Asian Stocks Talking Points:
- Brewing giant Anheuser Busch floated its Asia Pacific businesses at the second attempt
- This was probably welcome news for HK which saw Alibaba pull an IPO in the face of last month’s protests
- Hopes that US-China trade talks remain on track added to the general cheer
Find out what retail foreign exchange investors make of your favorite currency’s chances right now at the DailyFX Sentiment Page
Wracked by violent, sustained street protest only weeks ago, Hong Kong showed it remains a financial force to be reckoned with on Tuesday by hosting the second-largest Initial Public Offering seen anywhere in the world this year.
The world’s biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (AB InBev) reportedly raised about US$5 billion for its Asia Pacific business, albeit at a share price towards the bottom of its indicated range of HK$27-30. The result means that only Uber Technologies’ May float will have been above AB in the IPO league table of 2019.
The news will be welcome for Hong Kong’s financial authorities. Online retail giant Alibaba delayed a Hong Kong listing potentially worth US$15 billion last month in the face of political unrest in the territory, and this is AB’s second attempt at floating its regional business. Budweiser APAC is due to start trading under stock code 1876 on September 30.
The Hang Seng overall was up 0.3%, with most Asian indexes also in the green by similarly modest amounts. Very cautious optimism prevails over US-China trade relations, which retain an undeniably warmer than constructive tone than they have boasted for much of this year. European economic data remain a worry, however, with German manufacturing activity now at its lowest level since the financial crisis according to data released Monday.
The ASX 200 returned most of its morning gains, despites strong performances from the major banks and gold miners, with the latter responding to a two-week high for the price of their product. European-focused businesses such as CYBG Plc struggled as the continent attracts more nervous glances.
The index has managed to top a previously important resistance zone which defined trade from mid-June to late July.
However, it is also testing the bottom of an uptrend channel which has previously held good since the lows of August. It may well be too early to say that the index has made a conclusive break above that resistance zone.
The US Dollar was broadly stronger as it appeared trade talks remain on track and the Euro wilted under broadening fears of recession in the Eurozone. US consumer confidence numbers are likely to top the day’s remaining economic bill. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe is due to speak too.
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
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