Equities decline ahead of US jobs data – Quiet FX session seen

General trend

- Nikkei 225 underperforms amid the recent Yen strength.

- Chinese property shares lag.

- Fast Retailing to report monthly sales after the Tokyo close.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened -0.2%.

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov Lowe: Reiterates Australia inflation expectations are well anchored.

-*(AU) Australia Oct home loans value M/M: -2.7% V -2.0%E; investment lending M/M: -2.2% V -6.0% PRIOR.

- (AU) Australia sells A$600M v A$600M indicated in 0.50% Sept 2026 bonds: Avg Yield 3.0612%; bid-to-cover: 4.5x.

- (NZ) New Zealand Q3 Terms of Trade Index Q/Q: -3.4% v +0.5%e.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened -0.9%.

- *(JP) Japan Nov monetary base Y/Y: -6.4% V -6.9% prior (3rd consecutive decline).

-(JP) Japan regulators are probing regional banks over foreign bond risk; notes concerns related to unrealized losses – Nikkei.

-(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Amamiya: Realizing paper losses would not hurt monetary policy.

-(JP) BOJ Gov Kuroda: Global economic slowdown has been observed.

-(JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Aware of recent moves in FX [follows recent Yen gains].

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.3%, Shanghai Composite -0.2%.

-(CN) China PBOC Gov Yi Gang: The current focus is on growth; monetary policy has been pretty accommodative.

-(CN) China PBOC: Outstanding pledged supplementary lending facility at ~CNY3.17T at end-Nov (prior CNY2.80T).

-(CN) China Fin Min Liu Kun: Reiterates will keep economy within reasonable range, will strive to realize better results.

-Reportedly US Commerce Dept to announce an 'affirmative' finding in a solar trade case on Friday – press.

-(JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Matsuno: Closely monitoring impact of China COVID countermeasures on the China economy, citizens activities with great interest.

-(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0542 v 7.1225 prior [strongest yuan fixing since Nov 16th].

-(CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY2.0B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net drains CNY6.0B v net inject CNY2.0B prior.

-(CN) China Finance Ministry sells 30-year bonds: Avg Yield: 3.2696%.

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.3%.

- *(KR) South Korea Nov CPI M/M: -0.1% V 0.1%E; Y/Y: 5.0% V 5.2%E [slowest y/y rise in 7 months]; CPI Core Y/Y: 4.8% v 4.5%e (fastest rise since Dec 2008).

-(KR) Bank of Korea (BOK): Nov inflation in line with expectation.

-(KR) Korea Railway Corp union workers drop plans for a strike action – press.

Other Asia

-(PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) Gov Medalla: Board likely split between 25 bps and 50 bps rate hike for the Dec meeting.

North America

-*(US) Nov ISM manufacturing: 49.0 V 49.7E (lowest level since pandemic recovery began); prices paid: 43.0 V 45.9E (lowest since May 2020).

-Tesla [TSLA]: Officially unveils the Semi truck, a heavy-duty 18-wheel electric cargo truck.

Europe

-(EU) ECB President Lagarde: Monetary policy complicated by 3 uncertainties, including global economy and CPI outlook.

-(FR) US could use executive orders to give allies in Europe the same level of exemptions on local content as countries with free-trade deals - financial press.

-(UK) Labour retains City of Chester [by-election results]- US financial press.

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -1.8%, ASX 200 -0.7% , Hang Seng -0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.4% ; Kospi -1.4%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.1%.

- EUR 1.0539-1.0505 ; JPY 135.59-135.01 ; AUD 0.6818-0.6794 ;NZD 0.6476-0.6355.

- Gold -0.2% at $1,811/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $81.17/brl; Copper -0.3% at $3.7860/lb.