Disappointing trade data seemed to have less impact than expected as Shanghai Composite ended the day 3% up, the Shenzhen Composite closed with a 4% gain, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 3.6% following a last hour buying spree. If anything this is a sign volatility is going nowhere as investors wonder whether the equity bubble has yet to fully deflate.
Markets across Asia ended in positive territory – only South Korea’s Seoul Composite and Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended in the red. The Nikkei took the biggest pummeling, ending 2.43% down after a day of more disappointing figures: its economy shrank an annualized 1.2% in the second quarter despite ongoing government and central bank measures to support growth.
Meanwhile, the broader global outlook is still grim with oil prices remained weak today as cooperation between oil producing countries to curb oversupply looking unlikely. Oil prices have fallen almost 60% since June last year.
Here is what else to need to know…
Chinese stock exchanges to bring in “circuit breakers” Mainland stock exchanges plan to install bourse-wide “circuit breakers” to stop panic selling after botched official efforts to stop plunges in the volatile A-share market. Under the new plan, Shanghai and Shenzhen will halt trading for 30 minutes when the CSI300 index jumps or slumps 5% in intraday trading. They will stop for the day if it soars or dives by 7%. SCMP (paywall)
Koreas agree on family reunions.North and South Korea have agreed to hold rare reunions for families separated by the Korean War.The meetings will take place in October at a mountain resort in North Korea.The decision follows an agreement last month that de-escalated tensions sparked by a border mine explosion that injured two South Korean soldiers. BBC
MBK-led consortium clinches South Korea Tesco deal. UK supermarket giant Tesco says it has agreed to sell its South Korea business – Homeplus – for $6.1 billion in cash, the latest in a series of pullbacks by the chain. Tesco will get $5.1 billion after adjusting for tax and other costs. WSJ
China foreign exchanges fall by $97b. The August drop came as the country’s central bank sold down some of its massive stockpile to support the renminbi. It is the sharpest monthly fall in reserves on record, while in percentage terms it represented the biggest decline in more than three years. Reserves fell 2.6% in August to $3.557 trillion. Financial Times (paywall)
Amanda Knox acquitted of Italy murder. American Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been acquitted of 2007 murder of the British student Meredith Kercher, following a botched investigation. Guardian
Japan PM Abe secures new term as ruling party chief. Shinzo Abe has won a second consecutive term as president of the ruling Liberal Democrats’ Party (LDP). He ran unopposed after no other candidates managed to gain enough support from within the party to run. BBC
Mining giant cuts debt by $10b, issues $2.5b stock. Glencore has announced plans to slash its $30 billion debt by shelving dividends, selling assets and raising fresh equity, as the mining and metals behemoth wrestles with a slump in commodities that has battered its share price. The debt plan underscores the huge pain being inflicted on the mining sector by China’s economic slowdown. Financial Times (paywall)
Migrant boat tragedy in Indonesia. Echoing the recent troubles in Europe, 61 bodies have been recovered after an overloaded wooden boat sank off coast of Malaysia carrying dozens of Indonesian immigrants. This follows another crisis in May when boats carrying thousands from Myanmar and Bangladesh were left at sea following a Thai crackdown. ABC
Turkey vows to wipe out PKK rebels. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has pledged to “wipe out” Kurdish PKK rebels in their strongholds after a deadly bomb attack on the Turkish army killed 16 soldiers on Sunday. PKK is fighting a war on two fronts with the Turkey and Islamic State. BBC
You won’t believe this…
Glow-in-the-dark chicks shed light on avian flu. British scientists say they have genetically modified glow-in-the-dark chickens in a bid to block bird flu. Early experiments show promise for fighting off the disease that has devastated the US poultry and egg industries. Reuters.
Watch where you step, snake bite antidote running out! The world is running out of one of the most effective snakebite treatments, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk, warn experts. Medicins Sans Frontieres says new stocks of Fav-Afrique, which neutralises 10 different snakebites that can occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, are desperately needed. BBC
Photo: Peat Bakke