Financials track earlier gains in the US; Chinese equities lag

General Trend:

- Asian equity markets trade mostly higher following gains in the US

- Shanghai Composite moves between gains and losses in early trade

- RBA Gov Lowe said he sees low probability of rate cut in Australia, barring major crisis in China

- New Zealand quarterly PPI driven higher by fuel prices

- China sells 30-year bonds at higher than expected yield

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened flat

- ASX 200 REIT index +1%, Telecom +0.9%, Utilities +0.7%, Financials +0.4%; Resources -0.5%, Energy -0.5%

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov Lowe: Domestic economy moving in the right direction; reiterates expects the next move in interest rates to be up, board's view likely to hold rates steady for a while yet

- (NZ) New Zealand Q2 PPI Input Q/Q: 1.0% v 0.6% prior; PPI Output Q/Q: 0.9% v 0.2% prior

China/Hong Kong

- Shanghai Composite opened +0.7%, Hang Seng +1.1%

- Hang Seng Info Tech index +2.2%, Telecom +0.6%, Financials +0.5%; Consumer Goods -1%, Materials -0.6%, Services -0.5%, Property/Construction -0.3%

- (CN) China Cabinet reiterates view to keep economic growth within a reasonable range; Premier Li said further measures should be taken to support market vitality and boost private investment.

- (CN) Trade talks between US and China said to be scheduled for Aug 22-23 - press

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY90B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY40B injected in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net: CNY90B injection v CNY40B injection prior

- (CN) For the week, the PBoC injected a net of CNY130B in its open market operations vs. nil w/w

- (CN) China PBoC Sets yuan reference rate: 6.8894 v 6.8946 prior

- (CN) People's Daily Commentary: China has 'big room' for macro-economic control

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.6%

- TOPIX Marine Transportation index +2.1%, Securities +1.3%, Electric Appliances +0.8%, Real Estate +0.5%

- Megabanks outperform

- (JP) Japan PM Abe said to plan to visit China near Oct 23rd - Japanese Press

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.2%

- (KR) South Korea Jul Unemployment Rate: 3.8% v 3.7%e

- (KR) South Korea Government: July job growth showed the smallest y/y increase since Jan 2010

- (KR) South Korea Finance Min: Government to employ all available policy tools to counter slow job growth

Other

- (MY) MALAYSIA Q2 GDP Q/Q: 0.3% V 1.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.5% V 5.2%E

- (MY) Malaysia Central Bank: Cuts 2018 GDP growth forecast to 5.0% v 5.5-6.0% prior; Slower growth was impacted by declining production of natural gas and weak crude palm oil production.

- (MY) Malaysia Q2 Current Account (MYR): 3.9B v 12.0Be; Q2 net outflow on portfolio investment at MYR38.3B v MYR2.6B outflow q/q

- (SG) Singapore Jul Non-Oil Domestic Exports M/M : 4.3% v 0.8%e; Y/Y: 11.8% v 7.4%e: Exports to the US +33.7% y/y, China flat y/y

North America

- US equity markets ended higher: Dow +1.6%, S&P500 +0.8%, Nasdaq +0.4%, Russell 2000 +0.9%

- S&P500 Consumer Staples +1.4%, Financials +1.3%

- Nvidia [NVDA]: Declined in the afterhours after issuing results and guidance

- (US) Fed Chair Powell to speak on Aug 24 at Jackson Hole conference; topic is 'monetary policy in a changing economy'

- (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Total Assets for week ending Aug 15th: $4.3T, -$806M w/w, -$212.7B y/y; Reserve Bank Credit: $4.22T, -$638M w/w, -$212.9B y/y

Levels as of 01:30ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.4%, ASX 200 +0.4%, Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite -0.6%; Kospi +0.4%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 flat; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.1%

- EUR 1.1389-1.1365 ; JPY 111.07-110.76 ; AUD 0.7282-0.7251 ;NZD 0.6603-0.6579

- Aug Gold flat at $1,184/oz; Sept Crude Oil flat at $65.47/brl; Sept Copper +0.7% at $2.624 /lb