Generally lethargic session for Asia amid dearth of fresh news

General Trend

- Hang Seng Financials index rises, Tech index lags

- Tencent declines amid possible national security issues related to the US

- Decliners in Australia include Consumer and Financial firms, Resources and Energy indices outperform

- Topix Information/Communication index underperforms, telecoms drop as Suga continues to warn on mobile phone fees; Softbank Group declines over 1% after drop in the Nasdaq; Transports and Banks outperform

- Japan markets will be closed for holiday on Sept 21-22 (Mon-Tues.)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.2%

- (AU) Australia Debt Agency (AOFM) to sell new Sept 2026 bonds via syndication next week (Week of Sept 21st)

- (AU) Australia sells A$2.0B v A$2.0B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2024 bonds, avg yield 0.307%, bid to cover 6.5x

- (AU) Victoria state (Australia) reports 45 additional coronavirus cases v 28 prior; 5 additional deaths

- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: New Zealand Economy is rebounding from its recession (NZ confirmed entering Technical recession on Sept 17th); RBNZ will bear in mind the recovering economy [reminder: the RBNZ’s next monetary policy review is on Wed, Sept 23rd]

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$410M v NZ$460M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$410M sought

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Will seek to purchase NZ$1.35B v NZ$1.35B prior in government bonds next week

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.2%, Shanghai Composite flat

- Tencent [700.HK]: Gaming investments reportedly have attracted some US national security scrutiny - press

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.7591 v 6.7675 prior (Strongest fix since May 6th, 2019)

- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) sells 50-year bonds; Avg Yield: 3.9998% v 3.73% prior, bid to cover 2.0x v 1.8x prior

- (HK) China PBoC to sell CNY10B in 6-month bills in Hong Kong on Sept 24th (Thursday)

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY170B in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos v injects CNY110B 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY80B v Net drain CNY30B prior

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened flat

- *(JP) JAPAN AUG NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: 0.2% V 0.2%E; CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: -0.4% V -0.4%E

Japan PM Suga: Asks Communication Min to have mobile fees lowered; fee cuts of ~10% are not expected to be enough - Japanese press

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.3%

- (KR) South Korea confirms 126 additional coronavirus cases v 153 prior; 5 Additional deaths (16 straight days of <200 cases)

Other Asia

- (MY) Bank of Japan (BOJ) renews $3.0B bilateral swap agreement with Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia Central Bank)

- (TW) China Says its People's Liberation Army (PLA) Will conduct exercises in Taiwan Straight (timeframe not indicated); Says it is a legitimate action in promoting sovereignty

North America

- (US) SEMI Aug North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.65B, +3% m/m and +32.5% y/y; Semiconductor equipment demand remains robust despite supply chain uncertainties and new regulatory constraints.

Europe

- OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Meeting (JMMC) draft statement: concerned over oil demand impact of second virus wave; draft statement makes no mention of changes to oil output targets

Levels as of 1:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.1%, ASX 200 -0.1% , Hang Seng +0.3%; Shanghai Composite +1.2% ; Kospi -0.1%

- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 -0.7%

- EUR 1.1861-1.1843 ; JPY 104.87-104.67 ; AUD 0.7334-0.7303 ;NZD 0.6787-0.6745

- Gold +0.5% at $1,959/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $41.20/brl; Copper +0.5% at $3.0957/lb