Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.2 percent by 12:21 p.m. in Tokyo, as five stocks fell for every three that advanced after the gauge’s highest close since July 30. Samsung rose for the first time in five days. Nasdaq 100 Index futures were little changed after
Apple Inc. (AAPL) led a 0.6 percent drop in the U.S. technology gauge in New York. The South Korean won and Malaysia’s ringgit strengthened 0.2 percent against the dollar. Crude oil fell in New York and London after surging yesterday.
The Bank of Japan left its record stimulus unchanged, while the European Central Bank and Bank of England will announce their monetary-policy decisions later today. Samsung’s release of two new Galaxy Note phones helped fuel Apple’s steepest drop since January, amid concerns over account security. Ukraine and Russia made differing statements about a cease-fire in their conflict.
“There are a couple of exogenous shocks that could trigger the market to break out of its comfort zone,” Toby Lawson, head of futures, options and cash equities trading for Asia-Pacific at Newedge Group SA in Sydney, said by phone. “While investors are looking at geopolitical risks in Ukraine and Iraq, there’s a sense of calm in the markets as the U.S. economic data is strong. There’s expectation that the European Central Bank will provide some stimulus as Europe in general seems to be in a deflationary situation.”
Samsung Gains
Japan’s Topix (TPX) index dropped 0.2 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.6 percent. The NZX 50 Index in Wellington was little changed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 percent after surging 2.3 percent to its highest close since 2008 yesterday. A measure of Chinese stocks in the city added 0.5 percent as money-market rates dropped.Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, climbed 2 percent after retreating 4.3 percent over the past four days. The Suwon, South Korea-based company is trying to fend off Apple’s push into large-screen devices, with one of the phones unveiled yesterday sporting a display that extended down the side.
The Nasdaq Composite Index of technology stocks slipped 0.6 percent yesterday, as Apple sank 4.2 percent. The company has endured criticism over the security of its services after the theft of celebrity photos from Apple accounts. Technology shares also drove a 0.1 percent drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to 2,000.72.
EM Currencies
Apple is set to unveil new iPhones, a wearable device and a mobile-payments system at an event Sept. 9, people with knowledge of the matter have said. Analysts at Pacific Crest Securities LLC said they would probably cut their outperform rating on Apple stock unless the event shows “massive incremental profit opportunities.”Malaysia’s ringgit gained 0.2 percent to 3.1755 a dollar, rising for the first time in six days. The Philippines peso rose 0.1 percent to 43.55 per dollar and Korea’s won added 0.2 percent to 1,017.55 per dollar. South Korea’s gross domestic product expanded 3.5 percent in the second quarter, according to data today, down from a previous estimate of 3.6 percent.
The yen was little changed at 104.85 per dollar after rising 0.3 percent yesterday, its first increase in four days. The currency reached 105.31 per dollar in the last session, the weakest intraday level since January. The BOJ kept its pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of 60 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen ($667 billion), the bank said in a statement today, in line with all 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Euro, Dollar
The euro was little changed at $1.3147 today, following a 0.1 percent gain yesterday. The currency reached an almost one-year low versus the greenback Sept. 1.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 10 major peers, was little changed after slipping 0.2 percent yesterday, its first retreat in four days. The gauge closed at its highest level in almost a year on Sept. 2.
China’s benchmark money-market rate fell the most in two weeks as the central bank’s open-market operations added cash to
the financial system for the fourth week in a row. The seven-day repo rate dropped 14 basis points to 3.25 percent.
China’s yuan advanced to the highest level in six months after the central bank raised the currency’s reference rate on signs the economy is strengthening.
Of the 57 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, six project the ECB will cut its main refinancing rate to 0.05 percent today from 0.15 percent. The bank will embark on a quantitative-easing program this year or next, according to 44 percent of respondents in a Bloomberg survey last month.
Jackson Hole
ECB chief Mario Draghi told fellow central bankers at Jackson Hole Aug. 22 that policy makers will use “all the available instruments needed to ensure price stability.”Gauges of euro-region manufacturing and services industries unexpectedly fell this week, underscoring concerns over the 18-nation economy. The ECB cut key rates in June, pushing the deposit rate below zero, and initiated a lending program for banks in a bid to stoke price growth.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in Jackson Hole that central bankers should use any and all means to ward off deflation.
Ukraine Confusion
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said yesterday that he’d hammered out a deal with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. He later removed the word “permanent” from his cease-fire statement and Putin’s spokesman said there had been no deal.Putin called for an end to the rebels’ offensive in the former Soviet republic’s east and urged the withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from residential areas as part of a seven-point proposal presented yesterday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while the two leaders mostly agreed on steps needed for a truce, Russia can’t reach such an accord as it’s not party to the conflict.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk dismissed Putin’s peace plan as “window dressing for the international community ahead of the NATO summit” and a ploy to duck sanctions. Putin’s “true plan is to ruin Ukraine and restore the Soviet Union,” Yatsenyuk said in an e-mailed statement.
West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.4 percent to $95.14 a barrel, after rebounding yesterday from its lowest level since February. Ten-day volatility on WTI reached 29.5 yesterday, the highest reading since May last year, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Brent crude oil was down 0.5 percent to $102.21 a barrel after jumping 2.4 percent yesterday from a 16-month low.
Beige Book
The Federal Reserve said yesterday that the U.S. economy continued to expand during the summer, with none of the country’s regions experiencing a shift in the pace of growth.Trends in employment, wages and prices were little changed during the July-August period, according to the Beige Book survey, which is based on reports from the 12 regional banks in the Fed system. U.S. policy makers meet Sept. 16-17. Data on factory orders showed a 10.5 percent expansion for July.
The U.S. economy grew more than previously forecast in the second quarter, propelled by the biggest gain in business investment in more than two years, the Commerce Department reported last month. A Labor Department report Sept. 5 will show payrolls rose by more than 200,000 in August for a seventh straight month, a Bloomberg survey of economists shows.
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