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RBI Minutes More Hawkish Than Expected

ASIA RATES
  • INDIA: Yields higher as markets assess the latest set of RBI minutes which had a more hawkish than expected tilt. On Friday the RBI sold INR 260bn of bonds at auction, though yields were above cut offs which indicated weak bidding and put pressure on the space through the rest of the session on Friday. Markets await the RBI's conversion operation today, the Bank will convert a total of INR 100bn from five bonds maturing in 2022 and 2023 into securities due 2031 and 2035. Elsewhere Indian PM Modi said that the government will lay out a plan today to raise funds from the sale of state infrastructure assets over a four year period in order to help minimize the budget deficit.
  • SOUTH KOREA: Futures lower in South Korea, following the move lower in US tsys on Friday as risk sentiment rebounded. There were reports earlier that the budget increase for 2022 could be bigger than expected at around 8%, previously thought o be around 6. Details will be finalized later this week after meetings between officials but it is thought that the budget will be KRW 600tn in 2022 from KRW 558tn in 2021. The increased spending will be to address to resurgence in coronavirus and subsequent drop in activity. Elsewhere there were reports on Friday that South Korea plans to buy a total of KRW 2tn in government bonds between August 25 and 31 August in a bid to pay off part of its national debt. The planned bond buyback will be the largest size among debt repayments carried out with extra budgets. The finance ministry said the purchase will lower the debt/GDP ratio by 1ppt to 47.2%.
  • CHINA: Futures slightly lower in China, pressured as equity markets rise amid positive risk sentiment. On the coronavirus front China reported no new cases for the first time in over a month. China stepped up testing to isolate breakouts and utilized sweeping quarantines to isolate infections. The PBOC matched maturities with injections at its OMO's, repo rates rose but stayed within recent ranges. The overnight and the 7-day repo rate did invert with the overnight rate up some 12bps to 2.1833%.
  • INDONESIA: Yields mixed in Indonesia, yields in the belly lower while the wings move higher. The economic docket is empty this week, markets looks ahead to CPI data next week, a central bank survey seeks M/M CPI rising 0.04%. Elsewhere data showed that global funds bought a net $40.8m of Indonesian bonds on Aug. 19

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