Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Global equities remained under pressure with stocks in Asia down for the sixth straight day on Thursday amid fragile investor confidence in the wake of turmoil in emerging markets and anxiety about a major escalation in the U.S.-China trade conflict.

    • GOLD
      
      Gold rose on Thursday for a second straight session as the dollar remained weak, making the metal cheaper for buyers in other currencies, also supported by good physical demand in Asia.
       
  • • OIL
      
      Oil prices fell on Thursday as emerging market woes weighed on sentiment, while a deadline neared for a potential new round of U.S. tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods.
       
    • DOLLAR
      
      The dollar sagged on Thursday as the pound led a bounce in European currencies, although skittish emerging market currencies and global trade concerns limited the greenback’s losses.
       
    • CRYPTOCURRENCY
      
      Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrency prices plunged on Thursday amid a report that Goldman Sachs is pulling back on plans to set up a crypto trading desk, as it still sees the regulatory environment as ambiguous.
         
    • NORTH KOREA
      
      North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he wants to denuclearise the Korean peninsula during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, as he agreed to hold a third summit with his South Korean counterpart this month in Pyongyang.
       
    • BRAZIL
      
      Brazil’s front-running far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro rallied supporters with a message of a clean break from the past consolidating his support among voters fed up with rampant corruption.

    • UK
      
      Sterling will make solid gains on the dollar in the coming year, but that climb is based on the assumption that Britain leaves the European Union next year with a deal.

    • US
       

      Novartis AG said it would sell the dermatology and generic U.S. oral solids portfolios of Sandoz U.S. to India’s Aurobindo Pharma Ltd for $900 million, as the Swiss drugmaker looks to focus on higher growth areas.

    • CHINA
       

      China’s finance ministry said interest income from loans by financial institutions to smaller firms will be exempt from value-added tax (VAT) from Sept. 1 until the end of 2020.

    • AUSTRALIA
      
      The manager of Investa Office Fund said Blackstone is prepared to hike its buyout offer by 3.2 percent to exceed one by Canada’s Oxford Properties Group, adding fuel to a bidding war for the office landlord.

    • INDIA
       

      The Reserve Bank of India is supporting the rupee from falling to 72 to the dollar mark, citing spurts of dollars sales at the 71.95 level likely by the central bank.
       
    • JAPAN
      
      Bank of Japan board member Goushi Kataoka criticised the central bank’s decision in July to make its policy framework more sustainable, arguing that it should have instead ramped up stimulus to hasten the achievement of its elusive price target.