Asia-Pacific markets trade lower; China’s trade data in August misses

Pakistan is facing the worst consequences of the climate crisis thanks in part to the actions of the developed world, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said, as the country battles the worst floods in its history.

Ismail joins a chorus of proponents from the flood-swept country in saying that despite its small carbon footprint it has suffered the brunt of climate change.

“Pakistan is one of the worst-affected countries by climate change. We have, as you know, a very, very small carbon footprint, we don’t really produce carbon dioxide and other harmful gases,” Ismail told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday. 

— Su-Lin Tan

The Japanese yen could weaken even further, director of Monex Group Jesper Koll told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”

“I think the parabolic overshoot is still on track, so I expect we’re going to see 150, 160 at some point over the next couple of months,” Koll said, pointing to the country’s trade and current account in deficit as “powerful drivers that will drive the yen weaker.”

Japan’s trade deficit deepened in July, fueled by a record amount in imports outweighing exports, official data showed last month.

–Jihye Lee, Charmaine Jacob

A “moderate amount of controls” from the U.S. government on exports to China are likely to incentivize China rather than hurt the market, Goldman Sachs’ chief China economist Hui Shan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

Pointing toward weaker import data as the driver of the nation’s consistent trade surplus, she said the latest regulations from the U.S. ordering Nvidia to restrict chip sales to China could work instead as an incentive.

“In some sense, it is going to incentivize China to produce more domestically, so the production aspect of it, especially the trade surplus aspect of it, could get a boost,” she said.

She added that Chinese officials are “downplaying” its GDP growth target of 5.5% and no longer trying to defend the Chinese yuan from reaching 7.

“Seven is just a number,” she said, “If you just look at the surface, it doesn’t look that flattering, but I think the policymakers are delivering a message where they’re trying to be pragmatic.”

–Jihye Lee

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said in an interview with the Financial Times he has a bias toward “moving more quickly” rather than slowly.

“I have a bias in general towards moving more quickly, rather than more slowly, as long as you don’t inadvertently break something along the way,” he told the newspaper, adding policymakers are likely to continue hiking rates until they are “convinced” that inflation is under control.

“The destination is real rates in positive territory and my intent would be to maintain them there until such time as we really are convinced that we put inflation to bed,” he said to the FT.

The probability of a 75-basis-point hike at September’s FOMC meeting rose to 74.0% as of early Wednesday morning U.S. time, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. The chance for a 50-basis-point hike now stands at 26%, FedWatch showed.

–Jihye Lee

The Japanese yen weakened further to 144.35, the weakest since mid-1998 – as the U.S. dollar index strengthened, hitting a fresh 24-year peak against the Japanese currency.

The offshore Chinese yuan also weakened to 6.99, inching closer to the 7 mark, following weaker-than-expected trade data.

South Korea’s won also weakened, surpassing the 1,380-level for the first time in more than 13 years.

Nomura has cut its forecast for China’s full-year GDP to 2.7%, another downgrade from its previous 2.8% estimate set in August.

The new outlook is based on Nomura’s analysis that found 12% of China’s GDP is affected by Covid controls on a weighted basis, up from 5.3% last week.

Several cities including the tech hub of Shenzhen have tightened Covid controls in the last few weeks after reporting new local infections. Chengdu has also ordered people to stay home while authorities conduct mass virus testing.

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–Evelyn Cheng

China’s exports rose 7.1% in August compared with the same period a year ago, official data showed, missing estimates of 12.8% after rising 18% in July.

Imports ticked up 0.3%, less than the 1.1% gain forecast in a Reuters poll and 2.3% increase in July.

The country saw a trade surplus of $79.39 billion in August driven by weaker import numbers, after it saw a record $101.26 billion in trade surplus in July.

–Jihye Lee

Oil prices fell on Wednesday following more Covid curbs in China…