Reuters Insider - Asia Insight: Stocks inch up on trade hopes but growth fears cap gains
24/09/2019 11:31
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.insider.thomsonreuters.com/link?entryId=0_0w0i8iyt&referenceId=0_0w0i8iyt&pageId=ReutersNews Source: Reuters Insider Description: Asian shares edged up higher after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed U.S.-China trade talks will resume next month, but lingering concerns about slowing global growth reduced the overall appetite for riskier assets. AB Inbev has raised $5 billion in an IPO of its Asia-based business on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Short Link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2le4cAT Video Transcript: Hello and welcome to Asia Insight. I am Angeline Ong. Japanese manufacturing activity shrank at the fastest pace in seven months during September as export orders fell. The Jibun Bank Purchasing Managers Index slipped to 48.9 below the threshold that separates contraction from expansion. Japan's exports have been dragged down by China-bound shipments of car parts and semiconductor production equipment. Now China's central bank says it's in no hurry to join the global trend for monetary easing. Governor Yi Gang says there is still relatively big policy room but it should be treasured. He said some people worry that major economies may exhaust monetary policy tools amid talk of negative interest rates. Asian shares edged higher after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed US-China trade talks will resume next month but lingering concerns about slowing global growth reduced the overall appetite for riskier assets. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up, led by gains in Mainland Chinese shares after the vice head of China's state planner said Beijing will step up efforts to stabilize growth. In Japan, the Nikkei also rose after market holiday on Monday while South Korea's KOSPI opened lower but has since caught up with its peers in the region. Now, oil prices have eased as weak manufacturing data from Europe and also Japan focused attention on the gloomy outlook for demand and away from supply disruptions in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, a poll has found that US stockpiles probably dropped last week. Seven analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell 800,000 barrels in the week to September 20th. Now optimism about the US-China trade talks that recommence in two weeks helped to lift some metals prices. Let's take a look now. Copper traded in Shanghai edged higher after a roller coaster month. Rebar steel used in construction rose by more than a percentage point in earlier trade while Dalian iron ore followed coking coal, lower on worries about demand. Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has appeared in a Vancouver court there following her arrest at the city's airport, nearly 10 months ago. She's fighting against extradition to the United States where she is charged with bank fraud. She's also accused of misleading HSBC about Huawei's business in Iran. Meng's lawyers argue she was unlawfully detained, a charge denied by Canada's Attorney General. Now a look at some companies in the news then. AB InBev has raised $5 billion in the world's second largest IPO of the year. The brewer floated its Asia business at the bottom of its marketed range on the Hong Kong stock market. AB InBev had previously canceled an IPO of the business in July that could have raised almost $10 billion. Nippon Life and Allianz are vying with rivals to buy the Singapore and Vietnam business of Britain's Aviva. Sources say the deal could be worth as much as $2.5 billion. They say Canada's Sun Life is also among half a dozen or so suitors competing for the business. And the government in New Delhi says it plans to sell Air India by March 2020. Air India, which is more than $8 billions in debt reported an operational loss of more than $600 million in the last financial year. The government cancelled the privatization of the carrier earlier this year after failing to find any bias. And that's it from your Asia Insight. I'm Angeline Ong and this is Reuters