Chinese shares fall after week-long break, PBOC raises interest rates
Asia shares gave up their earlier gains after a private Chinese manufacturing survey missed forecasts and China’s central bank surprised markets by raising its short-term lending rates.
China’s Shanghai composite fell 0.44 percent after initially opening flat, while the Shenzhen composite was down 0.3 percent. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.33 percent.
The People’s Bank of China surprised markets by hiking short-term interest rates, also known as reverse repurchase agreements (repos), by ten basis points to 2.35 percent.
“The central bank has abandoned the benchmark deposit rate and borrowing rate as the policy interest rate tool. This, however, does not mean the start of a tightening cycle,” said Iris Pang, senior economist of greater China at Natixis, in a Friday note.
Pang said that liquidity is still ample, but it comes at a higher cost, adding that if this were a tightening cycle, there would be a contraction in the money supply. She explained that the higher rates could be a move to promote deleveraging among companies.
“Since 2008, Beijing has quadrupled its total debt, and we can’t fully quantify shadow banking, corporate and local government debt. We expect this year to see an acceleration of deleveraging for the Chinese economy,” Gavin Parry, managing director of Parry International Trading, told CNBC late January.
China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for January slowed to 51.0 from December’s 47-month record high of 51.9, and missed a Reuters poll forecast of 51.2. The manufacturing PMI provides an overall view of activity in China’s manufacturing sector, and is a closely watched indicator of economic health.
The week-long holiday was not without controversy, with Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua abducted from Hong Kong’s Four Seasons hotel last week by Chinese agents. Xiao had reportedly helped China’s richest families and leaders move money around, the Financial Times reported.
Companies directly or indirectly controlled by the Xiao’s conglomerate Tomorrow Group saw their shares plummet amid uncertainty over his fate on Friday, Reuters said.
Down Under, the ASX 200 closed down 0.42 percent or 23.83 points to close at 5,621.6. The Australian benchmark was weighed by its energy sub-index, which slipped 1.2 percent, and the materials sub-index, which fell 2.2 percent.
Shares of Virgin Australia were down 4.65 percent on Friday. Tigerair Australia, a subsidiary of Virgin Australia Holdings, said would permanently quit flights to Bali, after Indonesian authorities switched to a new operating model, Reuters reported.
Last month, Indonesia had revoked Tigerair Australia’s permission to fly, saying it did not meet charter flight regulations. Qantas Airway stock was also in the red, down 1.52 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.03 percent after the Bank of Japan December meeting minutes showed that several policymakers said that they should not set a rigid range in trying to achieve its target of guiding its government bond yields to around zero percent.
Sony was surged up 5.19 percent, after it reported its third-quarter earnings on Thursday , which showed sales fell by 7 percent on-year and operating profits declined 54 percent, mostly on the back of a goodwill impairment in the pictures segment.
But Sony’s semiconductor unit exceeded expectations sharply, said Yu Okazaki, research analyst at Nomura, in a note on Thursday, pointing to the volume of sales for the image sensors for mobile devices at 80,000 units per month, up from 73,000 units per month as of July.
Murata Manufacturing shares were up 4.57 percent after the Nikkei Business Daily reported that it was in talks with Samsung Electronics to make batteries for the Galaxy S8 smartphone models.
In South Korea, the Kospi dipped 0.03 percent. Earlier, the Bank of Korea said the country’s seasonally-adjusted current account surplus in December rose to a 6-month high at $8.57 billion.
Shares of Samsung Electronics was off 0.1 percent. The South Korean electronics conglomerate received a warm welcome by President Trump over a possible new U. S. plant for Samsung’s home appliances .
Recent media reports have surfaced transcripts of Trump’s conversations with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, that had the U. S. leader warning he was ready to send U. S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them.
Trump’s conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last Saturday was equally worrisome. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Trump heavily criticized an Australian-U. S. refugee deal and told Turnbull that among all the conversations he had with political leaders that day, this one was ” the worst call by far. ”
Tensions are also brewing between the Trump administration and Iran, after National Security Adviser Michael Flynn put Iran “on notice” after it conducted a ballistic missile test this week.
And Trump subsequently tweeted that Iran should be more
U. S. major indexes were mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.03 percent to 19,884.91, S&P 500 up 0.06 percent at 2,280.85 and the Nasdaq slipping 0.11 percent to finish at 5,636.2.
It will be a busy day of economic data for the U. S., with January nonfarm payrolls, December factory orders and the ISM services index for January on tap. A Reuters poll expects 175,000 jobs added in January, with factory orders up 1 percent in December, and January ISM services index unchanged at 55.1.
In currency markets, the greenback fell to its lowest levels overnight since mid-November against a basket of currencies at 99.233, but recovered to trade at 99.916 on Friday. The Australian dollar fetched $0.7643, hitting above $0.76 on Thursday after it reported a record trade surplus in December. The dollar/yen was trading at 112.63, lower than last week’s levels above 114.
Meanwhile, sterling fell to $1.2517 after the Bank of England unanimously decided to keep benchmark rates unchanged and increased its annual growth forecast to 2 percent from its November estimate of 1.4 percent.
Crude oil futures were higher during Asian trade, after news that the U. S. could impose fresh sanctions on several Iranian entities, Reuters reported. U. S. crude was up 0.35 percent at $53.73 per barrel, while Brent crude was up 0.3 percent at $56.73.
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３日午前０時５分ごろ、東京都台東区雷門１丁目のビルの工事現場で、足場が崩れた。東京消防庁によると、作業員とみられる２０代の男性３人が巻き込まれたが、救助された。全員意識はあり、命に別条はないという。ビルは外壁工事中で、地上から約５メートルの高さにあった足場が崩れたという。現場は浅草駅から約４００メートルのビル街。 近くに住む女性（２０）は「ガシャンという大きな音で外に出たら、足場が崩れていた」。女性によると、工事は数日前から連日、夜間に行われており、崩れた足場付近で作業員らが「動くな」「大丈夫か」と大きな声で呼びかけていたという。「がれきの中から作業員風の人が酸素マスクをつけられて運ばれていた」と話していた。
Гаряча тема Ситуація в Авдіївці: бойовики штурмують українські позиції, б’ють з Градів і танків 
“На донецькому напрямку російсько-окупаційні війська вели вогонь по наших позиціях з РСЗВ БМ-21 Град у районі Авдіївки. Тут же протягом усього дня практично безперервно вогонь вели танки, міномети, гранатомети і стрілецька зброя. По Луганському і Пісках – міномети і БМП противника”, – йдеться в повідомленні.
広告最大手の電通の新社長に１月２３日に就いた山本敏博氏（５８）が２日までにインタビューに応じ、新入社員高橋まつりさん＝当時（２４）＝の過労自殺は「痛恨の極みだ」と述べ、過重労働を招いた業務の仕組みや意識の改革を「２年で完遂する」と強調した。具体策は３月３０日に開く株主総会後の４月にもまとめる方針だ。 具体策では「業務の手順や考え方など本質的な問題全てに手を打つ」と語った。これまでに実施した午後１０時消灯や６５０人の配置転換といった取り組みは「拙速と言われたとしても、法令や社員の健康を守るためにすぐやる必要があった」と説明した。
電通の山本敏博新社長は毎日新聞のインタビューに応じ、女性新入社員の過労自殺問題を受け、「労務改革を断行することが私の使命。２年間で改革を終わらせる」との決意を語った。電通はすでに深夜残業禁止（午後１０時消灯）などを実施しているが、今年４月をめどに２年後の目標を定めた改革の工程表を作成し、進捗（しんちょく）状況などをチェックしながら改革を進める考えを明らかにした。 
【2月3日 AFP】テリーザ・メイ（ Theresa May ）英政権は2日、昨年の国民投票で決定した英国の欧州連合（ EU ）離脱に向けた方針を示す「白書」を公表した。 
【2月3日 AFP】ドナルド・トランプ（ Donald Trump ）米大統領は2日、先週末にミサイル発射実験を実施したイランに対し警告を発するコメントをツイッター（ Twitter ）に投稿した。これに対しイラン政府は、事実無根で「挑発的」な声明だと一蹴。イランと米新政権との緊張の高まりが浮き彫りとなっている。 
デービスＥＵ離脱担当相は、双方を利する合意に向け最大限交渉に取り組む考えを表明した。 
Anybody using Uber in Houston during Super Bowl week can thank the big game for their ride. 
