Equity indices trade mixed after similar US session on Friday

Asia Market Update: Equity indices trade mixed after similar US session on Fri; not much seen in terms of major weekend macro news.

General trend

- Seeing recirculation of Friday’s report that China Foreign Exchange Committee has called on banks to cap speculation on yuan.

- EUR/USD extends drop, USD Index extended rise.

- WTI crude pared opening decline.

- Only modest moves seen for equity markets thus far.

- Travel-sensitive cos. trade generally lower, some have focused on COVID cases in Europe.

- Nikkei 225 has pared decline.

- Japan markets are closed for holiday on Tues (Nov 23rd).

- Hang Seng has remained in the red; TECH index extends decline; Hang Seng announced index changes on Fri.

- S&P ASX 200 has traded modestly lower, Financials and Energy indices lag.

- US equity FUTs remain higher.

- Taiwan Central Bank (CBC) Gov said will move towards tightening in 2022.

- Companies due to report earnings during the NY morning include Niu Technologies, Zhihu.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened 0.0%.

- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Will allow overseas workers, students starting Dec 1st.

- (NZ) RBNZ Shadow Board overwhelmingly in favor of raising rates amid surging inflation (Nov 24th will be the next and last meeting for the RBNZ in 2021).

- (AU) Australia sells A$300M v A$300M indicated in 1.75% Jun 2051 bonds, Avg Yield: 2.4794% v 2.3718% prior, bid to cover 1.94x v 3.52x prior.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened -0.4%.

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida and EC President Michel making plans to meet in Japan on Nov 29th - Japan press.

- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Matsuno: No plan on releasing oil reserves yet, but under consideration; Will continue to pay attention to global energy market trends and impact on the Japanese economy.

Korea

-Kospi opened +0.4%.

- (KR) South Korea Nov 1-20 Exports y/y: 27.6% v 36.1% prior; Imports y/y: 41.9% v 48.0% prior; Chip Exports y/y: 32.5% v 23.9% prior.

- (KR) Bank of Korea sells KRW820B v 700B indicated in 3-month Monetary Stabilization Bonds (MSB): avg yield 0.90% v 0.99% prior.

- (KR) South Korea main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon and ruling Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee are nearly tied in polling ahead of elections next year - Yonhap.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened 0.0%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%.

- (CN) CHINA PBOC MONTHLY LOAN PRIME RATE (LPR) SETTING: LEAVES BOTH 1-YEAR AND 5-YEAR RATES UNCHANGED (19th consecutive month of steady rates).

- (HK) MSCI to track NetEase and JD.com via their Hong Kong shares rather than their ADRs in the US, may be the start of a gradual shift in liquidity away from the US for China stocks - press.

- (CN) Owners of China developers said to have used at least $3.8B in personal funds to save their companies from default - press.

- 388.HK To reduce the minimum market capitalization requirement for secondary listings of Chinese companies without dual voting rights structures.

- (CN) Golden Credit rating analyst says Yuan FX rate expected to remain strong toward the end of 2021 [in line]; notes Chinese exports - Chinese press.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY50B prior; Net inject CNY40B v Net drain CNY50B prior.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3952 v 6.3825 prior.

- (CN) China President Xi: A China ASEAN summit will help regional peace, development and stability; ASEAN has gotten rid of shadow of a cold war and maintained regional stability.

Other

- (TW) Taiwan Central Bank: Will not use interest rates to rein in housing market costs.

- (TW) Taiwan Econ Min Wang: US-Taiwan economic dialogue will be on the supply chain and 5G Tech.

North America

- MNST Said to be exporing a deal with Constellation - press.

Europe

- TIT.IT KKR expected to make a €5.50/shr cash offer, €10.8B – press.

- (UK) BOE Gov Bailey: it’s not the bank’s job to fix supply chain issues hampering economies around the world which cause inflation to rise.

- (NL) Netherlands Oct House Price Index M/M: 1.0% v 1.6% prior; Y/Y: 18.3% v 18.5% prior.

- (RU) Ukraine Defense Intelligence Agency chief Budanov: Russian troops prepare to attack Ukraine by end-Jan 2022 or early Feb 2022.

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng -0.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi +1.2%; Nikkei225 +0.1%; ASX 200 -0.5%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.3%.

- EUR 1.1292-1.1265; JPY 114.21-113.93; AUD 0.7256-0.7228; NZD 0.7010-0.6983.

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,848/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $75.90/brl; Copper -0.7% at $4.37/lb.