Japan declines comment on intervention

Asia Market Update: FX remains volatile; Japan declines comment on intervention; CNH declines; Chinese equities lag; CN announced political appointments, released the delayed data.

General trend

- USD/JPY fluctuates; Japan declines comment on intervention.

- GBP rose amid the focus on politics, later pared rise.

- Weaker risk appetite weighs on commodity currencies; CNH drop also in focus.

- 2-year UST yield extends drop; Focal points include US Fed expectations, recent market volatility.

- Equity markets trade mixed.

- Property and Tech shares move sharply lower in Hong Kong; Alibaba and Tencent plunge.

- Shanghai Property index drops >2%; Banks also lag.

- Australian and Japanese stocks track the recent gains on Wall St.

- Japanese firms due to report earnings include Chugai Pharmaceutical and Nidec.

- US equity FUTs pare gains.

- Australia to release budget on Tues (Oct 25th).

- RBNZ Chief Economist Conway to speak at the CBA Global Markets Conference on Oct 25th (Tues).

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

 - ASX 200 opened 0.0%.

- OZL.AU Reports Q3 gold production 56.3K oz v 65.9K y/y; copper 30.0Kt v 33.8Kt y/y at AISC $1.904 v $1.067/lb y/y.

- (AU) Australia Oct preliminary PMI manufacturing: 52.8 V 53.5 prior (lowest since Aug 2021).

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Gov Kent: Rate increases unlikely to impact bank funding costs much, Australia offshore debt well hedged; Strong USD of concern to emerging markets with a lot of USD Debt.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +1.3%.

- (JP) Follow Up: Japan might have spent >$30.0B on last week’s currency intervention – FT.

- (JP) Japan Top FX Diplomat Kanda: Will not comment on intervention possibility; Will release intervention data at end of month; No change in stance ready to take any necessary action at any time.

- (JP) Japan said to consider program to secure revenue for power plants - Japanese press.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Declines comment on speculated FX intervention on Oct 21; Trying to combat speculators, monitoring FX market with high sense of urgency.

Korea

- Kospi opened +1.6%.

- (KR) North Korea ship crosses into Northern limit line, South Korea military fired warning shots; North Korea fires back - Korean press.

- 267250.KR Union workers at 3 shipyard units started a joint strike vote Monday amid little progress in their collective negotiations - Yonhap.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -2%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%.

- 1199.HK Germany Chancellor Scholz to move forward with selling minority stake in Hamburg port to Cosco, despite political opposition - German press.

- (CN) China Pres Xi obtains the 3rd five-year presidential term (as expected); Li Qiang named new China's Premier; Politburo Standing Committee members cut to 24 from 25.

- (CN) China's Premier Li Keqiang and 3 other current members of the Politburo Standing Committee were excluded from the newly elected Central Committee.

- (CN) Other key figures that were excluded from the new Central Committee include central bank Governor Yi Gang (64), Guo Shuqing (66), chairman of the banking and insurance regulator, and Vice Premier Liu He (70), the current economic policy czar.

- (CN) China Sept trade balance (CNY-denominated): 573.6B V 564.3BE.

- *(CN) China Sept trade balance: $84.7B V $80.3BE.

- (CN) China Sept YTD Residential Property Sales Y/Y: -28.6% v -30.3% prior.

- (CN) China Sept Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.5% v 5.2%e.

- *(CN) China Sept YTD property investment Y/Y: -8.0% V -7.5%E.

- *(CN) China Sept new home sales M/M: -0.3% V -0.3% PRIOR; Y/Y: -1.5% V -1.3% PRIOR [13th consecutive m/m decline].

- *(CN) China Sept fixed urban assets YTD Y/Y: 5.9% V 6.0%E.

- *(CN) China Sept Retail Sales Y/Y: 2.5% V 3.5%E; YTD Y/Y: 0.7% V 1.0%E.

- *(CN) China Sept industrial production Y/Y: 6.3% V 4.9%E; YTD Y/Y: 3.9% V 3.7%E.

- *(CN) China Q3 GDP Q/Q: 3.9% V 3.4%E; Y/Y: 3.9% V 3.4%E.

Other

-(PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) Gov Medalla: To have a Repo arrangement with US Fed.

North America

- (UR) Ukraine Foreign Min Kuleba: Spoke to US Sec of State Blinken; We both agreed Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ disinformation campaign might be aimed at creating a pretext for a false flag operation.

- (US) Fed's Daly (non-voter): We don't want to be too reactive; Can easily find yourself overtightening; More tightening is still needed for restrictive territory [from Oct 21st].

Europe

- (UK) Boris Johnson to pull out of the UK PM leadership race – Statement.

- (UK) BOE’s Mann (hawk): Bond purchases for financial stability were very targeted and temporary [from Oct 22nd].

- (HU) Hungary Oct Consumer Confidence: -55.4 v -52.6 prior; Business Confidence: -10.1 v -1.1 prior.

- (UK) Chancellor of the Exchequer (Fin Min) Hunt writes op ed in Telegraph supporting Sunak for PM.

- (UK) Moody’s revises outlook on UK and BOE to Negative from Stable; Affirms UK rating at Aa3 [from Oct 21st].

Levels as of 01:15ET

- Hang Seng -4.9%; Shanghai Composite -1.0%; Kospi %; Nikkei225 +0.7%; ASX 200 +1.6%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.6%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.1%.

- EUR 0.9842-0.9846; JPY 148.95-148.95. ;AUD 0.6344-0.6341; NZD 0.5737-0.5741.

- Commodity Futures: Gold slightly higher at $1,657/oz; Crude Oil -0.7% at $84.49/brl; Copper -0.1% at $3.4808/lb.