By Trade The News
Index Snapshot (as of 02:30 GMT)
- Nikkei225 -0.1%, S&P/ASX -0.1%, Kospi -0.7%, Shanghai Composite -0.1%, Hang Seng +1.1%, Sept S&P500 +0.3% at 1,956
Commodities/Fixed Income
- Dec gold +0.1% at $1,111/oz, Oct crude oil -0.4% at $45.73/brl, Dec copper +0.4% at $2.45/lb
- (JP) BOJ offers to buy ¥70B in JGBs with maturity less than 1-yr, ¥400B in 1-3yr JGBs, ¥400B in 3-5yr JGBs, and ¥1.5T in T-bills
- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$800M in 3.25% 2018 Bonds; avg yield: 1.8738%; bid-to-cover: 3.23x
- (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Total Assets for week ending Sept 9th: $4.48T v $4.48T prior; M2 y/y change: 5.9% v 5.8% prior; M1 y/y change: 7.4% v 7.3% prior
Market Focal Points/FX
- After some wild swings at the start of the week, US equity markets were notably less volatile in today’s session, and Asian indices are tracking in suit. Korea’s Kospi is underperforming while Hang Seng is higher than its key peers and US S&P futures are bid up by about 7pts. Singapore markets were closed due to national elections. In USD majors, EUR/USD traded in a 30pip range just below $1.13, USD/JPY popped up some 40pips but was repelled by 121 handle, and AUD/USD was contained to a 20pip range below $0.7080 after some brief selling on a bearish research note from Goldman Sachs.
- Bank of Korea left rates on hold at 1.50% as widely expected in a unanimous decision. BOK reiterated inflation would remain low, adding that Fed policy change and China turmoil pose risks, just as domestic demand continues to recover. BOK Gov Lee stated the current rate is supportive of the economy, which led some analysts to tone down expectations of more BOK easing in the short run. Lee added the economic growth is unlikely to slow to 2%, but that there might be some flexibility around the 2015 GDP “forecast” of 2.8% since exports appear to have weakened.
- AUD/USD saw its worst level of the day after Goldman Sachs cut its 2016 Australia GDP target to 2.0% from 2.25%. Goldman added it expects another 25bp RBA rate cut this November and also forecast AUD decline through 0.67 in the next 6 months. While Australia barely managed to avoid a contraction in its latest quarterly GDP data, Goldman said there’s still 1 in 3 chance of a recession in the next 12 months.
- Japan Q3 BSI Manufacturing data saw some notable improvement, sending USD/JPY pair to session lows below 120.60 just before the Tokyo open. Among speakers, Econ Min Amari reiterated calls on corporations to pass through improving profitability to higher CapEx and wages. Earlier in the day, local press reported Japan govt is considering a partial refund of consumption tax in some of the food components when it rises to 10% in Apr 2017. Recall the last increase in consumption tax to 8% resulted in a protracted slowdown in consumption.
- Ahead of the weekend release of key economic data in China, state planner NDRC warned the economy still faces significant downward pressure, even though it is still in reasonable range. NDRC also noted investment growth is weak but stable, and forecast Aug YTD fixed-asset investment to be similar to Jan-July rate.
Equities
US equities / ADRs:
- PGI Announces agreement to be acquired by Siris Capital Group for $14.00/shr for $1B in all-cash deal; +21.7% afterhours
- PBYI Announces publication of PB272 in HER2 non-amplified metastatic breast cancer with a HER2 mutation; +2.9% afterhours
- RH Reports Q2 $0.85 v $0.83e, R$507M v $503Me; +2.1% afterhours
- RUN Reports Q2 net $7.5M v -$18M y/y, R$72.7M v $51.9M y/y; -4.2% afterhours
- FNSR Reports Q1 $0.23 v $0.26e, R$314M v $318Me; -10.5% afterhours
- ZUMZ Reports Q2 $0.12 ex charge v $0.12e, R$179.8M v $180Me; -20.3% afterhours
Notable movers by sector:
- Consumer discretionary: BAIC Motor Corp 1958.HK +1.4% (in talks for Daimler stake); Sekisui House 1928.JP -1.1% (H1 result)
- Financials: Ping An Insurance 2318.HK +1.8% (Aug result); Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties 3699.HK -1.0% (Aug result, agreements); China Resources Land 1109.HK +2.4% (Aug result)
- Industrials: China State Construction Holdings 3311.HK -1.9% (Aug result)
- Technology: Toshiba Corporation 6502.JP -3.4% (SESC to probe); Pegatron Corp 4938.TW +1.9% (Aug result); Quanta Computer 2382.TW -0.6% (Aug result); Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 2330.TW +1.2% (Aug result)
- Materials: Maanshan Iron & Steel 323.HK +1.1% (new agreements); Atlas Iron AGO.AU +3.1% (Aug result); Doray Minerals DRM.AU +2.4% (FY15 result)
- Energy: Oil Search OSH.AU -0.9% (speculation to reject request for exclusive talks)
- Telecom: Softbank Corp 9984.JP +2.8% (speculation to take private)
Economic Data
- (JP) JAPAN Q3 BUSINESS SURVEY INDEX (BSI) LARGE ALL INDUSTRY Q/Q: +9.6 V -1.2 PRIOR; BSI LARGE MANUFACTURING Q/Q: +11.0 V -6.0 PRIOR
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA CENTRAL BANK (BOK) LEAVES 7-DAY REPO RATE AT 1.50% (as expected)
- (PE) PERU CENTRAL BANK (BCRP) RAISES REFERENCE RATE BY 25BPS TO 3.50% (not expected)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND AUG BUSINESS MANUFACTURING PMI: 55.0 V 53.7 PRIOR
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND AUG FOOD PRICES M/M: -0.5% V +0.6% PRIOR (1st decline in 4 months)
- NPD: Aug US total video game sales $548M, -2% y/y
This article originally appeared on www.stockmarketsreview.com, and is reproduced here as part of our collaboration with StockMarketsReview.com