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…