Asian Mid-session Update: China A-Shares battle back despite the MSCI inclusion delay; RBA's Stevens jawbones AUD lower
***Economic Data***
- (AU) AUSTRALIA JUN WESTPAC CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX: 95.3 V 102.4 PRIOR, M/M: -6.9% V +6.4% PRIOR; Biggest decline in a year
- (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index: 112.1 v 113.5 prior
- (JP) JAPAN APR MACHINE ORDERS M/M: +3.8% (4-month high) V -2.1%E; Y/Y: 3.0% V -1.4%E
- (JP) JAPAN MAY PPI M/M: 0.3% V 0.2%E, Y/Y: -2.1% (2nd straight decline) V -2.2%E
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA MAY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 3.9% V 3.7%E
- (NZ) New Zealand May Credit Card Retail Spending M/M: 1.2% v 0.9%e, Total Spending M/M: 1.4% v -1.2% prior
***Index Snapshot (as of 03:00 GMT)***
- Nikkei225 +0.4%, S&P/ASX -0.2%, Kospi flat, Shanghai Composite -0.4%, Hang Seng +0.4%, Jun S&P500 +0.1% at 2,083
***Commodities/Fixed Income***
- Aug gold -0.2% at $1,175/oz, Jul crude oil +1.0% at $60.77/brl, Jul copper +0.2% at $2.72/lb
- (US) API Petroleum Inventories: Crude -6.7M v -2Me; Gasoline -3.9M v 0e; Distillate +0.04M v +1.5Me
- (SA) Saudi Arabia will supply full contractual volumes to at least 2 Asian buyers in July, unchanged from June, after OPEC's latest output decision - financial press
- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings decline 2.98 tonnes to 705.72 tonnes; lowest since Jan 12th
- (US) PIMCO: Lowers Total Return Fund's holding of US Treasuries in MAY from 23.4% to 8.5%
- (JP) BOJ offers to buy ¥70B in JGBs with maturity less than 1-yr, ¥400B in 5-10yr JGBs
- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$700M in 4.25% 2026 Bonds; avg yield: 3.1360%; bid-to-cover: 2.91x
***Market Focal Points/FX***
- Shanghai Composite plummeted by 2% in the opening minutes after MSCI deferred on including the A-Shares in its emerging market index. MSCI added the mainland shares may still be included as soon as a "few important remaining issues" of market accessibility are resolved, remaining on 2016 review list for potential inclusion. MSCI will also continue to work with CSRC on resolving those issues. Shanghai Composite entered its midday break well off the lows however, with technically key 5,000 level and 1-month low holding firm. Investors will look ahead to the release of China's May industrial output / investment / retail sales data later in the session and implications for policy expectations from the PBoC going forward. Earlier, PBoC researcher lowered China's 2015 GDP target to 7% from 7.1% and also cut CPI target to 1.4% from 2.2%.
- Nikkei225 is up 0.5% returning from break, recovering some ground from steep losses in yesterday's session. BOJ Gov Kuroda reiterated the central bank is prepared to adjust policy as needed, and even though trends are improving they are still only halfway to reaching target. Kuroda did endorse the recent trend of weaker yen, noting FX trend has not had negative effects on overall economy thus far. In Japanese economic data, PPI was slighlty higher than expected and leading indicator machine orders rose at their best rate in 4 months, leading the cabinet office to upgrade its assessment on the sector.
- AUD/USD traded sharply lower, falling some 70pips from the highs below $0.7640 on comments from RBA Gov Stevens. After most recent surprisingly neutral RBA policy statement, Stevens said the central bank is still open to possibility of further easing, forecasted inflation to remain low, and affirmed support for lower exchange rate. Also of note in Australia, Westpac Consumer Confidence index fell by its biggest margin in a year, falling 6.9% m/m to 95.3.
***Equities***
US equities / ADRs:
- QRVO: To be added to S&P500 index, replacing Lorillard; WETF to replace QRVO in the S&P400 index; +2.6% afterhours
- REGN: FDA advisory panel votes 13 to 3 in favor of risk profile for cholesterol drug Praluent, developed by Regeneron and Sanofi; -2.7% afterhours
Notable movers by sector:
- Consumer discretionary: Seven West Media SWM.AU +1.4% (reaffirms guidance)
- Financials: Franshion Properties 817.HK +0.3% (May result, share placement); GF Securities Co 000776.CN -0.7%, China Galaxy Securities 6881.HK -1.3% (tighten margin rules); SRE Group Ltd 1207.HK -4.6% (MOU with Poly Real Estate, Chairman under custody); Tong Yang Life 082640.KR +3.2% (approval for stake purchase); Greenland Hong Kong 337.HK +9.9% (YTD result)
- Energy: China Gezhouba Grou 600068.CN +4.6% (awarded contract); China Shenhua 1088.HK -4.0%, China Coal Energy 1898.HK -2.9% (clarification on merge); Origin Energy ORG.AU +1.1% (further cut capex); Oil Search OSH.AU +3.1% (said to consider divesting)
- Industrials: Jiangxi Ganyue Expressway Co 600269.CN -2.9% (May result); Kia Motors Corporation 000270.KR +3.1% (to begin sales in Mexico)
- Technology: Sony Corp 6758.JP +2.5% (speculation to have launched PlayStation streaming service)
- Materials: Jilin Liyuan Aluminum Co 002501.CN +7.4% (share placement)
- Utilities: China National Nuclear Power Corporation 601985 .CN +44.0% (IPO debut)