Korean Won Declines As US/North Korea Summit Begins

Feb 27 19, 07:44 GMT

General Trend:

CME due to technical issues had to stop trading in all markets, issue later identified and resolved
Spot Silver spikes over 4% in Asian trading, later reverses gain
Banks outperform in China
Gainers in Japan include Real Estate companies, Fast Retailing
Financial and Energy companies rise in Australia
Australia Q4 construction work done data unexpectedly declined, Q4 GDP data due on March 6th (Wed)
Hong Kong GDP contracts in Q4, government pledges to launch support measures
Australia Q4 Capex data due for release on Thursday, along with China official Feb PMIs

Headlines/Economic Data

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.3%
4755.JP Japan FTC to investigate the rebate systems of Rakuten and Yahoo Japan – Japanese Press
9697.JP Game Resident Evil 2 has shipped 4M units globally
7267.JP Reports Jan Global Production 476.2K Units, +0.5% y/y
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Board Member Kataoka: longer monetary easing brings more side effects; disagrees with view that BOJ should persistently continue with easing to reach price goal
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Reiterates BoJ is buying ETFs to reduce risk premiums; BoJ is unlikely to hit price target by FY2020
(JP) Japan Finance Min Aso: Various research conducted on digital currency, but must think of effects from digital currency
7203.JP Reports Jan Global Production 759.8K units, +3.2% y/y

Korea

Kospi opens +0.2%
(KR) South Korea Mar Business Manufacturing Survey: 76 v 65 prior; Non-Manufacturing Survey: 75 v 70 prior
(KR) South Korea govt to invest KRW135.1B in developing technologies that can be applied to both military and civilian sectors – Yonhap
(KR) IMF to hold 2019 annual review with South Korea between Feb 27-March 12th
005935.KR Samsung Display says it sold 7M curved monitor panels in 2018, aims to increase sales to 10M units in 2019 (+30%)
(KR) South Korea Jan Department Store Sales y/y: 7.6% v -0.7% prior; Discount Store Sales y/y: 6.3% v -3.6% prior
(KR) South Korea Q4 Short Term External Debt: $126.6B v $127.7B prior

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opens +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opens -0.1%
(CN) China State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) official: Increased efforts to clear the overdue debts of centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to private companies – Xinhua
(HK) Hong Kong Q4 GDP Q/Q: -0.3% v +0.1% prior; Y/Y: 1.3% v 2.9% prior;Overall 2018 GDP Y/Y: 3.0% v 3.8% prior
(HK) Hong Kong Financial Sec Chan: domestic economy being impacted by external factors, to support economy with measures; planning to use HK$150B in new resources to support economy – 2019/20 budget address
(CN) Analysts expect China and US to announce trade agreement soon – China Daily
(CN) Construction of China first nuclear power plant this year is scheduled to start in Zhangzhou, Fujian province June 30th – China Daily
(CN) China PBoC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.6857 v 6.6952 prior
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY60B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY120B injected in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net: CNY40B injected v CNY120B injection prior
(CN) China MoF sells 1-yr and 10-yr bonds: Sells 1-yr bonds at 2.3249% v 2.31% prior; bid to cover 1.82x v 3.18x prior; Sells 10-yr bonds at 3.1232% v 3.0328% prior, bid to cover 2.30x v 3.13x prior
388.HK Reports FY18 (HK$) Net 9.3B v 7.40B y/y, EBITDA 11.8B v 9.6B y/y; Rev 15.9B v 13.2B y/y

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.1%
(AU) AUSTRALIA Q4 CONSTRUCTION WORK DONE Q/Q: -3.1% V 0.5%E
(AU) NAB said weaker than expected Q4 construction work done data suggests downside risk to its estimates for Q4 GDP- US financial press
RHL.AU To be acquired by Nutrien at A$4.40/share in cash in a A$615M deal; to pay special dividend of A$0.90
(NZ) New Zealand Jan Trade Balance (NZD): -0.9B v -0.3Be; Exports: 4.4B v 4.8Be; Imports: 5.3B v 5.0Be; Trade Balance (12-month YTD): -6.4B v -5.5Be
OZL.AU Reports FY18 (A$) Net 228.3M v 227Me; EBITDA 540.4M v 530Me; Rev 1.12B v 1.1Be
MQG.AU Prices upsized A$750M (prior A$500M) of Capital Notes 4 at 4.15% margin v 4.15-4.35% indicated
RWC.AU Confirms chairman Jonathan Munz to retire, remaining 10% stake held by family sold for A$367M
(AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in 3.25% April 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.0855%, bid to cover 4.82x

Other Asia

(IN) India said to again delay higher tariffs on certain US imports – India Press
(SG) Singapore Central Bank (MAS) Gov Menon: Singapore monetary policy remains appropriate, but what Singapore does in April is a ‘totally different matter’

North America

(US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: Crude: -4.2M v +1.3M prior
(US) US to probe fabricated structural steel imports from China, Canada and Mexico
(US) According to American Chamber of Commerce in China, most US firms with operations in China continue to see revenue in China grow – China Daily
(KR) US President Trump comments ahead of Feb 27-28th Vietnam summit with North Korea Leader: North Korea could be like Vietnam if it denuclearizes
(CA) Canada warns it may not ratify USMCA until US ends steel and aluminum tariffs – Canada press
BA Confirms Vietnam’s Bamboo Airway to buy 10 787-9 Dreamliners worth $2.9B and in talks to buy an additional 25 737s

Europe

(UK) Feb BRC Shop Price Index y/y: 0.7% v 0.3%e
(UK) Govt No Deal impact analysis: despite mitigating steps taken, there are areas where impact on trade, businesses and individuals would be significant
(UK) Rees-Mogg won’t insist on getting rid of the Ireland backstop in Brexit – FT

Levels as of 12:50ET

Hang Seng +0.7%; Shanghai Composite +0.7%; Kospi +0.5%; Nikkei225 +0.5%; ASX 200 +0.4%
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.2%
EUR 1.1374-1.1400; JPY 110.52-110.63 ; AUD 0.7175-0.7196; NZD 0.6884-0.6902
Commodity Futures: Gold +0.1% at $1,329/oz; Crude Oil +1.0% at $56.03/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.95/lb