Quiet trading day pre-BoJ rate decision tomorrow

Asia market update: Quiet trading day pre-BOJ rate decision tomorrow, but implied USD/JPY volatility jumps to highest since July 27; $2.35B of M&A activity in Australia.

General trend

- A very quiet day in Asia to start the week off, ahead of the BOJ rate decision tomorrow.

- Somewhat unusually for BOJ monetary policy meetings during 2023 under Gov Ueda there has been little press speculation over the weekend leading into this particular meeting.

- Markets appeared to be digesting the seventh straight week of gains in US stock indices, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at fresh record highs.

- Equities were weak across Asia, led by the Hang Seng and the Nikkei, both down by 0.8% at lunch.

Looking ahead (Asian time zone)

- China FDI might be released during the European session [Reminder: China Oct YTD Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (CNY-denominated) Y/Y: -9.4% v -8.4% prior].

- Tue BOJ rate decision and RBA Meeting Minutes.

- Wed Japan Balance of Trade.

- Thu night US GDP.

- Fri Japan inflation.

- Fri night US PCE.

Holidays in Asia this week

- Fri Dec 22 New Zealand Xmas, early close at 12:45pm local time.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opens -0.1 % at 7,436.

- Adbri (ABC.AU) Receives A$3.20/shr offer with implied EV of $1.4B (A$2.1B) from Barro Group and CRH UK.

- Link Administration (LNK.AU) Enters into a scheme implementation deed with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation at A$2.10/share in cash; the equal value is A$1.2B, EV is A$2.1B.

- Pacific Smiles (PSQ.AU) Receives unsolicited, non-binding takeover proposal from Genesis Capital at A$1.40/shr in cash for EV A$223.4M ($150M).

- Australia Trade Min Farrell is confident China wine tariffs could end in early 2024 - US financial press [update].

- New Zealand Q4 Consumer Confidence: 88.9 v 80.2 prior (highest in 2 years).

- New Zealand Nov Performance of Services Index: 51.2 v 48.9 prior [moves back into expansion].

- New Zealand Nov Non-Resident Bond Holdings: 60.5% v 61.3% prior.

- New Zealand Nov Heavy Truckometer M/M: +1.0% v +0.6% prior.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opens -0.7% at 16,669.

- Shanghai Composite opens -0.2% at 2,936.

- Next Digital (282.HK) British Foreign Minister calls for Hong Kong to release founder Jimmy Lai ahead of the trial.

- China State Media (Central Finance Office): In 2024 the domestic economy faces more opportunities than challenges; favorable conditions are stronger than unfavorable factors.

- China to extend FX trading hours end from 11:30PM to 03:00AM next day; effective from Dec 18th.

- Trades lower after Alibaba subsidiary Taobao China filed to sell 25M XPeng ADS - filing (weekend update).

- China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0933 v 7.0957 prior [strongest fix since Jun 5th].

- China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY184B in 7-day reverse repos; Sells CNY60B in 14-day reverse repos.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opens -0.6% at 32,769.

- USD/JPY Dollar/Yen implied volatility jumps to 33.2%, highest since July 27th (>36.2%); Ahead of BOJ policy decision tomorrow.

- Bank of Japan (BOJ) announcement related to daily outright bond buying operation: (leaves amounts unchanged again).

South Korea

- Kospi opens +0.2% at 2,597.

- Bank of Korea (BOK) sells 3-month Monetary Stabilization Bonds: Yield: 3.500% v 3.540% prior.

Other Asia

- Singapore Nov Non-oil Domestic Exports M/M: +0.3% v -0.1%e; Y/Y: 1.0% v 1.5%e.

North America

- Anheuser-Busch (ABI.BE) Teamsters vote to authorize 5,000 member nationwide strike across Co's 12 US breweries if Anheuser-Busch fails to reach agreement.

- Apple (AAPL) China iPhone ban has intensified across the govt and state run firms.

Europe

- Hungary Foreign Ministry says it will veto Bulgaria's entry into the Schengen area unless it removes a transit tax on Russian gas.

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225 -0.6%; ASX 200 -0.2%; Hang Seng -0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi flat.

- Equity S&P500 Futures +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%; Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.1%.

- EUR 1.0892-1.0915; JPY 142.07-142.46; AUD 0.6693-0.6720; NZD 0.6191-0.6243.

- Gold flat at $2,035/oz; Crude Oil +0.4% at $72.07/brl; Copper +0.1% at $3.8862/lb.