Reports » Asia

Asian stock market, economy and companies update (September 19, 2012)

Contributed by Trade The News

***Markets Snapshot (as of 03:30GMT)***
- Nikkei225 +0.4%
- S&P/ASX +0.4%
- Kospi -0.5%
- Shanghai Composite +0.2%
- Hang Seng +0.4%
- Dec S&P500 +0.2% at 1,456
- Dec gold flat at $1,771/oz
- Oct Crude oil +0.4% at $95.69/brl

***Notes/Observations***
- Bank of Japan opened a new chapter on the global trend competitive currency devaluation, following aggressive steps by the ECB and the FOMC with a strong response of its own. Going into the decision, analyst expectations were said to be split on whether a new program would be announced. The BOJ met and by some accounts surpassed those expectations, announcing a ¥10T increase in its asset purchases to a total program size of ¥80T comprised of ¥5T in t-bills and ¥5T in JGBs. In conjunction with the increase in the asset program, the BOJ also cut its economic assessment to that of a pause reflecting deceleration in overseas economies. In terms of a forward outlook, BOJ projected activity would level off more or less and y/y rate of change in CPI to remain around 0%, still shy of its 1% target.
- USD/JPY rose some 50 pips in the aftermath of the BOJ decision toward ¥79.20, front month S&P future rose over 5 handles above 1,458, and copper rose about 1% above $3.81. Among the high beta FX majors, AUD/USD returned to positive territory above $1.0460, and NZD rose within 10 pips of $0.83 handle ahead of tomorrow's release of Q2 GDP data out of New Zealand.

***Fixed Income/Currencies/Commodities***
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Key: Reiterates nothing government can do to permanently lower NZD

- (JP) A senior Chinese government advisor calls for "attack" on Japan's bond market - Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Azumi: Hoping to see violent protests in China calm down soon; Japan and China need to support global growth together

- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$800M in 2.75% 12-yr bonds, avg yield 3.4575%; bid-to-cover 3.61x
- (AU) S&P AFFIRMS AUSTRALIA SOVEREIGN RATING AT AAA; OUTLOOK STABLE

- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings rise by 1.8 tons to 1,303.3 tons (highest since 1,309.9 in Aug of 2011)
- (US) API PETROLEUM INVENTORIES CRUDE: +2.43M V -1ME (largest build in 3 weeks); GASOLINE: +135K V +500KE; DISTILLATE: -1.1M V +1ME; UTILIZATION: 87.8% V 84.3% W/W

***Speakers/Political/In the Papers***
- (CN) Nanjing denied report that it relaunched its property market concerns - Chinese press
- (CN) China MOFCOM official Shen: Trade will be affected by disputed islands; External demand in coming months will be weaker than in the first 8 months of the year
- (CN) China Banking Regulator (CBRC): China banks should increases their overseas assets - Chinese press
- (CN) PBoC Gov Zhou suggests opening local govt debt sales to residents - financial press
- (CN) S&P: Outlook for China property market is still Negative

- (AU) Australia Treasurer Swan: There are budget implications from lower commodity prices
- (AU) RBA's Kent: No change to RBA outlook after government commodities forecasts; AUD is somewhat overvalued, hard to say if AUD has peaked

- (US) Fed's Lacker (voter, hawk): Monetary policy unable to offset frictions impeding the econ; FOMC hinted too much will to bear higher inflation
- (US) US Fed's Bullard (hawkish, non-voter): Supports restricting dual mandate to single focus on inflation - financial press

***Asia Equities***
- BHP: Exec: China iron ore demand has slowed down by more than half; Monitoring rising capital and operating costs
- DJS.AU: Reports FY12 Net A$101.1M v A$105Me, Rev A$1.87B, -4.8% y/y
- Samsung electronics 005930.KR: To sharply reduce investments in semiconductor operations next year - Korean press
- 9202.JP: Passengers cancelled 18.8K tickets on Japan-China routes in Sept-Nov - Nikkei News

***US Equities***
- MSFT: *RAISES QUARTERLY DIVIDEND 15% FROM $0.20 to $0.23

***Economic Data***
- (JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) LEAVES TARGET RATE UNCHANGED AT 0.0-0.1%; EXPANDS ASSET PURCHASE PROGRAM BY ¥10.0T TO ¥80T; CUTS ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q2 CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE (NZ$): -1.80B V -1.62BE (9th quarter of deficit); CURRENT ACCOUNT TO GDP RATIO YTD: -4.9% V -5.2%E
- (CN) CHINA AUG ACTUAL FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) Y/Y: -1.4% V -5.8%E; YTD -3.4% V -3.6% PRIOR (8th consecutive month of decline)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA JUL WESTPAC LEADING INDEX M/M: 0.4% V 0.5% PRIOR
- (NZ) New Zealand Aug online job vacancies m/m: +2.6%; skilled job vacancies m/m: +4.9%