Asian Market Review - 07.08.2019

Asian markets are mixed Wednesday, with all eyes on China’s fix for the Yuan, which is just under the 7 level and slightly softer than markets were expecting. After the Yuan dropped below 7 on Monday and Washington accused Beiing of currency manipulation the Yuan daily fix has become crucially important to market sentiment.

Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite is unchanged, while the smaller cap Shenzhen Composite is trading 0.2% higher. Both indices are off earlier opening highs. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng remains under pressure, falling 0.7% as investors remain concerned over the potential for more protests in the city.

Japan’s Nikkei is trading down by 0.7%, despite the Yen softening considerably overnight versus the U.S. dollar, which is usually bullish for Japanese exporters. Shares of Sony are trading higher by 1.2%, but robotics manufacturer Fanuc is down by 2.5%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is trading higher by 0.2% after several sessions of wicked losses. The big four banks are mixed, while miners are trading lower in the range of 0.8% to 1.3%. That excludes gold miners, where Newcrest Mining is gaining 3.8% today as gold continues to rally on the risks presented by current trade tensions.

In South Korea the Kospi is 0.2% lower, with heavy weight Samsung down 0.6%, but SK Hynix gaining 1.9%. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Taiex is edging higher by 0.1%.

Southeast Asian markets are also mixed today, with the Straits Times in Singapore losing 0.2% and the KLCI in Malaysia falling 0.4%, but Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite trading 0.6% higher at the open.