Dollar steadies vs rivals, China money rates, Fed in focus

Kontak Perkasa - Reuters (28/10) - The dollar licked its wounds in early Asian trading on Monday, steadying against major counterparts ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting following a testing week which saw it tumble to two-year lows against the euro. Economists and market participants widely expect Federal Open Market Committee members to hold steady on purchasing $85 billion of assets next month when they meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most expect the central bank to delay tapering its stimulus to at least March next year. Investors will also keep a wary eye on Chinese short-term rates, after they surged last week to their highest level since the June credit crunch. The euro was nearly flat at $1.3805, after rising as high as $1.3832 on Friday, its highest since November 2011, according to Reuters data. The euro remained buoyant despite downbeat German Ifo business sentiment data on Friday, which unexpectedly showed a decline for the first time in six months. Currency speculators reduced their dollar bets to the lowest level since February in the week ended October 1, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was slightly higher at 79.216, but still not far from a near nine-month low of 78.998 touched on Friday. The dollar added about 0.2 percent against the yen to 97.55 yen, edging away from a more than two-week low of 96.92 yen hit on Friday. The dollar remained supported against the yen on the view that the yield differential between Japanese government bonds and U.S. Treasuries will persist, as the Fed eventually moves toward tapering its stimulus while the Bank of Japan maintains its ultra-easy stance. The BOJ is widely expected to maintain its monetary policy stimulus at its meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, to meet its target of two percent inflation in two years. The BOJ will also release its latest long-term economic forecasts on Thursday. Sources close to the central bank have told Reuters that it is expected to revise up economic growth for the fiscal year beginning in April 2014 to around 1.5 percent from the current 1.3 percent. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/28/us-markets-forex-idUSBRE99N0KR20131028

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:12 AM

Indeks manufaktur CHina sentuh 7-bulan tertinggi: HSBC

Kontak Perkasa - AFP , (24/10) - Aktivitas manufaktur China tumbuh pada laju tercepat dalam tujuh bulan terakhir pada bulan Oktober, menurut raksasa perbankan Inggris, HSBC pada Kamis pagi. Ini menambah bukti bahwa ekonomi terbesar kedua di dunia tersebut sudah mulai pulih.

Indeks pembelian manajer awal (PMI) HSBC untuk bulan ini sentuh 50,9, peningkatan yang signifikan dari bulan September di level 50,2 dan tertinggi sejak 51,6 pada bulan Maret lalu.

Indeks tersebut melacak jejak aktivitas manufaktur di pabrik-pabrik China dan lokakarya, merupakan indikator yang diawasi dengan ketat untuk melihat kondisi kesehatan ekonomi. Angka di atas 50 menunjukkan pertumbuhan, sementara dibawah angkat tersebut memberi sinyal kontraksi.

Kinerja yang kuat pada bulan Oktober muncul karena 'perbaikan sederhana yang berbasis luas' pada perekonomian China, kata Qu Hongbin, ekonom HSBC di Hong Kong dalam sebuah pernyataan yang menyertai data tersebut pagi ini.

'Momentum ini kemungkinan akan berlanjut dalam beberapa bulan mendatang, menciptakan kondisi yang menguntungkan untuk mempercepat reformasi struktural,' katanya.

Angka pembacaan PMI bulan Oktober PMI dapat membantu meringankan kekhawatiran pasar atas keberlanjutan pemulihan China.

Pertumbuhan ekonomi pada bulan Juli - September sentuh 7,8 persen per tahun, mematahkan perlambatan ekspansi di dua kuartal sebelumnya, menurut data resmi yang dirilis minggu lalu.

Itu terutama akibat dari stimulus pemerintah sejak akhir Juni untuk meningkatkan investasi aset tetap perkotaan dan jalur kereta api, pemotongan pajak dan kebijakan moneter yang lebih longgar, kata para analis.

Tapi kenaikan inflasi negara itu dan likuiditas pasar yang berlebihan membatasi ruang untuk melonggarkan moneter lebih lanjut, sementara melonjaknya utang pemerintah lokal dan memperlambat pertumbuhan pendapatan fiskal membatasi ruang lingkup untuk memberikan insentif tambahan, kata mereka.

HSBC dijadwalkan untuk mengumumkan angka PMI akhir untuk Oktober pada tanggal 1 November mendatang.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:28 AM

Saham HK Perpanjang Penurunan Terbesar Dalam Tiga Minggu Pada Properti

Kontak Perkasa - Bloomberg (24/10) - Saham-saham Hong Kong jatuh, dengan indeks patokan memperluas kerugian terbesar dalam tiga minggu terakhir, karena pengembang menurun. Investor menunggu data awal manufaktur China untuk September yang akan dirilis pagi ini.

Indeks Hang Seng turun sebanyak 0,8 persen menjadi 22,825,00 pada pukul 9:34 pagi di Hong Kong, dengan semua kecuali empat saham pada indeks 50 – anggota yang turun. Indeks Hang Seng China Enterprises, juga dikenal sebagai indeks H - shares, kehilangan sebanyak 1,2 persen menjadi 10,332.41.

Indeks Hang Seng naik sebanyak 16 persen dari terendah tahun ini di bulan Juni hingga kemarin di tengah tanda-tanda ekonomi China yang mulai stabil. Patokan ekuitas diperdagangkan pada 11 kali estimasi laba kemarin, dibandingkan dengan 15,8 untuk Standard & Poor 500.

Indeks S & P 500 naik sebanyak 0,1 persen. Pengukur ekuitas A.S turun sebanyak 0,5 persen kemarin karena valuasi mencapai hampir empat tahun tertinggi dan prakiraan di perusahaan-perusahaan dari Caterpillar Inc. sampai Broadcom Corp. mengecewakan investor.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:18 AM

Indeks Saham Berjangka China Jatuh Sebelum Laporan Manufaktur

Kontak Perkasa - Bloomberg (24/10) - Indeks saham berjangka China turun sebelum rilis data indeks manufaktur awal.

Kontrak pada Indeks CSI 300 berakhir pada bulan November turun sebanyak 0,3 persen menjadi 2,412.40 pada pukul 09:16 pagi. China Merchants Property Development Co. kemungkinan menurun setelah laba kuartal ketiga turun sebanyak 12 persen dari tahun sebelumnya. Huaxia Bank Co. mungkin aktif setelah menandatangani perjanjian untuk menyediakan jasa keuangan di Shanghai Free- Trade Zone. Chongqing Brewery Co. dapat naik setelah melaporkan peningkatan sebanyak 24 persen laba sembilan bulan.

Indeks Shanghai Composite turun sebanyak 1,3 persen menjadi 2,183.11 kemarin, setelah tingkat pasar uang melonjak dan sebagai indeks perusahaan kecil jatuh pada valuasi kekhawatiran yang berlebihan. People Bank of China tidak akan melakukan operasi pembelian kembali atau sebaliknya pada hari ini, menurut seorang pedagang di sebuah dealer utama yang dibutuhkan untuk tawaran pada lelang.

Indeks CSI 300 turun sebanyak 1,1 persen menjadi 2,418.49 kemarin. Indeks Hang Seng China Enterprises melemah 1,8 persen. Indeks ekuitas Bloomberg China-AS turun sebanyak 3 persen di New York.

HSBC Holdings Plc. dan Markit Economics akan merilis indeks manufaktur awal untuk bulan ini pada pukul 09:45 pagi. Pengukuran kemungkinan naik menjadi 50,4 dari 50,2 pada bulan September, menurut estimasi rata-rata dari 16 ekonom dalam survei Bloomberg. Jumlah 50 memisahkan ekspansi dan kontraksi.

Presiden Xi Jinping kemarin mengatakan bahwa pertumbuhan ekonomi Negara dan indikator kunci lainnya berada dalam target, China Central Television melaporkan. China akan membahas pendalaman reformasi pada sidang pleno ketiga, dikutip oleh stasiun CCTV.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:09 AM

China’s Stock-Index Futures Rise After Ping An Bank Profit, ZTE

Kontak Perkkasa - Bloomberg (23/10) -- China’s stock-index futures rose after Ping An Bank Co. posted a jump in net income and ZTE Corp. estimated a return to profit for the year. Futures on the CSI 300 Index expiring in November added 0.4 percent to 2,452.20 as of 9:19 a.m. ZTE may gain after reporting a third-quarter profit of 241.6 million yuan. Ping An Bank may advance after net income climbed 20 percent in the third quarter. Poly Real Estate Group Co. may lead declines for developers after the China Securities Journal reported the government may issue new property curbs in the fourth quarter. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8 percent to 2,210.65 yesterday. The CSI 300 Index slid 1 percent to 2,445.89. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index retreated 0.1 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index fell 0.1 percent. China’s listed companies are required to release third-quarter earnings by the end of the month. The nation’s biggest banks tripled the amount of bad loans written off in the first half, cleaning up their books ahead of what may be a fresh wave of defaults. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s most profitable lender, and its four largest rivals expunged in the first six months 22.1 billion yuan ($3.65 billion) of debt that couldn’t be collected, up from 7.65 billion yuan a year earlier, filings showed. That didn’t pare first-half profits, which climbed to a record $76 billion, as provisions were set aside in earlier periods when the loans began souring.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 10:34 AM

Gold Trades Near Three-Week High as Fed May Maintain Bond Buying

Kontak Perkasa - Bloomberg, (23/10) -- Gold traded near the highest level in more than three weeks on speculation that the Federal Reserve may delay stimulus cuts until next year after U.S. payrolls gained less than projected. Bullion for immediate delivery was at $1,340.10 an ounce at 7:57 a.m. in Singapore from $1,340.15. Prices touched $1,344.85 yesterday, the highest since Sept. 30. Gold for December delivery dropped 0.2 percent to $1,340 on the Comex. Gold is set for the first annual drop since 2000 as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value and on expectation the Fed will slow its $85 billion monthly bond purchases as the economy improves. U.S. employers added 148,000 workers in September from a revised 193,000 gain in August, the Labor Department said yesterday. The median of forecasts by 93 economists in a Bloomberg survey was an increase of 180,000. “As soon as we see data that suggests that things aren’t traveling well, it immediately puts investors’ thoughts back to quantitative easing,” said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. “The market is probably fairly comfortable with the fact that there’s not going to be a tapering of QE for the foreseeable future.” Policy makers will delay cutting bond buying until March, according to the median estimate of 40 economists in an Oct. 17-18 Bloomberg survey. Gold rose 70 percent from December 2008 to June 2011 as the Fed pumped more than $2 trillion into the financial system to boost the economy. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest bullion-backed exchange-traded product, expanded 0.8 percent to 878.32 metric tons yesterday, the first increase since Sept. 19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 9:17 AM

Dollar Near Almost 2-Year Low Versus Euro on Fed Stimulus Bets

Kontak Perkasa - Bloomberg (23/10) -- The dollar held near an almost two-year low against the euro before U.S data that may add to the case for the Federal Reserve to maintain stimulus for longer. The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index dropped to the weakest in eight months yesterday after a Labor Department report showed employers added fewer jobs than economists estimated. The Aussie dollar rose to a four-month high after data released in Sydney showed that inflation quickened in the third quarter. The euro held near the strongest since 2009 versus the yen before data today that may show the trading bloc’s consumer confidence rose to the highest since July 2011. The dollar was unchanged at $1.3781 per euro as of 10:12 a.m. in Tokyo from yesterday, when it touched $1.3792, the weakest level since November 2011. The greenback slid 0.1 percent to 98.07 yen. The euro fetched 135.15 yen from 135.25 yesterday, when it reached 135.51, the highest since November 2009. Bloomberg’s U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against 10 major currencies, was at 999.01 from 999.46 yesterday, the lowest close since Feb. 13. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks rose 0.3 percent, following a 0.7 percent climb in the MSCI World Index yesterday.

Written by: Kontak Perkasa Futures

PT.Kontak Perkasa Futures, Updated at: 9:10 AM