Asian Equities Decline Amid US Losses And Continuing Holiday In Japan

Jul 24 20, 07:25 GMT

General Trend:

Shanghai Composite declined by over 2% during morning trading, Consumer and IT cos. were among the decliners; Kweichow Moutai dropped over 3%
Shanghai market continued to drop in early afternoon trading
Large-cap tech names drop in HK after Nasdaq decline
PetroChina rises after confirming transactions with China’s national pipeline co.
Decliners in Australia include Financial, Consumer and Energy cos.
Aussie insurer IAG declines by over 6%, guided FY profits lower y/y and confirmed it would not pay a final dividend
Intel declines over 10% in afterhours trading, guided Q3 EPS below ests, delayed launch of 7nm product; Taiwan Semi rises by over 3%
USD/JPY extends recent decline amid disappointing US initial jobless claims, Japanese holiday; Equities trade weaker
Companies expected to report during the NY morning include American Express, Honeywell, Schlumberger, Verizon

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.6%
*(AU) AUSTRALIA JULY PRELIMINARY CBA PMI MANUFACTURING:53.4 V 51.2 PRIOR (2nd straight expansion or reading above 50); PMI Services: 58.5 v 53.1 prior (highest since survey started in May 2016, 2nd straight expansion)
(AU) Australia Jun Prelim Merchandise Exports M/M: +8.0% v -4.0% prior; Imports +6.0% v -6.0% prior; Exports supported by ‘strong’ iron ore shipments
(AU) Fitch: Australia post crisis debt trajectory is the key to its sovereign rating outlook
(NZ) New Zealand Jun Trade Balance (NZ$): NZ$426M v NZ$450Me
(NZ) New Zealand Treasury: Q2 household spending better than expected
(NZ) New Zealand Minister: Dairy industry legislation has been amended, Fonterra will be able to reject milk supply
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$230M v NZ$320M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$230M sought
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Will seek to purchase NZ$940M v NZ$940M prior in government bonds next week

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.9%, Shanghai Composite -0.4%
(CN) China Foreign Ministry confirms it will ask the US to close Chengdu (China) consulate – US financial press [as speculated]
(CN) China President Xi: China should boost domestic automobile brands
(CN) China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM): Have market-based managed floating currency mechanism with reference to a basket of currencies (from July 23rd)
(CN) Head of China Consulate in Houston (Cai Wei) said will not commit to closing the office, said the Houston consulate to remain open until further notice – US press (update) [US State Dept has demanded that the office be closed by Friday]
(US) US Sec of State Pompeo: Not speculating if China will not leave Consulate in Houston; China President Xi has clearly taken actions that are aggressive
(US) Pres Trump: China trade deal means less to me now than it did
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repos v Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Drain CNY200B v Net drain CNY0B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9938 v 6.9921 prior

Japan

Korea

Kospi opened -0.9%
(KR) South Korea reported to be confirming >100 coronavirus cases on Saturday (July 25th) – Press
(KR) US to charge anti-dumping duties equal to 52% on South Korea PET plastic sheets; the move relates to products made by firms including SK Chemical – Yonhap

Other Asia

(ID) Indonesia Finance Ministry: Central bank may begin to buy bonds under IDR397.6T deficit financing scheme
(SG) Singapore Jun Industrial Production M/M: 0.2% v 5.5%e; Y/Y: -6.7% v -2.6%e

North America

(US) Treasury Sec Mnuchin: White House and Senate GOP have ‘fundamental agreement’ on new coronavirus stimulus bill
(US) Reportedly Pres Trump has dropped a plan to eliminate govt drug rebates; still set to announce executive orders on Friday aimed at lower drug prices – Politico [expected to occur at 15:00 EST]
(US) SEMI June North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.32B, -1.1% m/m and +14.4% y/y

Europe

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, closed, ASX 200 -1.2% , Hang Seng -2.4%; Shanghai Composite -2.8% ; Kospi -0.6%
Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.5%, Dax -0.5%; FTSE100 -1.1%
EUR 1.1620-1.1592 ; JPY 106.90-106.36 ; AUD 0.7125-0.7078 ;NZD 0.6655-0.6618
Gold -0.2% at $1,886/oz; Crude Oil +0.3% at $41.20/brl; Copper -1.2% at $2.8868/lb