Hong Kong stocks lead losses in Asia on unrest in China, oil at 2022 low

Indian stocks hit new highs in Monday’s session.

The Nifty 50 Index, the flagship index of the National Stock Exchange of India, reached 18,611.05, surpassing the previous intraday high of 18,604.45 seen on October 19, 2021.

The Sensex reached 62,690.39 during the morning session in India, also surpassing previous record highs of 62,447.73 seen on November 25 this year.

The European Union’s proposed cap on the price of Russian oil is unlikely to be lowered due to dissent from Poland and the Baltic states, according to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Both countries opposed the claims of the proposal, saying the current proposal is too generous and too close to the current price Russia is getting in the market.

Vivek Dhar, director of mining and energy products research at the ABC, questioned whether it might reflect opposition from the more hawkish EU member states.

“Now we know that Poland and the Baltic states strongly disagree on the level of this price cap. But realistically, are we going to see this price go down because of their disagreement?” he said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”

Price cap talks were postponed until later in the day after talks on Friday failed to reach a conclusion.

— Lee Ying Shan

It’s “not at all” easy to move production of Apple’s latest iPhone Pros away from the Zhengzhou factory where a worker revolt against China’s zero-Covid policy has hurt supply chains, said Martin Yang, senior emerging technology analyst at investment firm Oppenheimer at CNBC. “Traffic Signs Asia.”

“iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max remain exclusively produced in Zhengzhou,” he said, while noting that some of the production of low-end phones such as the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 was transferred to factories in Shenzhen China and India.

“That suggests to me that high-end iPhones have a different set of production processes, which isn’t very easy to transfer elsewhere. And that often refers to highly customized equipment and a trained workforce that are not readily available elsewhere,” Yang said.

However, he said he was “very confident” that customers would not switch to competitor Samsung due to Apple’s “competitive advantage”.

The perceived value of iPhones over Android phones has increased because Apple is able to secure high-end parts for less while everyone else is squeezed for margins, he said.

—Sheila Chiang

Casetify, headquartered in Hong Kong, is now “close to a billion” in valuation, its co-founder and CEO Wesley Ng told CNBC Make It.

This is after its first fundraising in 2021 after 10 years in business – where the tech accessories company reportedly raked in “eight figures” from C Capital.

With global inflation and economic headwinds looming, Ng said Casetify was “lucky” it wasn’t heavily funded by venture capital, otherwise it would have set the company on “unrealistic targets”.

“We haven’t invested too much in things in exchange for unnecessary growth. So very fortunately we are in good health but we remain very cautious.”

Learn more about Ng’s multi-million dollar business and business advice here.

—Goh Chiew Tong

China is expected to reopen around April next year after the National People’s Congress is held, but authorities may reopen sooner due to difficulties in controlling Covid cases, according to Goldman Sachs.

China’s chief economist, Hui Shan, said there was a 60% chance of the first scenario occurring.

“There is also a 30% chance of reopening sooner precisely because of the difficulty in keeping Covid under control, and the lack of medical preparedness suggests this could be quite a complicated process,” she said.

“The medical preparation is not yet ready, when the virus has evolved so much [that] it becomes very costly to continue to implement this dynamic zero Covid policy,” she said.

She said policymakers must weigh the costs and benefits of strict Covid restrictions as protests take place across the country.

“It’s not something they had experienced before [or] had a lot of experience dealing with previous cycles,” she said.

—Su-Lin Tan

U.S. crude futures and Brent crude futures fell more than 2% each in morning trading in Asia as fears over weakening Chinese demand surfaced.

West Texas Intermediate Futures fell as low as $73.86 a barrel, the lowest levels since December 2021, while Brent futures slipped to $81.16 a barrel at the session low so far.

WTI was last down 2.58% at $74.31 a barrel, while Brent crude last traded down 2.37% at $81.65 a barrel.

—Abigail from

Chinese household confidence will revive once China reopens, thanks to excess savings and pent-up demand, said Helen Qiao, BofA Securities’ chief economist for Greater China.

“We’ve seen cumulative household savings year-to-date at the end of October reach around 5 trillion renminbi, compared to a normal year, only around 2 trillion,” she told Reuters. CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia”.

“People are reducing their loans but actually increasing their household deposits because they have nowhere to spend,” she said.

—Su-Lin Tan

According to Economist Corporate Network, China’s latest move to cut the reserve requirement rate for banks by 25 basis points won’t matter much to its economy without a sweeping change to its tough Covid restrictions.

“Consumer and investor sentiment have been so damaged by these policies that you won’t see any meaningful recovery until there is change,” Mattie Bekink, the organization’s China director, said on “Squawk Box Asia” from CNBC. “

Bekink highlighted how sensitive investor sentiment has already affected markets.

“We’ve already seen the markets move quite significantly on rumors that Beijing is going to relax – that was just a few weeks ago,” she said.

“The lockdowns seem to be endless and relentless,” Bekink said.

—Jihye Lee

According to Standard Chartered, global currencies are also at risk of weakening with the offshore Chinese yuan amid unrest in China over its zero-Covid policies due to how supply chains may be affected.

“The key question for how the world reacts is how the Chinese supply chain reacts,” Standard Chartered Bank chief executive Steven Englander told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

“If it’s even more disrupted, I think it’s a risky thing,” he said. “Not just CNH, but other currencies will be at risk.”

Englander added that traders may seek to reduce their exposure to additional risk.

—Jihye Lee

Shares of mass-market retailers will fall as profit margins shrink and consumers cut spending next year, according to Plurimi Wealth’s chief investment officer.

Patrick Armstrong told CNBC’s Pro Talks he was betting against a Japanese retailer, multinational clothing company and Canadian e-commerce platform by shorting their shares.

Armstrong thinks consumers will hold back spending next year due to rising interest rates and household bills.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

—Ganesh Rao

Crude oil futures fell early in Asia as high Covid cases, virus restrictions and unrest in China raise demand fears from the world’s second-largest oil consumer.

West Texas Intermediate Futures lost 0.35% to $76.01 a barrel, while Brent futures lost 0.26% to $83.41 a barrel.

Oil prices saw steep declines last week as “increased lockdowns in China raised demand concerns,” Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes of ANZ Research wrote in a Monday note.

“It remains a headwind for oil demand,” they said, adding that the impact of rising Covid cases was also reflected in China’s mobility data.

—Abigail from

According to Brian Arcese of Foord Asset Management, a Big Tech stock is at an “attractive” price to buy right now.

Arcese, a portfolio manager at the firm, expects growth in the “mid-teens” despite cyclical headwinds in his industry.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

—Weizhen Tan

The offshore Chinese yuan weakened sharply against the US dollar amid negative sentiment over unrest in China over Covid restrictions.

The currency weakened about 0.8% against the US dollar to 7.2529 in morning trading from Asia.

The dollar index rose 0.32% to 106.29 as investors likely view the greenback as a safe-haven asset as concerns over China grow.

—Jihye Lee