General trend
- Nikkei has extended gain.
- Hang Seng and HK TECH indices rise after losing over 2% during prior session.
- Shanghai Composite ended morning trading +0.4%.
- S&P ASX 200 has pared gain.
- Taiwan Semi may release Aug sales later today.
- China may release Aug banking statistics later today.
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat.
- (AU) Australia Regulator APRA has commenced phase out reliance on the committed liquidity facility, to completely end by 2022.
- (NZ) New Zealand Aug Total Card Spending M/M: -21.8% v +0.9% prior; Retail Card Spending M/M: -19.8% v +0.6% prior.
- (NZ) New Zealand July Net Migration: 1.1K v 0.9K prior.
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.6%, Shanghai Composite -0.1%.
- (US) White House issues readout of call between President Biden and China President Xi from Sept 9th; US not seeking specific outcomes or agreements from the call [first call between the 2 leaders since Feb]; No particular request from China on tariffs.
- (CN) China President Xi: US and China should get back to stable development, US Policy imposes great difficulties on US-China relations.
- Evergrande Real Estate [3333.HK] China Financial Stability and Development Committee (FSDC) said to have allowed company to reset debt terms for renegotiation to ease cash crunch – press.
- (CN) China said to temporarily suspend approval for new online games – SCMP.
- (CN) China Sec Times: “Blind Speculation” on Non Fungible Tokens (NFT) distorts true value; Notes there is a huge bubble in transactions.
- (HK) Hong Kong said to plan on limited retail investors access to SPAC investments – Press.
- (CN) National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration confirms release of national crude oil reserves by rotation – financial press.
- (CN) China PBOC has asked banks to offer avg loan rates of ~5.5% for SMEs, seeking to lower the financing costs for these cos. – US financial press.
- (HK) China PBOC’s Dep Gov Pan Gongsheng: China-Hong Kong southbound bond and wealth link to begin in a few days – financial press.
- (CN) China President Xi: China is willing to strengthen ties with countries in the ASEAN area – China Press.
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4566 v 6.4615 prior.
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net CNY0B v Net drain CNY0B prior.
- (CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF) sells 3-month bills and 50-year bonds.
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.3%.
- (JP) Nikkei Sept Futs and Options settle at 30,085.
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced review of the benchmark ratio used to calculate the macro add-on balance in current account balances at the BOJ to which a zero interest rate is applied: set the ratio at 15.0% (prior 18.5%) for the Sept reserve maintenance period.
- (JP) Japan PM Suga reportedly will be running in upcoming general election as a member of Parliament – Japan press.
- (JP) Japan Vaccine Min Kono has told PM Suga that he will run in the LDP leadership election (as speculated) – Japanese press.
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.2%.
- (KR) South Korea said to delay local $1.5B FX Bond sale until early Oct – Press.
Other Asia
- (MY) Malaysia July Industrial Production Y/Y: -5.2% v -0.7%e.
- (SL) Said that Sri Lanka is likely to appoint Minister Cabraal and Governor of the Central Bank – Press.
North America
- (US) Fed’s Bostic (FOMC voter, hawk): Recent weak data has likely pushed back start of taper but when it begins it will be done quickly.
- (US) TREASURY $24B 30-YEAR BOND REOPENING DRAWS 1.910%; BID TO COVER 2.49 V 2.19 PRIOR.
- Exxon Mobil [XOM]: Said to have asked energy dept for additional loan of 1.5M barrels due to slow restart of offshore oil after Hurricane Ida – Press.
- (PE) Peru Central Bank (BCRP) raises Reference Rate by 50bps to 1.00%; as expected; Rate move does not necessarily mean cycle of rate hikes.
- (BR) Brazil President Bolsonaro: Hopes FX rate for BRL keeps falling.
Europe
- (EU) ECB AMENDS THE PANDEMIC BOND BUYING PROGRAM (PEPP); SLOWS PACE OF BOND BUYING FROM “SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER” TO “MODERATELY LOWER LEVEL FROM NOW”.
- (EU) ECB Policymakers said to have agreed to PEPP monthly purchase target between €60-70B with flexibility – press.
- (EU) Group of hawkish EU Fin Mins reportedly set to take tough stance in talks over post-pandemic changes to budget rules; Will demand reforms not jeopardize fiscal sustainability or dilute debt reduction targets – FT.
Levels as of 01:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +1%, ASX 200 +0.5% , Hang Seng +1.7%; Shanghai Composite +0.5%; Kospi +0.4%.
- Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax +0.6%; FTSE100 +0.3%.
- EUR 1.1833-1.1818 ; JPY 109.88-109.69 ; AUD 0.7388-0.7359 ;NZD 0.7125-0.7089.
- Gold +0.1% at $1,798/oz; Crude Oil +0.6% at $68.52/brl; Copper +1.4% at $4.3398/lb.
