Australia’s ASX lower as RBA dials back QE
The UK announced plans to end COVID restrictions in total from July 19 – measures as social distancing and capacity limits at venues as well as mandatory face masks will be scrapped although the final decision will be made on July 12. The pound firmed following the news and was up 0.35% at 8AM UK time on Tuesday from opening levels; yield on 10Y UKTs was up as well, at 0.726% at the same time having closed firmer at 0.714% on Monday.
The euro area continued its gradual recovery in June with the composite PMI coming at 59.5 up from May’s 57.1. German data was not as rosy though with the composite PMI falling short of the expected 60.4 to record 60.1; this though was an improvement on May’s 56.2. Factory orders in the euro area’s largest economy also fell 3.7% month-on-month in May having been expected to grow 1.0%. The euro closed flat at $1.1864 while yield on 10Y DBRs closed higher at -0.210%.
The ASX shed 0.73% following the RBA’s decision to dial down monetary stimulus. While the central bank held the benchmark rate, it scaled back its QE programme from AUD5 billion a week to AUD4 billion with another review in mid-November. The HANG SENG and the CSI were lower as well, closing -0.30% and -0.05% respectively. The NIKKEI was firmer however at 0.16%.
Brent crossed the $77 mark on Monday and was careening towards $78 early Tuesday as the UAE dug in its heels on demands for the latest OPEC+ deal. A follow-up meeting on the deal on Monday was abandoned following no agreement having initially failed to agree on Thursday last week. The failure by the group to agree on production quotas could push inflationary pressures if production remains at current levels.
Ghana is set to issue an additional $2 billion in green bonds by November as part of its borrowing programme for the year. The issue will be a pioneer in the Sub-Saharan Africa space with Ghana also having debuted zero-coupon bonds in their issuance earlier this year. Fiscal deficit which topped 11% last year is expected to narrow to 9.5% of GDP this year with GDP also recovering to 5% from 2020’s 0.4%.