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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Nikkei (0.53%), Hang Seng (0.20%), Shanghai Composite (0.30%) as of 03:10 ET

Nov 27 ,2023

  • Synopsis:

    • Asia markets ended lower almost everywhere Monday. Greater China led down by Shenzhen, Hong Kong also weaker but off its worst. Taiwan sharply lower on more domestic political developments, more modest losses in Australia and South Korea. Southeast Asia lower ex Jakarta. Japan lower despite bright start. US futures lower, European markets opened down. US dollar consolidating Friday's losses, yen notably stronger, yuan a pip or two weaker. Treasury yields higher across tenors, JBG yields mixed. Crude sliding ahead of delayed OPEC+ meeting, industrial metals a little lower, gold at a six-month high.

    • Asia markets starting the week on a shaky note ahead of several potentially punchy catalysts: Chinese PMIs, a rate decision from the RBNZ, and Australian inflation numbers. Today, China equities fell after data showed industrial profits shrank again in October, albeit at a slightly reduced pace from September, and on reports investors in Zhongzhi may lose up to $56B as police opened an investigation into the company's money management business. Property stocks also continued to unwind some of last week's gains.

    • More broadly, Asia equities failing to catch a tailwind from a weaker US dollar, which sunk to three-month lows late Friday and is reapproaching those levels Monday afternoon. The yen and AUD among Asia currencies stronger today; the yuan a touch weaker as the PBOC set a weaker-than-expected midpoint to break a recent trend but investors still bullish on the currency moving towards 7.0 per dollar as macro conditions improve and the greenback weakens.

    • Taisho Pharmaceutical (4581.JP) confirmed it had received an offer from management to take the company private. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.JP) said its group CEO passed away on 25-Nov with deputy president taking acting duties. Chongqing Changan Automobile (000625.CH) signed a MoU with Huawei to develop 'intelligent driving systems'. The former chairman of COSCO Shipping Development (2866.HK) was arrested by police in connection with a probe into a China Overseas Holding subsidiary listing. Sunac China (1918.HK) increased its first conversion cap to 100% for mandatory convertible bonds to optimize the company's capital structure sooner than previously anticipated.

  • Digest:

    • China opens criminal investigation into Zhongzhi, detains suspects:

      • Police in Beijing city said they took "criminal mandatory measures" against multiple suspects of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, including an individual surnamed Xie. Added investors should actively cooperate with police investigation and evidence collection (SCMP). Noted founder Xie Zhikun died in 2021 while many of his relatives hold key positions in the shadow bank. Bloomberg added terminology used by police to describe situation was similar to that in case of China Evergrande's chairman Hui Ka Yan earlier in the year. Privately owned Zhongzhi warned last week its debts totaled CNY420B to 460B ($64.4), compared with assets of CNY200B, while previous self-rescue efforts didn't "live up to expectations". Those affected by Zhongzhi's woes likely to be wealthy individuals, as the loosely regulated shadow bank together with its affiliates Zhongrong International Trust pooled household savings and extended financing to troubled developers. Signs of distress first emerged in August when Zhongrong delayed payment of maturing wealth products amid liquidity crunch when China's property crisis deepened.

    • China industrial profits rise at a slower rate in October:

      • Profits at industrial firms in China for October rose 2.7% y/y, following 11.9% increase in September, logging third consecutive monthly growth. Profits fell 7.8% for the first ten months, narrowing from 9% decline in Jan-Sep with pace of decline narrowing since March. State-owned enterprises saw profits drop 9.9% in Jan-Oct (vs -11.5% in Jan-Sep), while foreign firms posted 10.2% fall (vs -10.5% in Jan-Sep) and private enterprises recorded a 1.9% drop (vs -3.2% in Jan-Sep).Electrical power and heat production saw largest YTD gains in profits, rising over 50%, followed by ferrous metal smelting, electrical machinery. While chemicals manufacturing was the worst-hit sector, other laggards include chemical raw materials, petroleum and coal. Reuters noted October's industrial profits added to uncertainty over economic recovery amid prolonged property woes, local government debt risks and weak demand. Policymakers under growing pressure to roll out more stimulus as China is facing structural challenges when investment-led growth loses steam.

    • China announces measures to boost financial support for private sector:

      • Eight Chinese government agencies and ministries led by PBOC issued 25-point statement to step up financial support for country's private sector, seen as latest effort by Beijing to boost business confidence amid economic headwinds. Authorities would guide financial institutions to set annual targets for services to private businesses and raise weighting of such services in their performance reviews. Will gradually increase shares of lending to private sector businesses. Added efforts to be made to smooth channels via loans, bonds and equity financing. Encourage qualified private companies to list overseas and support M&A, restructuring. Tolerance of non-performing loans of private businesses should be "reasonably" increased while lending more support to first-time borrowers. Authorities would encourage institutional investors to increase allocation into bonds issued by private sector businesses and explore high-yield bond market. Will also make it easier for private sector to conduct cross-border businesses while reducing its forex hedging costs.

    • Yuan may continue rally into December, analysts say:

      • Analysts cited by Bloomberg said yuan's two-week rally may continue into December with exporters requiring more renminbi to meet cash demands before year-end and Lunar New Year holidays. Said currency strengthened in each of past six years in November and December, several analysts forecasted it could gain towards 7.0 per dollar last seen in May. Yuan YTD been among Asia's worst performers as many companies awaited more favorable conditions to convert dollar deposits, and, with China's macro outlook appeared to be stabilizing, yuan rally may accelerate. Yuan strength still somewhat contingent on US dollar weakness however FT noted investors selling dollars aggressively on bets Fed reached terminal rate and could deliver multiple cuts next year. Said asset managers made 'significant' daily sales since weaker jobs numbers on 3-Nov but are still overweight USD, signal further dollar weakness may be ahead.

    • Yen bears receding, but retail traders foil rebound:

      • Nikkei discussed perceptions that yen has reached a trough, though recent rebound was undermined by short positions among individual traders. Article noted views that yen has bottomed began to emerge early last week. Yen buying interest grew on the break of 148 vs dollar, leading to further gains into the 147.1 range. Main catalyst was softer US CPI and subsequent drop in Treasury yields narrowed rate differentials. Cited strong market views that likely Fed rate cuts next year will drive gradual yen strength. However, last week's yen strength was short-lived, and USD/JPY returned towards the 150 level. Breaking down short-term crosswinds, story highlighted CTA positioning and short-covering was thought to be behind the rally. Cited estimates that CTAs took bulk of shorts around the high 148-149 region and stop-losses were triggered when yen strengthened to 148. In contrast, aggregate of retail FX brokerages saw sizable preference for short yen/long dollar positions. Marked a notable turnaround from sizable long-yen positions prevalent a month ago. Going forward, yen selling pressure has eased amid US peak rates, though prospects for yen gains remain limited given ongoing popularity of yen carry trades.

    • Notable Gainers:

      • +29.8% 215600.KS (SillaJen): confirms safety and efficacy in combination clinical trial of Pexa-Vec and Libtayo for kidney cancer

      • +10.0% 000625.CH (Chongqing Changan Automobile): signs MoU with Huawei to set up company to engage in automotive intelligent systems and component solutions

      • +4.7% 8227.JP (SHIMAMURA): reports November Shimamura existing stores sales +4.3% y/y

      • +3.7% 600489.CH (Zhongjin Gold): to be added to CSI300 index, effective 8-Dec close

    • Notable Decliners:

      • -32.2% 9939.HK (Kintor Pharmaceutical): compared with placebo there was target area hair counts improvement at all visit points in KX-826 group with no statistical significance

      • -10.1% 1918.HK (Sunac China Holdings): increases first conversion cap for mandatory convertible bonds to 100% of original issue amount as part of restructuring

      • -4.6% 7550.JP (Zensho Holdings): launches 5.2M shares public offering, 782K shares third-party allotment for up-to-¥49.91B

      • -4.4% 600383.CH (Gemdale Corp.): to be deleted from CSI300 index, effective 8-Dec close

  • Data:

    • Economic:

      • Japan October

        • Services PPI +2.3% y/y vs consensus +2.1% and revised +2.0% in prior month

      • China

        • Industrial profits YTD (7.8%) y/y vs (9%) in prior month

          • October industrial profits +2.7% y/y vs +11.9% in prior month

    • Markets:

      • Nikkei: (177.86) or (0.53%) to 33447.67

      • Hang Seng: (34.36) or (0.20%) to 17525.06

      • Shanghai Composite: (9.27) or (0.30%) to 3031.70

      • Shenzhen Composite: (7.20) or (0.38%) to 1893.39

      • ASX200: (53.20) or (0.76%) to 6987.60

      • KOSPI: (0.97) or (0.04%) to 2495.66

      • SENSEX: Closed

    • Currencies:

      • $-¥: (0.41) or (0.27%) to 149.0490

      • $-KRW: (4.57) or (0.35%) to 1301.7100

      • A$-$: +0.00 or +0.07% to 0.6589

      • $-INR: +0.08 or +0.10% to 83.4050

      • $-CNY: +0.00 or +0.02% to 7.1514

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