NZD declines as RBNZ expands QE

Asia Market Update: Asia trades generally lower after US losses; NZD declines as RBNZ expands QE; Tencent expected to report results after HK close.

 

General Trend:

- Gold miners track the recent declines in precious metals

- Resources firms drop in Australia, while financials rise

- Commonwealth Bank declined after opening higher, reported FY results and cut dividend

- Shanghai Composite declined by 2% during morning session; losers included Consumer and IT cos.

- HK tech firms trade generally lower ahead of earnings from Tencent; Telecoms decline before figures from China Unicom; Financial and Property firms gain

- Cathay Pacific confirmed H1 net loss

- WH Group drops over 8% post earnings

- Hua Hong Semi drops over 14% in HK after results and guidance

- Japanese equities outperform amid the recent rise in USD/JPY; Gainers include Banks and Exporters

- Softbank Group declines after recently reported earnings

-Toshiba affirmed FY guidance for Op profit and Rev

- Australia Jul jobs data due on Thursday (Aug 13th)

- China PBOC to sell CNY30B in 3-month and 1-year bills in Hong Kong on Aug 13th (Thursday)

 

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened -0.1%

- *(AU) AUSTRALIA Q2 WAGE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 0.2% V 0.3%E; Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.9%E (Lowest y/y growth in 27-year history of wage index); Private sector wage growth eased

- (AU) Australia Aug Westpac Consumer Confidence: 79.5 v 87.9 prior; M/M: -9.5% v -6.1% prior

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) offers to buy total of A$2.0B in bonds v A$1.0B prior

- (AU) Australia sells A$3.0B v A$3.0B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.4565%, bid to cover 4.4x

- *(NZ) NEW ZEALAND CENTRAL BANK (RBNZ) LEAVES OFFICIAL CASH RATE (OCR) UNCHANGED AT 0.25%; AS EXPECTED; RAISES QE PROGRAM TO NZ$100B FROM NZ$60.0B PRIOR [extends QE program to June 2022 from May 2021]; No chance of rate cut through Q1 2021; Higher NZ$ moderates returns from robust commodity prices

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Gov Orr: Banks are making good progress in preparation for negative rates; RBNZ is committed to OCR guidance through March 2021; Auckland lockdown did not affect policy decision; Will not rule out yield target; Buying foreign assets not effective in current conditions

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$211M v NZ$370M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$380M sought

- (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Auckland to go to level 3 restrictions for three days; likely to see more cases; Rest of country on level 2 restrictions (from Aug 11th)

- (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Dissolution of parliament to be delayed; No decision on delaying Sept 19th election

- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson reportedly studying a regional wage subsidy extension if it has to remain under lockdown beyond Aug 14th - NZ press

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -0.1%, Shanghai -0.4%

- (CN) China banks said to crack down on the use of personal credit cards for speculation related to the equity and real estate markets - US financial press

- CATL [300750.CN]: Plans to invest up to CNY19.1B in listed cos.

- (HK) FT: Trump's Hong Kong sanctions likely to impact banks more than targeted individuals

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9597 v 6.9711 prior

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY140B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Injection CNY140B v Net injection CNY50B prior

- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) Sells 2-year and 5-year bonds: 2-year bonds at 2.64% v 2.52%e

- (US) Pres Trump: a China 'Phase 2' deal is the last thing on my mind after coronavirus - Breitbart interview

- (US) President Trump: has not spoken to China Pres Xi for a long time; relationship with China changed once virus came - radio interview

- (CN) China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vice Min Yucheng: Next few months are key in US-China ties; Says countries should maintain communications

- (HK) Pro-democracy Hong Konger Jimmy Lai has been freed on bail (as expected) [from Aug 11th]

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened flat

- (JP) BOJ said to extend its special JGB lending program past the current fiscal year - financial press (from Aug 11th)

- (JP) SCMP: Why a 'struggling' Japan may have no choice but to deal with stronger yen

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.2%

- (KR) Follow up: South Korea says it will decide later if a 4th extra budget is necessary

- *(KR) SOUTH KOREA JULY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 4.2% V 4.3%E

- (KR) South Korea Vice Fin Min Hong: There is still a long way to go before Jobs return to pre coronavirus level; Rainfall will weigh on August employment figures

North America

-Tesla [TSLA]: Announces a 5-for-1 stock split, effective Aug 31st

- Moderna [MRNA]: Confirms supply agreement with U.S. govt for initial 100M doses of mRNA-1273 vaccine against COVID-19, worth up to $1.53B

Europe

- (UK) Reportedly Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak may consider postponing the fall budget announcement if the UK is hit by a second wave of COVID - FT

 

Levels as of 1:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.2%, ASX 200 -0.5% , Hang Seng -0.5%; Shanghai Composite -2.1% ; Kospi -0.3%

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

- EUR 1.1748-1.1711 ; JPY 106.79-106.44 ; AUD 0.7152-0.7108 ;NZD 0.6582-0.6524

- Gold -2.9% at $1,888/oz; Crude Oil +0.2% at $41.70/brl; Copper -1.3% at $2.8123/lb