General Trend
- Hang Seng Financials index rises, Tech index lags
- Tencent declines amid possible national security issues related to the US
- Decliners in Australia include Consumer and Financial firms, Resources and Energy indices outperform
- Topix Information/Communication index underperforms, telecoms drop as Suga continues to warn on mobile phone fees; Softbank Group declines over 1% after drop in the Nasdaq; Transports and Banks outperform
- Japan markets will be closed for holiday on Sept 21-22 (Mon-Tues.)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.2%
- (AU) Australia Debt Agency (AOFM) to sell new Sept 2026 bonds via syndication next week (Week of Sept 21st)
- (AU) Australia sells A$2.0B v A$2.0B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2024 bonds, avg yield 0.307%, bid to cover 6.5x
- (AU) Victoria state (Australia) reports 45 additional coronavirus cases v 28 prior; 5 additional deaths
- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: New Zealand Economy is rebounding from its recession (NZ confirmed entering Technical recession on Sept 17th); RBNZ will bear in mind the recovering economy [reminder: the RBNZ’s next monetary policy review is on Wed, Sept 23rd]
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$410M v NZ$460M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$410M sought
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Will seek to purchase NZ$1.35B v NZ$1.35B prior in government bonds next week
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.2%, Shanghai Composite flat
- Tencent [700.HK]: Gaming investments reportedly have attracted some US national security scrutiny – press
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.7591 v 6.7675 prior (Strongest fix since May 6th, 2019)
- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) sells 50-year bonds; Avg Yield: 3.9998% v 3.73% prior, bid to cover 2.0x v 1.8x prior
- (HK) China PBoC to sell CNY10B in 6-month bills in Hong Kong on Sept 24th (Thursday)
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY170B in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos v injects CNY110B 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY80B v Net drain CNY30B prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened flat
- *(JP) JAPAN AUG NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: 0.2% V 0.2%E; CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: -0.4% V -0.4%E
- Japan PM Suga: Asks Communication Min to have mobile fees lowered; fee cuts of ~10% are not expected to be enough – Japanese press
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.3%
- (KR) South Korea confirms 126 additional coronavirus cases v 153 prior; 5 Additional deaths (16 straight days of <200 cases)
Other Asia
- (MY) Bank of Japan (BOJ) renews $3.0B bilateral swap agreement with Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia Central Bank)
- (TW) China Says its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Will conduct exercises in Taiwan Straight (timeframe not indicated); Says it is a legitimate action in promoting sovereignty
North America
- (US) SEMI Aug North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.65B, +3% m/m and +32.5% y/y; Semiconductor equipment demand remains robust despite supply chain uncertainties and new regulatory constraints.
Europe
- OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Meeting (JMMC) draft statement: concerned over oil demand impact of second virus wave; draft statement makes no mention of changes to oil output targets
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +0.1%, ASX 200 -0.1% , Hang Seng +0.3%; Shanghai Composite +1.2% ; Kospi -0.1%
- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 -0.7%
- EUR 1.1861-1.1843 ; JPY 104.87-104.67 ; AUD 0.7334-0.7303 ;NZD 0.6787-0.6745
- Gold +0.5% at $1,959/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $41.20/brl; Copper +0.5% at $3.0957/lb
