Japan travel stocks rise on easing of rules

Claudio Piron, co-head of Asian fixed income and foreign exchange at Bofa Securities, said the dollar was expected to see more gains against the yen as Japanese policymakers were “somewhat conflicted” about whether to intervene to defend their currency. upside.

While the dollar-yen exchange rate is approaching levels where Japanese officials have needed to act in the past, Piron said we are “not quite there yet”.

“Markets will continue to test and explore USD/JPY upside until policy makers take a stand,” he said.

——Charmaine Jacobs

Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Saudi Aramco had informed at least three North Asian refiners that they would receive their full contract volumes of crude in October.

Saudi Arabia lowered its official selling prices to Asian buyers this month, the first cut in four months.

Brent crude futures fell 1.50% to $91.45 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.60% to $85.40 a barrel.

——Li Yingshan

According to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, the U.S. Department of Commerce plans to issue new regulations to restrict the export of chip manufacturing equipment to Chinese factories that produce advanced semiconductors.

The rules would build on letters sent to KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials earlier this year, when they were told they would need a government-issued license to sell such equipment to buyers who make chips using processes below 14 nanometers.

The new rules could include additional actions against China, the sources told Reuters, adding that they could be revised and issued later than expected.

— Lee Ji Hye

Economists at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research downgraded the country’s growth outlook, citing persistently high inflation and interest rates.

They now expect gross domestic product to grow 2.5% in 2022-2023, down from a previous forecast of 2.9%.

GDP is now expected to grow by 1% in 2023-2024, down sharply from the previous forecast of 1.9% growth published in June, while the forecast for 2024-2025 was revised from 2.1% to 1.5%.

— Lee Ji Hye

National Australia Bank says unilateral government intervention in yen unlikely to be effective — It comes after officials said over the weekend that the government needs to take steps to address the excessive depreciation of the yen.

“If (the Bank of Japan) really wants to stop the yen from falling then they need to change their ultra-loose policy and the pressure is building,” he wrote in a note on Monday. National Australia Bank currency strategist

The yen was last at 142.55 per dollar.

— Abigail Wu

Oil futures fell as parts of China extended coronavirus containment measures and the prospect of continued interest rate hikes globally.

“Oil consumption is particularly sensitive to the COVID-19 lockdown as transportation of oil, its main use, is severely restricted,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar wrote in a note, adding that China accounted for as much as 16 percent of global oil demand last year. %.

——Li Yingshan