Mixed equity trading seen in Asia after losses on Wall Street

Asia Market Update: Mixed equity trading seen in Asia after losses on Wall St, US equity FUTs have modest rise; WTI also rebounds; China RRR in focus.

General trend

- Hang Seng has declined by >1.4%;HK TECH index drops >2% amid delisting concerns related to the US; Evergrande said that there is no guarantee that the Group will have sufficient funds to continue to perform its financial obligations.

- Shanghai Composite has outperformed and traded slightly higher; Property and Financial indices rise amid RRR talk, China 10-yr yield declines >4bps.

- Nikkei has reversed the opening gain; Softbank Group continues to hit 52-week lows.

- S&P ASX 200 pared drop; Energy and Consumer Staples indices rise.

- US Natural Gas FUTs decline by over 6%.

- RBA is due to meet on Tuesday (Dec 7th).

- Taiwan Semi may report monthly sales later this week.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened -0.3%.

- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Will raise economic forecasts at the next mid-year budget update; The market is coming back strongly.

- MTS.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 146.6M v 129.6M y/y; underlying EBIT 231.2M v 203.0M y/y; Rev 7.15B v 7.1B y/y.

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q3 VOLUME OF ALL BUILDINGS Q/Q: -8.6% V -13.0%E.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Dep Gov Bascand: Low net migration numbers could slow growth in housing prices; If house prices cooled down faster than expected, it could affect the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s forecast for rapid interest rate rises next year - FT.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%.

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida: WIll maintain a cautious stance on coronavirus policy; Fiscal health depends on economic growth.

- 6502.JP Certain shareholders said to have begun pressing board to renew buyout talks again - Press.

- 6502.JP Said to have turned away multiple offers to focus on splitting up the co - Press.

- (JP) According to a recent Yomiuri poll approval rating for Japan cabinet is 62% v 56% in Nov.

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida: WIll maintain a cautious stance on coronavirus policy; Fiscal health depends on economic growth, will take measures swiftly including curbing activities if COVID cases pick up again.

Korea

-Kospi opened -0.5%.

- (KR) South Korea PM: South Korea will focus on containment of the new coronavirus variant Omicron by increasing anti coroanvirus measures - Yonhap.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened -1.5%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%.

- 2608.HK Announces default on Dec 5th 2021 Senior Notes, have not gotten notice from creditors, having liquidity issues, pressures on China real estate lead to default.

- 2202.HK Reports Nov contracted property sales CNY43.2B v CNY57.5B y/y.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3702 v 6.3738 prior.

- (CN) China lender loans to real estate sector of the economy has risen q/q and ~CNY200B y/y.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net drain CNY90B v Net drain CNY90B prior.

- (CN) China Sec Daily: China may cut RRR as soon as during Dec, cites brokerage firm.

- (CN) US Defense Sec Austin concerned over scale and frequency of Beijing's military incursions near Taiwan - FT.

- (HK) Hong Kong Dec IPOs, which were expected to show a rebound, are off to a rocky start China Tourism Group Duty Free suspended its offering and SenseTime raising less than initially indicated.

Other

- Hon Hai Precision, 2317.TW Reports Nov (NT$) Rev 621.7B -8.8% y/y.

- (SG) Singapore Central Bank (MAS) warns financial sector that asset quality could be under pressure from economic impact of COVID wave and sharper than expected tightening of global financial conditions.

- (US) Sec of State Blinken warns China, that any attempt to invade Taiwan would have "terrible consequences" - press.

North America

- (US) NIH's Fauci said the Biden Administration is considering lifting travel restrictions against noncitizens entering the US from several countries in Africa, said hopefully will be able to lift the ban in a quite reasonable period of time - US media.

- JNJ Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Booster (Ad26.COV2.S), Administered Six Months After Two-Dose Regimen of BNT162b2, Shows Substantial Increase in Antibody and T-cell Responses.

- (US) President Biden to have a video call with Russia's PM Putin on Tuesday (Dec 7th).

- (CN) Expected that US will announce no officials to attend 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing this week - Press.

- 9988.HK Appoints deputy CFO Toby Xu as CFO, effective Apr 1st 2022; CFO Maggie Wu steps down.

- (CN) China Premier Li: To cut the RRR at the proper time (Friday US morning).

Europe

- (UK) UK said to begin a trial on a 'smart customs' border in order to reduce frictions in trade, asks companies to submit bids to the pilot program - FT.

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng -1.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.1%; Kospi +0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.3%; ASX 200 +0.1%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.5%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.7%; FTSE100 +0.6%.

- EUR 1.1314-1.1286; JPY 113.08-112.86; AUD 0.7027-0.6997; NZD 0.6761-0.6744.

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.1% at $1,782/oz; Crude Oil +2.3% at $67.78/brl; Copper +0.3% at $4.29/lb.