Oct 13 ,2023
Synopsis:
Asian equities finished lower Friday. Losses sharpest in Hong Kong after flat CPI and trade data caused renewed concern over deflation, mainland markets also lower. Seoul and Taipei gave up ground after a solid few days. Australia and Japan closed at their day's lows. Southeast Asia mixed, India extending early losses. US futures flat, Europe paring opening losses. US dollar giving up some of its overnight gains, AUD rebounding slightly from year-long lows, yen and yuan flat. Treasury yields lower at the long end, higher at the short. Crude spiking sharply on bearish inventory build and Middle East developments, precious metals higher, industrial metals up.
A weak handover from the US set the tone for a largely down day in Asia Friday with sovereign yields back in focus following a poor Treasury auction and higher-than-expected US CPI. Following the short-lived backup in yields, focus now back on the Fed's overarching higher-for-longer mantra; Fed Fund Futures still pricing in a more than 90% chance of no-change at November's meeting but December futures now see an almost 40% chance of a hike then versus 30% on Wednesday.
Asia catalysts today focused again on China, where flat CPI raised the specter of deflation again while uninspiring trade data showed continued weakness in demand for China exports. More reports of supportive measures for the stock market with reports of a stabilization fund being considered, adding to news yesterday of Beijing increasing its stakes in its Big Four banks and potentially allowing foreign companies to have higher stakes in joint ventures with Chinese firms. Late on, credit data showed a rise in new loans but a miss versus expectations.
Elsewhere, Singapore's MAS left monetary policy unchanged as expected, maintaining its exchange rate parameters. Singapore GDP growth topped expectations though details soft with manufacturing shrinking again and services expanding at a slower pace. South Korean unemployment rose in-line with expectations. Malaysia's finance ministry said it expects GDP growth of 4.0-5.0% next year.
Sino-Ocean (3377.HK) announced it is seeking a two-month grace period for interest payments on an Oct-25 bond due 19-Oct. TSMC (2330.TT) has received a waiver extension from the US that will allow it to supply US chip equipment to the company's factories in China. Newcrest Mining (NCM.AU) shareholders have voted strongly in favor of accepting the A$26.2B ($16.8B) buyout bid from Newmont Corp (NEM).
Digest:
China mulls new stabilization fund to support stock market:
Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter, who said China is considering forming a state-backed stabilization fund to shore up confidence in its stock markets. Sources said country's financial regulators, including China Securities Regulatory Commission, held two rounds of consultation with industry participants over several months, and have recently submitted preliminary plans. Sources warned plan not final and could yet be scrapped however outline is for fund to have access to hundreds of billions of yuan as capital. Would see first direct intervention by government in capital markets since crash in 2015. Article said fund discussions coincided with sovereign wealth fund purchasing $65M of shares in nation's 'Big Four' banks. Late Thursday, China Daily reported Beijing considering easing foreign stake limits in joint ventures with Chinese firms, and also moved to halt capital outflow by blocking new offshore trading accounts (Bloomberg).
China exports, imports extend declines, though better than expected:
Exports fell 6.2% y/y in September, came better than consensus of 8% drop and 8.8% decline in the previous month. Exports YTD fell 5.7%. Imports also declined 6.2% y/y last month, slightly better than 6.3% drop expected and follows 7.3% fall in the previous month. Imports YTD fell 7.5%. China recorded a trade surplus of $77.71B, above consensus $70.50B and $68.36B. China Customs official noted total trade in September was highest in 2023 and logged two consecutive monthly growth. Highlighted exports of lithium batteries, EVs and solar cells, which all have registered double-digit growth in 14 consecutive quarters. Integrated circuit exports rose 2.8% y/y, rebounding from negative in prior month. Pace of decline in mobile phones and computers exports also moderated. China imported more crude oil in September, taking YTD growth at 14.6%. Bloomberg noted eases in exports drop added to cautious optimism that some parts of Chinese economy are stabilizing, while still facing myriad of challenges as CPI inflation returning to brink of deflation in September.
China back to brink of deflation:
Headline CPI unchanged y/y in September, below consensus 0.2% increase and follows 0.1% rise in the previous month. Core inflation remained steady at 0.8%. Food prices were a notable drag and dropped 3.2% y/y, 1.5 ppt larger from previous month, with pork prices falling 22% (4.1 ppt larger from August) and vegetables down 6.4% (3.1 ppt larger). Growth in seafood and fruits turned from positive in August to negative. Non-food items rose 0.7% driven by 1.3% rise in services, especially in travel. Education services also rose as new school year started. PPI fell 2.5% y/y, versus consensus of a fall 2.4%, after a 3.0% drop in August, narrowing further from 4.4% drop in July and 5.4% decline in June. Pace of decline in upstream prices moderated further but downstream prices shrank at a slightly faster rate. NBS chief statistician said flat consumer prices due to high base effect and there was ample supply of food ahead of Golden Week holiday.
Singapore's MAS keeps monetary policy unchanged, Q3 GDP better than expected:
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) kept its policy unchanged for second successive meeting Friday, by maintaining slope of Singapore dollar's nominal effective exchange rate's (S$NEER) policy band. Also kept width and center unchanged. Added will switch to quarterly decisions in 2024, starting January. Authority said sustained appreciation of policy band needed to dampen imported inflation, curb domestic costs pressures (BusinessTimes). Consensus largely forecast no change although some had warned over a surprise tightening or even loosening of policy. Separately, data from ministry of trade and industry showed Singapore's economy grew 0.7% in Q3 y/y, faster than expected. On a seasonally adjusted basis GDP grew 1% from previous quarter's 0.1% growth. However, manufacturing continued its recent downward trend, shrinking 5.0% y/y from Q2's 7.7% contraction, offset by services growing 1.9% y/y from 2.8% growth in Q2 (BusinessTimes).
Japan life insurers eye JGBs as rising hedging costs diminish appeal of Treasuries:
Treasuries face added selling pressure from Japan life insurers continuing to offload holdings, as rising hedging costs offset attractiveness of higher yielding US sovereign bonds (Bloomberg). Treasury-JGB 10Y yield gap has widened to more than 4%, but on an FX-hedged basis US debt is returning -1.3%. As a result, some major life insurers have flagged boosting exposure to JGBs with focus on long-dated securities. According to MOF data, life insurers sold further JPY196.3B ($1.3B) of foreign bonds in fiscal half year ending 30-Sep following JPY8.06T of sales in previous half. Conversely, JSDA data showed insurers purchases JPY2.31T of JGBs in Apr-Aug. Latest weekly MOF portfolio flow data revealed domestic investors bought net ¥183.4B of foreign long-term debt in week ending 7-Oct. This was down on net ¥297.1B purchased in previous week and continuing a recent deceleration following record ¥3,631.9B purchased in first week of September.
Notable Gainers:
+5.7% 9983.JP (FAST RETAILING CO.): reports FY revenue ¥2.767T vs SA ¥2.750T, operating income ¥381.09B vs SA ¥377.75B; guides FY24 revenue ¥3.050T vs FactSet ¥3.017T, operating income ¥450.00B vs FactSet ¥425.28B
+1.2% 011790.KS (SKC Co.): confirms plan to sell SK pucore for KRW410.30B
+1.1% 3377.HK (Sino-Ocean Group Holdings): seeks two-month grace period for interest payments on bond due Oct-25; gets finance to pay $3.8M note coupon due on 26-Oct
+0.5% 2330.TT (Taiwan Semiconductor): reportedly receives waiver extension from US to supply US chip equipment to TSMC's factories in China
Notable Decliners:
-5.5% 1929.HK (Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group): reports Q2 key operational data, same store sales growth in mainland China (12.5%) y/y
-4.5% 3382.JP (Seven & i): reports Q2 revenue ¥2.896T vs FactSet ¥2.904T; guides FY revenue ¥11.432T vs prior guidance ¥11.527T
-2.9% 1925.JP (Daiwa House Industry Co.): subsidiary Trumark Homes acquires Wathen Castanos Homes in US; terms undisclosed
-2.2% 6752.JP (Panasonic): Blue Yonder to acquire Doddle; terms undisclosed
-1.6% 8.HK (PCCW Ltd): completes business combination agreement; PubCo shares will begin trading on NASDAQ
Data:
Economic:
China September
New loans CNY2.31T vs consensus CNY2.5T and CNY1.36T in prior month
Total social financing CNY4.12T versus consensus CNY3.71T and CNY3.12T in prior month
M2 money supply +10.3% y/y vs consensus +10.6% and +10.6% in prior month
CPI 0% y/y vs consensus +0.2% and +0.1% in prior month
PPI (2.5%) y/y vs consensus (2.4%) and (3.0%) in prior month
Trade balance $77.71B vs consensus $70.60B and $68.36B in prior month
Exports (6.2%) y/y vs consensus (8%) and (8.8%) in prior month
Imports (6.2%) y/y vs consensus (6.3%) and (7.3%) in prior month
South Korea September
Unemployment rate 2.6% vs consensus 2.6% and 2.4% in prior month
Singapore Q3
GDP y/y (Preliminary) +0.7% versus consensus +0.7% and +0.5% in prior quarter
Markets:
Nikkei: (178.67) or (0.55%) to 32315.99
Hang Seng: (424.76) or (2.33%) to 17813.45
Shanghai Composite: (19.80) or (0.64%) to 3088.10
Shenzhen Composite: (15.16) or (0.79%) to 1905.41
ASX200: (40.00) or (0.56%) to 7051.00
KOSPI: (23.67) or (0.95%) to 2456.15
SENSEX: (106.38) or (0.16%) to 66302.01
Currencies:
$-¥: (0.16) or (0.11%) to 149.6450
$-KRW: (1.38) or (0.10%) to 1348.0700
A$-$: +0.00 or +0.51% to 0.6330
$-INR: (0.16) or (0.19%) to 83.2340
$-CNY: +0.00 or +0.04% to 7.3058
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