Generally quiet session seen with US Thanksgiving holiday

Asia Market Update: Generally quiet session seen with US Thanksgiving holiday; South Korea 3-yr yield drops amid BOK rate vote and comments.

General trend

- US equity FUTs trade modestly higher.

- Nikkei rebounds after lagging during prior session.

- Hang Seng ended morning trading slightly higher (+0.1%); Property developer Kaisa Group gains [resumed trading after extended trading halt, announced debt exchange offer]; Evergrande shareholder said to sell shares.

- HK Casino cos. have been supported by broker comments; China and Hong Kong officials to hold travel talks on Thurs (Nov 25).

- Shanghai Composite has traded slightly lower.

- S&P ASX 200 traded slightly higher [Resources index rose, Financials and Energy indices declined].

- Japan again sells 40-year JGBs at multi-year low BTC.

- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thurs.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.1%.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Gov Orr: Reiterates no regrets on loose policy, we did what was needed, but now it is time to remove stimulus; Economy is running above potential growth rate - post rate decision interview.

- EML.AU Notes Central Bank of Ireland update, PFS card services Ireland got a correspondence; CBI will permit unit to sign new customers and launch new programs while staying within material growth restrictions.

- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 PRIVATE CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Q/Q: -2.2% V -2.0%E.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.6%.

- (JP) Japan Govt expected to issue additional ¥22T in extra spending in the FY21/22 extra budget [in line]; To fund spending with ¥36T to fund stimulus to soften blow from coronavirus.

- 8303.JP To withdraw poison pill defense against SBI Holdings; Oasis and Japan Deposit Insurance Corp said to have voted against the takeover defense - Japanese press.

- (JP) Japan considering offering a ¥5,000 inbound travel subsidy - Japan press.

- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Matsuno: Will decide on Beijing Olympics (political boycott) at an appropriate time.

- JGB (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥600B v ¥600B indicated in 0.70% 40-year JGBs, Yield at lowest accepted price 0.7250%% v 0.7700% prior, bid to cover: 2.37x v 2.53x prior (Multi year low).

- (JP) Japan Sept Final Leading Index CI: 100.9 v 99.7 prelim; Coincident Index: 88.7 v 87.5 prelim.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.1%.

- (KR) BANK OF KOREA (BOK) RAISES 7-DAY REPO RATE 25BPS TO 1.00%; AS EXPECTED; Decision was NOT unanimous (1 member Joo Sang-Yong dissenter, wanted to hold rates).

- (KR) BOK updates staff projections: Maintains 2021, 2022 GDP outlook, gives initial 2023 at 2.5%; Raises 2021 CPI to 2.3% (prior 2.1%; 2022 2.0% (prior 1.5%), initial 2023 CPI 1.7%.

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: To reduce accommodation in line with economic flow; policy interest rate is still accommodative, despite last increase; Difficult to say definitively when a rate hike will come again, current policy rate below neutral interest rate, Should not rule out rate hike in Q1 2022 – post rate decision press conf.

China/Hong Kong

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

- (CN) China State Planner (NDRC): Expects coal storage at power plants to hit historical highs by end of Nov.

- (CN) China Govt said to have asked insurance companies to fix problems found in a comprehensive risk check in H1, in order to prevent any risks – Press.

- (CN) China CSRC (securities regulator) Official Shen: In open talks with US authorities to resolve delisting threat, support Chinese companies selecting Hong Kong or other places for IPOs.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3980 v 6.3903 prior.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY100B prior; Net inject CNY50B v Net inject CNY50B prior.

- (CN) China to use more fiscal policy support to help growth [in line]; domestic economy is expected to have stable start in 2022 amid fiscal support; cites analysts - China Securities Journal.

- 700.HK China Industry Ministry (MIIT) said to have freezed all Tencent apps from releasing and updating on data privacy concerns - press.

Other

- (MX) Mexico Central Bank (BANXICO) Gov Nominee Rodriguez: Will combat inflation and not touch international reserves – tweet.

- (TW) Taiwan said to consider a cut on commodity tariffs to slow inflation - Press.

North America

- (US) US President Biden had a colonoscopy last week, a polyp was removed during the colonoscopy which is said to be benign and slow-growing; polyp is also thought to be precancerous lesion for which no further action is required at the current time - financial press.

- (CA) Canada Trade Min: Extremely disappointed that US has decided to increase Softwood Lumber duties to 17.9% on most producers in Canada.

Europe

- (EU) ECB’s Schnabel (Germany): Inflation will start to slowly normalize starting in January; Does not see serious risk of stagflation (US session).

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi -0.4%; Nikkei225 +0.8%; ASX 200 +0.1%.

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

- EUR 1.1219-1.1198; JPY 115.46-115.31; AUD 0.7210-0.7192; NZD 0.6894-0.6866.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,792/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $78.31/brl; Copper -0.3% at $4.46/lb.