FINAL GDP Q/Q: -7.9% V -8.0%E; GDP ANNUALIZED Q/Q: -28.1% V -28.5%E; Private Consumption Q/Q: -7.9% v -8.2%e; Business Spending Q/Q: -4.7% v -3.0%e
• (JP) Japan July Current Account (BoP basis): ¥1.47T v ¥1.90Te; Adj Current Account: ¥964.2B v ¥1.05T prior
• (JP) Japan July Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y -1.3% v -1.5%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: -1.6% v -1.9%e
• (JP) Japan July Household Spending Y/Y: -7.6% v -3.7%e (10th straight decline)
• (JP) Japan Aug Eco Watchers Current Survey: 43.9 v 41.3e; Outlook Survey: 42.4 v 39.1e
• (JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Japan economy is showing signs of picking up; Japan will spend ¥671.4B from emergency budget reserve for an anti-coronavirus vaccine
• (JP) Japan reported to consider easing restrictions on event sizes on Sept 19th – Press
• (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga (LDP ruling party leader candidate): Important to protect Employment, continue business
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.5T v ¥2.5T indicated in 0.10% 5-year JGBs; avg yield -0.0910% v -0.0930% prior, bid to cover 3.56x v 3.55x prior

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.8%
• (KR) South Korea is reported to consider loosening coronavirus restrictions if the cases fall below 100/day – Korea press
• (KR) South Korea will decide on extending (or relaxing) social distancing rules over the weekend
• Samsung Electronics [005930.KR]: May target 15% smartphone shipment growth in FY21 – Press

Europe

• (UK) BOE Haldane (Chief Economist) said recovery of UK economy is not being given enough credit – press
• (UK) Aug BRC Sales LFL Y/Y: 4.7% v 4.3% prior
• Anheuser-Busch InBev [ABI.BE]: Said to start process to replace CEO Carlos Brito – FT

Levels as of 1:20 ET

• Nikkei 225, +0.6%, ASX 200 +0.7% , Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.1% ; Kospi +0.6%
• Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.4%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.2%
• EUR 1.1821-1.1795 ; JPY 106.31-106.24 ; AUD 0.7288-0.7271 ;NZD 0.6700-0.6680
• Gold -0.1% at $1,932/oz; Crude Oil -2.1% at $38.92/brl; Copper -0.3% at $3.0623/lb