Most Asia markets ease; Biden-Xi talks awaited

HSBC says Indian government bonds have seen a pick up in inflows in the past week as foreign demand improves.

IGB inflows have risen steadily, according to HSBC, since their inclusion in JPMorgan’s widely followed emerging market bond index in late September.

Index-eligible India government securities have seen foreign inflows of about $1.5 billion, according to HSBC.

Index inclusion of IGBs will begin with a 1% weighting in June 2024, then gradually increase to the maximum 10% weighting by March 2025, and is expected to trigger approximately $20 billion to $22 billion worth of inflows from index tracking funds, according to HSBC.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics company Xiaomi claimed record sales across platforms during the Singles Day shopping festival.

From Oct. 23 to the end of day on Nov. 11, Xiaomi said it sold more than 22.4 billion yuan ($3.11 billion) worth of products on platforms such as Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo and Douyin.

Xiaomi shares traded more than 2% higher Monday morning in Hong Kong.

Alibaba and JD.com declined for a second-straight year to share total figures for the Singles Day shopping festival.

The electric vehicle market is expected to hit a milestone next year, according to HSBC.

Its global penetration rate could hit the “important 20% threshold” next year — “heralding entry to the mass market” for the first time, it said.

“This has major implications for battery makers,” the bank wrote in a Nov. 1 note.

It named buy-rated battery stocks.

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— Weizhen Tan

Japan’s wholesale inflation slowed sharply last month, in a sign that cost pressures were gradually cooling, according to data released by the Bank of Japan.

The central bank’s corporate goods price index rose 0.8% in October from a year earlier, a tad lower than a Reuters poll for a 0.9% increase.

The reading was below 1% for the first time since February 2021, and marked the 10th straight month of cooling wholesale inflation.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

A strong economy, growing population and booming stock market have put India on the map for many investors this year.

Now, as the Diwali festive season gets underway in the South Asian country, several sectors — and stocks — are expected to do well, according to Indian equity brokerage Kotak Securities.

“As the broader market valuations are rich, opportunities arising from [a] market correction can be used to add quality stocks (with attractive valuations) from a long-term investment perspective,” analysts from the brokerage firm wrote in a recent note.

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— Amala Balakrishner

Electric car batteries determine how affordable the vehicles are, and how far they can drive on a single charge.

One Chinese company has captured a significant share of that critical market.

It’s the biggest stock by market capitalization in the index of largest stocks traded on the Shenzhen exchange — bigger than even BYD’s local listing.

UBS analysts think the stock could more than double in price in the months ahead.

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Markets will likely remain unsteady as worry over economic growth persists, according to Barclays.

“Rates relief but angst about the strength of growth contribute to yet more rotation within the market,” analyst Venu Krishna wrote in a Friday note.

Krishna added that the firm remains positively rated on value equities due to their “favorable exposure to higher-for-longer yields.”

— Brian Evans

Oil settled slightly higher on Friday but is still down 4% for the week after a sell-off on concerns that the global economy is on the verge of a slowdown that will hit demand.

Brent crude contracts for January rose $1.42, or 1.77%, to settle at $81.43 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate gained $1.43, or 1.89%, to settle at $77.71 a barrel.

Oil sold off earlier in the week as traders grew confident that the Israel-Hamas war would not spread in the near term to disrupt supply. Instead, markets began to worry that troubling economic data out of Europe and China signaled a global slowdown is on the horizon.

But the very real risk of a broader Middle East war was emphasized Thursday when Iran’s foreign minister said the it was all but inevitable that the conflict would spread. OPEC+ could also decide to cut supply to support prices at the group’s next meeting scheduled for Nov. 26.

— Spencer Kimball

The end of winning streaks for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite amid hawkish Federal Reserve commentary and a bond auction has been a focus if investors this week. But Wolfe Research’s Rob Ginsberg said oil shouldn’t be overlooked.

“The truth is, the action beneath the surface has been deteriorating over the past few days, with the action in oil of particular concern,” he told clients on Thursday. “A fresh 1-month high would be a welcomed development, as each of the past two oversold rallies since the July peak have failed to signal this momentum confirmation and improvement of trend.”

It’s “starting to feel like déjà vu all over again,” Ginsberg added.

— Alex Harring