Asian Equities Trade Mixed After US Declines

Oct 17 19, 05:59 GMT

General Trend:

BHP declines over 2%, reported flat y/y iron ore production in Q1
Hang Seng outperforms, property names gain after recent policy address by HK leader
Marine Transportation and Electric Appliance firms gain in Japan, financials decline
Netflix rises over 9% in afterhours trading post earnings, IBM drops over 5%
Various cannabis-related companies rise in US afterhours trading, Canada’s amended regulations related to the Cannabis Regulations will come into force on Oct 17, 2019 (Thursday)
Aussie unemployment rate beats estimates and full-time employment rises as recent rate cuts work way through economy
Taiwan Semi is expected to issue quarterly earnings later today
China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds its weekly press conference on Thursdays (generally comes during early European morning)
US companies expected to report earnings during Thursday’s NY morning include Honeywell, Morgan Stanley, Philip Morris, PPG and Textron
RBA Gov Lowe is due to speak on Friday at 7:00 AM AEDT (4 PM EST), to comment at the ‘Governor Talk’ event at the IMF

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.1%
(AU) AUSTRALIA SEPT EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: +14.7K V +15.0KE; UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 5.2% V 5.3%E
BHP.AU Reports Q1 Waio iron ore production 69Mt v 69Mt y/y; attributable iron ore production 61.0Mt v 60.5Mte v 61.0Mt y/y
WPL.AU Reports Q3 production 24.9 MMBOE v 23.1 MMBOE y/y; Rev $1.16B v $1.16B y/y
STO.AU Reports Q3 (A$) Rev 1.03B v 0.9B y/y; Production 19.8 MMBOE v 15.0M y/y
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Asst Gov Debelle: Rate cuts aimed at more assured progress to full employment, see 2020 as the low for construction; employment is a little higher – Housing and the Economy – at the CFA Societies Australia Investment Conference
CBA.AU Notes unknown computer issue is affecting some of its services including BPAY, its online payment platform Netbank and its app; some in-branch and call centre services were also down
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) releases 2019 annual report: To pay Govt A$1.69B dividend in FY20

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.1%
(JP) Japan government is expected to lower its overall assessment of the economy in its Oct monthly report, notes impact of sales tax increase and typhoon Hagibis; Expected to – Japanese Press
7201.JP According to analysts if a no-deal Brexit happens may have to write down ¥80B in UK Sunderland factory – Nikkei
(JP) Japan Defense Min Kono planning to run for Liberal Democratic Party leader – local media
(JP) Japan Sept Tokyo Condominium Sales Y/Y: -30.0% v +21.1% prior
(JP) Japan foreign ownership rule will exempt asset managers – Nikkei
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥1.9T v ¥1.9T prior in 0.1% coupon 5-year JGB: avg yield: -0.2800% v -0.3080% prior, bid to cover: 3.69x v 3.61x prior

Korea

Kospi opened +0.1%
005930.KR May be the producer for Facebook’s AR glasses’ chip – press
(KR) South Korea president Moon to meet with economic team after weakening GDP outlook – Yonhap

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened flat
(HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: US passing of Hong Kong bill is unjustified and will hurt Hong Kong business as well as US interests in the city
(CN) US govt to require Chinese missions to notify the State Dept before any meetings with state, local or municipal govts; diplomats do need to receive permission but State will now require notifications – press
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0789 v 7.0746 prior
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for the 9th consecutive session
(CN) China Star Board approved 7 new IPOs (largest number since launch in July)
(CN) China State Council chaired by Premier Li reaffirmed commitment to opening up its markets further and improving the domestic business environment for foreign companies – SCMP
(CN) China Agriculture Ministry: large hog farm Sept inventory +0.6% m/m; large scale farmers have bottomed out and started to rebound

Other Asia

(SG) SINGAPORE SEPT NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: -3.3% V -5.0%E; Y/Y: -8.1% V -7.2%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: -24.8% v -23.0%e
(SG) Singapore PM Lee: Singapore will be lucky to see positive GDP in 2019 – speaking from conference

North America

(CN) Treasury Sec Mnuchin: there’s still work to do in documenting the trade deal with China; very pleased with how it concluded
(US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: Crude: +10.5M v +4.1M prior

Europe

(FR) ECB’s Villeroy (France): the causes of the Euro area slowdown are ‘mainly internal’
(UK) Bank of England (BOE) Gov Carney: Negative interest rates have not hurt bank profits in Europe; do not see negative rates as part of BOE’s tool kit – speaking at Harvard event
(UK) Opposition Labour Party Leader Corbyn expected to support second referendum on Brexit deal – UK press

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, +0.1%, ASX 200 -0.8%, Hang Seng +0.7%; Shanghai Composite -0.1%; Kospi -0.5%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 flat, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 flat
EUR 1.1086-1.1071 ; JPY 108.83-108.64 ; AUD 0.6792-0.6749 ;NZD 0.6302-0.6280
Gold -0.1% at $1,492/oz; Crude Oil -0.8% at $52.92/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.584/lb