Asia Summary
Asian equity markets have opened generally higher, following Friday’s gains seen on the Nasdaq.
In the tech sector, Sharp has gained over 2%, as the company raised its FY operating profit guidance. Shares of Softbank and Hitachi have traded higher by over 1%, while Nintendo is currently flat ahead of its later today earnings report. Samsung Electronics has gained over 1.5% ahead of its earnings presentation due on Oct 31st. Nasdaq Futures are trading at around flat levels. According to a press report out of Taiwan, Apple is said to have asked suppliers for the iPhone X to double their capacities amid stronger than expected demand.
Nippon Steel has declined by over 1%, as Q2 profits missed market expectations. Kobe Steel, which is expected to release its earnings report later today, has gained over 1.5%. In China Baoshan Iron & Steel has declined by over 0.4% amid the release of its earnings report.
Japanese industrial name Komatsu has traded higher by over 3% after the company reported better than expected Q2 profits and raised its FY guidance. Chinese rail equipment firm CRRC Corp has gained over 1% after reporting an increase in Q3 profits. Hong Kong listed cement producer Anhui Conch has gained over 2% following its earnings report.
PetroChina’s shares are trading higher ahead of its later today earnings report. Energy producers in Australia are trading generally higher, following the over 2% rise seen in oil prices on Friday’s US session.
As of the time of writing, markets have traded off of their best levels. Japanese mega banks are trading generally lower on the session, following the recent gains that have been seen since Japan’s general election results.
In China, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank have traded lower following their respective earnings reports. BYD is also lower by over 3%, after releasing its financial results. The overall Shanghai Composite has declined by over 1%.
China’s 5 and 10-year government bond yields have added on to the gains seen during the prior week and are currently at the highest levels since late 2014. In South Korea, bond yields are trading lower. Earlier during the session, the Bank of Korea announced that it was planning to repurchase government bonds later this week. Looking ahead on Wednesday’s session, South Korea is due to release its Oct CPI data.
On tomorrow’s session, China’s October manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI data is due to be released, along with the Bank of Japan’s policy statement and forecasts. Other notable macro-economic releases for this week include, New Zealand Q3 employment change (Wed), US Fed decision (Wed), Australia Sept Trade Balance (Thursday), Bank of England decision (Thursday), Australia Sept retail sales (Friday) and US Oct Nonfarm payrolls (Friday).
Japanese companies due to report earnings later today include Alps Electric, Casio, ibiden, Kao Corp, Konica Minota, Kyocera, Nippon Carbon, Nippon Electric Glass, Nomura, ORIX Corp, Seikisui Chemicals, Stanley Electric, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, TDK and West Japan Railway.
US companies seen reporting on Monday include Mondelez International. HSBC reported Q3 results which exceeded analyst expectations.
Key economic data
(JP) JAPAN SEPT RETAIL SALES M/M: 0.8% V 0.8%E; RETAIL TRADE Y/Y: 2.2% V 2.3%E; Department Store, Supermarket Sales y/y: 1.9% v 1.5%e
(NZ) Statistics NZ: Corrects Q2 retail sales q/q to 1.7% from 2.0%; delays Q3 release on new methodology
Speakers and Press
Japan
(JP) BOJ Gov Kuroda likely to stay for another 5 year term after his current term ends on April 2018 – Nikkei
(JP) Japan FSA said to set capital requirement rules for high frequency trading (HFT) firms – Japanese Press
Korea
(KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Official: Planning to repurchase bonds this week to stabilize the market
China/Hong Kong
(CN) CICC Research sees 2018 real GDP at 6.9% v 6.7% prior
Australia/New Zealand
(AU) Australia Treasurer Morrison: Businesses are seeing best conditions since 2008
(AU) Australia Queensland calls snap election after the ruling center-left Labor Party lost its legislative majority
(NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: want to legislate to ban foreign buyers of existing NZ homes before TPP-11 is ratified
Asian Equity Indices/Futures (00:00ET)
Nikkei -0.2%, Hang Seng +0.0%; Shanghai Composite -0.7%; ASX200 +0.4%, Kospi +0.3%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.3%
FX ranges/Commodities/Fixed Income (00:00ET)
EUR 1.1615-1.1594; JPY 113.83-113.52; AUD 0.7682-0.7664;NZD 0.6887-0.6840
Dec Gold +0.1% at $1,272/oz; Dec Crude Oil +0.1% at $53.94/brl; Dec Copper -0.2% at $3.09/lb
(AU) Australia MoF buys back A$500M in Oct 2018 and Mar 2019 bonds
(AU) Australia MoF sells A$500M in 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.8110%, bid to cover 6.5x
(CN) PBoC OMO: Injects CNY150B combined CNY140B in 7-day, 14-day and 63-day reverse repos v CNY140B prior; Net injection CNY40B
USD/CNY *(CN) PBOC SETS YUAN REFERENCE RATE AT 6.6487 V 6.6473 PRIOR
(CN) CHina MoF sells 5-yr special treasury bonds at 3.9206%
Equities notable movers
Australia/New Zealand
NAB.AU Agreed to a A$30M settlement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of the Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW) legal action – filing; +0.1%
COE.AU Reports Q1 production 0.43 MBOE v 0.09M BOE y/y; Rev A$14.4M v A$4.9M y/y; +6.7%
TNG.AU Reports FY17 (A$) Net loss 4.4M v loss 7.1M y/y; Total income 504K v 6K y/y – Annual reports; -6%
Japan
8411.JP Said to be considering cutting up to a third of its global workforce over the next 10 years – FT; -0.1%
7731.JP Reports prelim H1 Net ¥14B v ¥13B guided; Op ¥23B v ¥17B guded;to discontinue China unit of imaging business; +0.8%
Korea
004990.KR Shares resume trading after restructuring into holding company; +17.5%
009150.KR Reports Q3 (KRW) Net profit 74.5B v 3.85B y/y, Op profit 103.2B v 12.8B y/y, Rev 1.84T v 1.47T y/y; +5%
042660.KR Resumes trading after more than 1-yr halt; -30%
