Equities Generally Pare Gains

Aug 30 21, 06:18 GMT

General trend

Nikkei has remained modestly higher; Topix Iron & Steel, Electric Appliances, and Transport indices outperform.
HK/CN corporate earnings remain in focus; Financials lag after recently reported earnings (including ICBC and China Huarong) and press reports related to margin trading.
Shanghai Property index drops amid headline related to land auction rules, Vanke drops on profit decline; Industrial and Telecom Services indices outperform.
Hang Seng has moved slightly higher after the flat open; Meituan is expected to report results later today.
S&P ASX 200 Resources index rises on earnings from Fortescue; Financials lag amid lower 10-yr yields.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.2%.
FMG.AU Reports FY21 Net $10.30B v $4.74B y/y; Underlying EBITDA $16.4B v $8.38B y/y; Rev $22.3B v $12.8B y/y.
PBH.AU Issues update on Arizona market access – Cliff Castle did not get sports betting license.
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Mortgage rates move with the OCR but it takes time.
(AU) AUSTRALIA Q2 CORP OP PROFIT Q/Q: 7.1% V 2.5%E; INVENTORIES Q/Q: 0.2% V 1.2%E.
(NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Confirms all areas outside of Auckland will leave coronavirus alert level 4 on Sept 1st, and move to level 3 on Sept 2nd.

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.8%.
(JP) JAPAN JULY RETAIL SALES M/M: 1.1% V 0.4%E; Y/Y: 2.4% V 2.1%E.
6502.JP Said that Western Digital’s proposal to acquire Kioxia has faced certain hurdles – press.
(JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Not enough data to promote mixed-use of coronavirus vaccines.
(JP) Japan PM candidate Kishida will launch a large new economic stimulus package worth “several tens of trillion yen” if elected – press.

Korea

Kospi opened +0.9%.
(KR) South Korea is set to become the first country that will pass a law that will mandate free choice of app payment provider and end dominance of Apple and Google – press.
(KR) North Korea appears to have resumed operations at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor that produces plutonium – press.
(KR) South Korea said to set aside KRW6.3T in funds for new industries in next budget – Yonhap.

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened 0.0%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.4%.
(CN) China Sec Daily: Certain cities in China have made changes to land auction rules in order to slow price gains.
000002.CN Reports H1 (CNY) Net 11.1B v 12.5B y/y; Rev 167.1B v 146.4B y/y.
9988.HK Tianjin SASAC has asked SOEs to move their data out of cloud systems belonging to Alibaba and Tencent to state-owned clouds within 2 months of their service expiring – Chinese press.
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4677 v 6.4863 prior.
(CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY40B v Net Inject CNY40B prior.
(CN) China issues new guidelines on regulating the “chaotic” celebrity “fan-based economy”; platforms cannot publish popularity lists and sales of fan merchandise to be regulated.
(CN) China State Council announces plan targeting 55M urban jobs by 2025, capping unemployment rate at 5.5%; seeking stronger rights for workers and increase training – press.
(CN) China State Planner (NDRC) Official Gao: Confident in ability to achieve this year’s employment target, will be some challenges and difficulties in employment plan.

Other

(TW) Said that chipmakers in Taiwan are looking to sign long term agreements to secure profits – press.
(KW) Kuwait Oil Min al-Fares: OPEC+ could reconsider output increase – financial press.

North America

AAPL Reportedly CEO Cook plans to retire only after launching at least one more major Apple’s product – press.
PFE New Zealand reports first death of a woman related to getting her COVID vaccine – press.
(US) Hurricane Ida impacting state of Louisiana expected to see damages exceeding $40B according to some analysts – press.

Europe

(DE) Germany Social Democrats with 24% surpass Merkel’s CDU’s 21% in latest election poll – press.
(DE) GERMANY AUG CPI NORTH RHINE WESTPHALIA M/M: 0.1% V 0.8% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.2% V 4.1% PRIOR.

Levels as of 01:15ET

Hang Seng +0.2%; Shanghai Composite +0.3%; Kospi +0.2%; Nikkei225 +0.5%; ASX 200 +0.2%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.0%; FTSE100 market closed for holiday.
EUR 1.1810-1.1793; JPY 109.89-109.71 ;AUD 0.7319-0.7297; NZD 0.7015-0.6994.
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.0% at $1,819/oz; Crude Oil -0.3% at $69.56/brl; Copper +0.7% at $4.36/lb.