BoJ cuts purchases in daily JGB operation

TradeTheNews.com Asia Mid-Session Update: Nikkei pares opening gains, BoJ cuts purchases in daily JGB operation; Indian assets rally on sovereign upgrade at Moody’s

Japan

-The Nikkei opened +1.1%, but has since pared gains: Fast Retailing +0.8%, Sony +0.9%; Softbank -1%

-USD/JPY lower by over -0.3%

-BOJ cut planned purchases of 1-3 year JGBs in daily operation (first cut since April); Cuts planned purchases of 1-3 year JGBs to ¥250B from ¥280B; Raised planned purchases of Treasury bills to ¥500B v ¥100B prior

Australia

-The S&P ASX 200 opened +0.5%; Financials Index +0.6% Consumer Discretionary Index +0.5%, Utilities Index -0.4%; Virgin Australia (says not aware of any unannounced information), Santos Energy +1%

- (AU) Australia sold A$400M in 2033 Bonds, avg yield 2.8774%, bid to cover 2.84x

China

-Shanghai Composite Opened -0.2%, Hang Seng opened +0.7%; Hang Seng Information Technology Index +1.7%, Hang Seng Financials Index +0.8%, Hang Seng Materials Index -1.3%; Tencent +1.5% (all-time high)

-PBOC reduces injected amount in daily open market operation: CNY30B v CNY330B injected in 7,14 and 63-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY10B v CNY310B injection prior; Weekly net injection CNY810B v CNY230B drain w/w

-MOF sold 50-year bonds at lower than expected yield: Sold 50-year bonds: Avg yield 4.37% v 4.46%e

-MOF also sold 3-month bills at avg yield of 3.7644%

- (CN) PBOC set yuan reference rate at 6.6277 v 6.6286 prior (Prior close: 6.6283)

- (CN) State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Shanghai planning CNY800B/per year in new investments as part of plan to accelerate restructuring of these companies – China Daily

Other Asia:

India

-Indian assets rally following sovereign upgrade at Moody’s: Sensex +1%; Indian Rupee (INR) +0.6%; 10-year bond yield down over 10bps.

-(IN) MOODY'S RAISED INDIA SOVEREIGN RATING TO BAA2 FROM BAA3; Outlook revised to Stable from Positive: Moody's rating for India is now above the BBB- ratings (lowest level of investment grade) that both S&P and Fitch have for the country.

South Korea

-The Kospi index opened +0.2% and traded at intraday record high earlier today; Samsung +0.9%, Hynix +0.8%

--Korean Won (KRW) flat and pares earlier gain amid warning from Bank of Korea (BoK)

- Won has appreciated ‘fast’ in a short time; reiterates FX authorities closely monitoring markets, said an unnamed BoK official

- On Thursday’s session, the Korean Won rallied by more than 1% to trade at the highest levels since Sept 2016 versus the US dollar.

Malaysia

-Q3 Y/Y GDP beat estimates supported by private spending, along with the services and manufacturing sector, says Malaysia’s Central Bank: (MY) MALAYSIA Q3 GDP Y/Y: 6.2% V 5.7%E

-Ringgit (MYR) +0.1%

Singapore

-Straits Times equity index opened +0.7%

-Oct Non-Oil Domestic Exports above estimates supported by China: (SG) Singapore Oct Non-Oil Domestic Exports M/M: 12.5% v 7.7%e; Y/Y: 20.9% v 11.9%e; Non-oil Domestic Exports to China +53.3% y/y

US

-S&P 500 Futures -0.1%, Nasdaq Futures flat

-Afterhours Movers: FOXA (21st Century Fox) Comcast reportedly approached Fox over possible bid; not clear if Comcast sought all of Fox or only some assets; +8.5% afterhours; ROST (Ross Stores) Reports Q3 $0.72 v $0.67e, Rev $3.33B v $3.27Be; Raises FY17 $3.24-3.28 v $3.22e (prior FY17 $3.16-3.23); +7.8% afterhours; WSM (Williams-Sonoma) Reports Q3 $0.79 v $0.84e, Rev $1.30B v $1.29Be; Guides Q4 $1.49-1.64 v $1.66e, Rev $1.61-1.68B v $1.64Be; -8.1% afterhours

-Fed Speak: (US) Fed Williams (moderate, non-voter): Reiterates 4 rate hikes by end-2018 'reasonable' guess for policy; Open to raising rates in Dec 2017 or holding steady

-Tax Reform: (US) Senate Finance Committee advances Republican tax legislation by vote of 14 to 12; full Senate expected to consider the measure during the week of Nov 27th; The revised tax proposal by the Senate is said to target the carried interest break, according to a separate press report

- During the NY afternoon on Thursday, House of Representatives passed GOP tax reform bill (as expected)

-Politics: (US) In mid-Oct, Special counsel Robert Mueller said to have issued subpoena to President Trump’s election campaign in relation to documents on Russia – US press

Levels as of 00:30ET

- Nikkei +0.1%, Hang Seng +0.7%; Shanghai Composite -0.6%; ASX200 +0.2%, Kospi +0.1%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 flat; Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.3%%

- EUR 1.1766-1.1822 ; JPY 112.40-113.15; AUD 0.7569-0.7608 ;NZD 0.6842-0.6884

- Dec Gold +0.4% at 1,283/oz; Dec Crude Oil +0.2% at $55.27/brl; Dec Copper +0.3% at $3.062/lb