Live Updates — China Caixin PMI and Hong Kong trading halt

Reuters reported that five of China’s largest banks cut interest rates on yuan deposits. They include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, and the Agricultural Bank of China.

This comes on the same day that the People’s Bank of China announced that it would do so Reducing the percentage of foreign exchange reserve requirements for financial institutions by 200 basis points, effective September 15.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lowered the interest rate on yuan deposits for one year by 10 basis points to 1.55% and the two-year yuan deposit rate by 20 basis points to 1.85% with immediate effect. The three- and five-year deposit rates were cut by 25 basis points.

Reuters reported The Bank of China cut interest rates by the same amount as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, adding that the Agricultural Bank of China “made similar cuts”.

— Reuters, Lim Hui Ji

Factory activity in Japan contracted for the third straight month in August Special surveys conducted by au Jibun Bank.

The country’s manufacturing purchasing index came in at 49.6, slightly lower than the 49.7 in the preliminary estimate last week and unchanged from the July figure.

The bank said in a report: “Weak customer confidence and weak economic conditions affected new orders, although some companies reported that the launch of new products partially offset the decline.”

– Lim Hwi Ji

And the People’s Bank of China announced on Friday that starting from September 15, it will lower the foreign exchange reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions to 4%, from 6%.

This cut follows a number of cuts in various interest rates in the past few weeks in an effort to support the economy.

On Friday, the People’s Bank of China set the midpoint for the yuan against the US dollar at 7.1788, a level stronger than 7.1811 on Thursday, according to Wind Information.

The offshore yuan fell to more than 7.24 yuan per dollar, according to Wind.

— Evelyn Cheng

August has been an erratic month. September, a historically stormy month, may not be any better.

Professionals think about how investors will trade in the next month and share shares to buy.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen tan

Trading in Hong Kong was delayed as Typhoon Saola approached The Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Clearing Limited (HKEX) said..

The HKEx said in a statement, if the storm signal #8 or higher remains issued at 9 am Singapore/HK time, the morning trading sessions will be canceled for all markets.

As of 7.45 am, Hong Kong Observatory noted He added that Saola was approaching Hong Kong, and he expected “the weather to deteriorate rapidly later today.” Signal No. 8 is expected to remain in effect most of the day.

According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange GuidelinesTrading will be stopped if signal number 8 or above is triggered before the pre-opening and will remain in effect until 12 noon

– Lee Ying Shan

Dividend stocks aren’t evergreen, but investing in them over several years can pay off, according to one portfolio manager.

Their poor performance this year presents an opportunity, said Ben Kirby, who is also co-head of investments at Thornburg Investment Management.

He named five stocks to buy.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen tan

August was a tough time for tech stocks, with the Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 posting their worst months since December 2022.

For the month, the Nasdaq Composite fell about 2.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 ended down 1.6%.

The biggest laggards included software stocks Fortinet and Datadog, down 22.5% and 17.3% for the month, respectively. JD.com shares lost 19.6%, while Lucid Group and PayPal lost more than 17% each.

-Samantha Sobin