US stocks ended Thursday mostly lower

Asia Market Update: Weaker yuan weighs on Asian equities and currencies: Upcoming G20 meeting in focus, along with next week’s Aussie CPI

General Trend:

- Asian equity markets pare early gains amid focus on China, US stocks ended Thursday mostly lower

- Taiwan Semi bucks the overall trend and rises after recent earnings report

- Shanghai Composite at risk of declining for 6 straight sessions; Property index underperforms

- Hang Seng trades near 10-month low

- China PBoC set the yuan fixed for the 7th straight session

- The yuan is ‘dropping like a rock’, says US President Trump

- Yuan weakness weighs on Asian and commodity currencies

- China State-Owned Banks said to have been seen selling US dollars (USD) in the yuan market around 6.81 (financial press)

- PBoC to keep ‘loose bias’ in H2, says the China Securities Times

- Japan June CPI data was mixed, core figure rose for the first time since Feb

- Australia 3-month bank bill rate fixed below 2.00%, first time since early June

- The G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is due to be held on July 21-22 (Saturday-Sunday)

- Australia Q2 CPI data due next week (Wed July 25th)

- Tokyo Steel expected to report quarterly earnings after the close

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.2%

- ASX 200 REIT index +0.8%, Telecom +0.8%, Energy +0.6%, Consumer Discretionary +0.5%, Utilities +0.4%, Financials +0.3%

- (NZ) New Zealand Jun Net Migration SA: 4.8K v 5.1K prior

- (NZ) New Zealand ANZ Q2 Quarterly Business Micro Scope survey noted confidence among small companies hit a 9-year low – US financial press

- (NZ) New Zealand Jun Credit Card Spending M/M: +2.1% v -1.6% prior; Y/Y: 5.7% v 3.7% prior

China/Hong Kong

-Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%, Hang Seng +0.2%

- Hang Seng Industrial Goods index -1.8%, Materials -1.7%, Property/Construction -1.2%, Consumer Goods -1.1%, Info Tech -1%, Financials -0.7%; Utilities +0.9%

- (CN) CHINA PBOC SET YUAN REFERENCE RATE AT 6.7671 V 6.7066 PRIOR (7th straight weaker yuan fix, weakest fix since July 14, 2017)

- (CN) For the week, the PBoC injected a net CNY540B in its OMOs v CNY90B drain w/w

- (CN) China said to plan to tighten supervision of equities market in H2 2018 - China Securities Journal

- (CN) PBoC Stats Dept Head: China at leverage stabilization stage - Chinese Press

- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) sells 30-year bonds: yield 3.97% v 3.93%e; bid to cover 1.68x v 1.75x prior

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -0.1%

- TOPIX Marine Transportation index -1.8%, Iron & Steel -1.7%, Securities -1.2%

- (JP) JAPAN JUN NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: 0.7% V 0.8%E; CPI EX FRESH FOOD (CORE): 0.8% V 0.8%E (first rise since Feb)

- (JP) BoJ said to start discussion in Aug on post-Libor benchmark - Japanese Press

- (CN) China and Japan to hold talks on Belt and Road in Sept - Japanese Press

Korea

Kospi opened flat

- (KR) South Korea Jun PPI Y/Y: 2.6% v 2.2% prior

- (KR) South Korea President Moon said to consider meeting North Korea leader Kim again at the end of Aug - South Korean Press

Other

- (MY) Malaysia Finance Ministry said to cut 2018 GDP growth forecast to 5%

For the week, the PBoC injected a net CNY540B in its OMOs

North America

-US equity markets ended mostly lower: Dow -0.5%, S&P500 -0.4%, Nasdaq -0.4%, Russell 2000 +0.5%

-S&P500 Financials -1.5%, Telecom -0.7%; Real Estate +1%, Utilities +0.9%

-(US) Commerce Sec Ross: too soon to say if auto market trade probe will result in a national security ruling - hearing on auto imports

-(US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Total Assets for week ending July 18th: $4.34T, +$5.2B w/w, -$183.3B y/y; Reserve Bank Credit $4.26T, +$5.4B w/w, -$184.2B y/y

Europe

-(DE) Germany H1 Tax Revenue Y/Y: +7.3% - Finance Ministry Monthly Report

-(DE) Germany Bundesbank Beermann: Target2 balances are not at risk - German Press

Levels as of 01:30ET

- Nikkei 225 -0.5%, ASX 200 +0.3%, Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi +0.2%%

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

- EUR 1.1626-1.1660 ; JPY 112.27-112.64 ; AUD 0.7317-0.7377 ;NZD 0.6720-0.6756

- Aug Gold -0.5% at $1,218/oz; Aug Crude Oil -0.2% at $68.14/brl; Jul Copper -0.6% at $2.701 /lb