Articles
16 October 2018

ASEAN Morning Bytes

General market tone: risk-off

The tension between the Middle East and the West begun to brew, sparking risk-off tone and knocking down stock markets and boosting oil prices.

International theme: World markets monitor developments on US and Saudi relations

  • Risk-off tone escalated overnight with brewing tension between the West and the Middle East. US data showed mixed trends with the print disappointing markets on the headline print but the so-called core retail sales bested market expectations.

EM Space: EM Asia will likely take their cue from Wall Street and China inflation numbers

  • General Asia: Asian markets will likely track the slide on Wall Street with global tensions driving sentiment. Traders will be awaiting China’s inflation data which could give a glimpse to the impact of recent trade developments on the economy.
  • Indonesia: Indonesia trade data showed the trade balance swing into the positive with imports growing at a much slower pace than expected. September figures showed imports grow 1.7% while imports missed forecast to expand only 14.18%, missing expectations for a 23.74% gains. Indonesia has moved to narrow the current account deficit via import compression and this could bode well for the IDR and limit the need for the central bank to hike aggressively.
  • Philippines: August overseas workers' remittances slipped by 0.9% YoY with a total of $2.476bn sent home by overseas Filipinos. This brings the year to date haul to $19.056 bn, up 2.5% from the same period in 2017 as OFW remittances continue to be a stable source of FX to the Philippines. As remittances and BPO call center receipts remain inadequate to cover ballooning trade deficit, we may see continued pressure on the local unit in the near term with the BSP remaining hawkish to contain inflation expectations.

What to look out for: China inflation and FOMC minutes

  • China CPI inflation (16 October)
  • FOMC minutes (18 October)
  • Fed Bullard (18 October)
  • Fed Kaplan (19 October)

Disclaimer

"THINK Outside" is a collection of specially commissioned content from third-party sources, such as economic think-tanks and academic institutions, that ING deems reliable and from non-research departments within ING. ING Bank N.V. ("ING") uses these sources to expand the range of opinions you can find on the THINK website. Some of these sources are not the property of or managed by ING, and therefore ING cannot always guarantee the correctness, completeness, actuality and quality of such sources, nor the availability at any given time of the data and information provided, and ING cannot accept any liability in this respect, insofar as this is permissible pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations.

This publication does not necessarily reflect the ING house view. This publication has been prepared solely for information purposes without regard to any particular user's investment objectives, financial situation, or means. The information in the publication is not an investment recommendation and it is not investment, legal or tax advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any financial instrument. Reasonable care has been taken to ensure that this publication is not untrue or misleading when published, but ING does not represent that it is accurate or complete. ING does not accept any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from any use of this publication. Unless otherwise stated, any views, forecasts, or estimates are solely those of the author(s), as of the date of the publication and are subject to change without notice.

The distribution of this publication may be restricted by law or regulation in different jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this publication comes should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions.

Copyright and database rights protection exists in this report and it may not be reproduced, distributed or published by any person for any purpose without the prior express consent of ING. All rights are reserved.

ING Bank N.V. is authorised by the Dutch Central Bank and supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB), the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). ING Bank N.V. is incorporated in the Netherlands (Trade Register no. 33031431 Amsterdam).