BOJ stepped up bond purchases

Asia Market Update: Equities decline; Focal points include higher bond yields and corporate earnings; BOJ stepped up bond purchases.

General trend

- Commodity currencies lag amid equity declines and AU jobs data.

- Quiet session seen for USD/JPY.

- Hang Seng hit 2009 lows.

- Tencent traded at 52-week low.

- Chinese chipmakers and travel-sensitive stocks later rebounded amid financial press headlines.

- Nasdaq FUTs decline after results from Tesla.

- Indonesia expected to hike rates.

- The 20th Communist Party Congress started on Sun, Oct 16th and to last until Oct 24th.

- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thurs.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened -0.3%.

- (AU) Australia Sept employment change: 0.9K V +25.0KE; unemployment rate: 3.5% V 3.5%E.

- STO.AU Reports Q3 Rev $2.15B v $1.14B y/y; Production 26.1 MMBOE v 21.9 y/y; Narrows FY22 production guidance.

- WDS.AU Reports Q3 Revenue $5.57M v $1.57B* y/y; Production 51.2MMboe v 22.2MMboe* y/y (*Pre merger with BHP).

- (AU) Australia Sept RBA Govt FX Transactions (A$) -1.5B v -0.7B prior.

- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$400M v NZ$400M indicated in 2028, 2033 and 2051 bonds.

- (AU) Australia Oct NAB Business Confidence: 9 v 5 prior.

- (AU) Australia extends tariff on goods from Russia and Belarus until Oct 2023.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) expected to publish report of pandemic era monetary policy by end of the year - Press.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -1.0%.

- (JP) Japan Fin MIn Suzuki: Reiterates watching FX with sense of urgency, To take appropriate steps on Excess FX moves.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) offers to buy 5-10 year JGBs at fixed rate of 25bps; Opens window to buy unlimited amount of 10-year JGBs at 0.25% [as expected].

- (JP) Bank of Japan announces unscheduled Bond Buying Operation (Purchased 5-10 year, 10-25 year, and >25 year JGBS).

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida: Will take into account downside risks for overseas economies when deciding size of stimulus package.

- (JP) Japan Sept Trade Balance: -¥2.1T v -¥2.15Te; Adj Trade Balance: -¥2.00T v -¥2.07Te.

- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: +¥389.9B v -¥1.71T prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: +¥408.8B v +¥1.39T prior.

- (JP) Japan Sept Tokyo Condominiums for Sale Y/Y: -11.9% v -40.1% prior.

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.5%.

- 000880.KR Hanwha Defense signs rocket launcher supply agreement with Poland worth KRW8.0T.

- (KR) South Korea Financial Regulator (FSC): Closely Monitoring short term money market; May ease some liquidity requirement rules on banks, other financial firms; To resume purchases of bonds with stabilization funds.

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Research Note: expects private consumption to weaken, but not sharply.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -1.7%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.5%.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.1188 v 7.1105 prior.

- (CN) China said to be holding emergency talks with Chip producing companies after US Chip controls - US financial press.

-(CN) China said to be debating adjusting quarantine times to 7 days from 10, plans have not yet been presented to leaders - Press.

- (CN) Analysts note that China President Xi mentioned "security" 91 times during Party address v the "economy" 60 times, the first time security was mentioned more in opening speech since 1949 - press.

- (CN) China PBOC monthly loan prime rate (LPR) setting: Maintains both 1-year and 5-year rates (As expected).

- (CN) China Sept Swift Global Payments (CNY): 2.44% v2.31% prior.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY2.0B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY2.0B prior; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior.

North America

- (US) Fed's Evans (non-voter): Starting rate hikes 6 months earlier would have made sense; Need to ensure inflation pressures don't broaden further; If Inflation gets worse, Fed must do more.

- SMCI Raises Q1 guidance $3.05-3.20 v $2.19e (prior $2.07-2.32); Rev $1.78-1.82B v $1.57Be (prior $1.52-1.62B), due to customer design wins ramping and our total IT solution value.

- WU Reports prelim Q3 adj EPS $0.42 v $0.38e, Rev $1.10B v $1.07Be; Affirms FY22 outlook $1.75-1.85 v $1.80e.

- TSLA Reports Q3 $1.05 v $0.95e, Rev $21.5B v $22.3Be.

- AA Reports Q3 -$0.33 v $0.09e, Rev $2.85B v $2.98Be.

- (US) Pres Biden: Gas prices are down a dollar from their peak and have fallen every day this week; They are not falling fast enough; SPR release will extend releases through December; Extra oil could be made available for sale if needed.

Europe

- (IE) Ireland Oct Consumer Confidence: 46.1 v 42.1 prior.

- (UK) Bank of England (BOE) Chief David Roberts said to be in conflict of interest, relates to mentoring job – UK press.

- (RU) Multiple countries have raised concerns about Iran transfering drones to Russia at the UN Security Council.

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -0.8%, ASX 200 -1% , Hang Seng -1.3%; Shanghai Composite +0.4% ; Kospi -0.7%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: flat; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 flat.

- EUR 0.9789-0.9754 ; JPY 149.95-149.71 ; AUD 0.6275-0.6228 ;NZD 0.5685-0.5622.

- Gold +0.3% at $1,638/oz; Crude Oil +1.3% at $85.56/brl; Copper +0.5% at $3.3422/lb.