Juncker And PM May Reach Revised Brexit Agreement, GBP Rises

Mar 12 19, 07:37 GMT

General Trend:

IT shares outperform in Shanghai
Meituan Dianping declines over 10% in Hong Kong after Q4 earnings
Japanese equity markets see broad rally, Out performers include Real Estate, Marine/Transportation and Electric Appliance companies
Nissan gains ahead of later today board meeting
Energy and Resources companies rise in Australia; Financials decline
China Stats Bureau Chief: Jan-Feb economic operation was generally good (comments ahead of Thursday’s Feb data releases, including industrial production)
Australia NAB business confidence declines to lowest since 2016
Japan Q1 BSI Large Manufacturing index hits lowest since 2016, Tankan survey seen on April 1st
US retail sales rebounded in Jan
Asian currencies generally track gains in the Yuan (CNY): High-level US/China trade officials had phone conversation on Tuesday
Philippines Peso (PHP) weakens amid central bank comments

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.2%
(AU) AUSTRALIA FEB NAB CONFIDENCE: 2 V 4 PRIOR; BUSINESS CONDITIONS: 4 V 7 PRIOR
(AU) AUSTRALIA JAN HOME LOANS M/M: -1.2% V -2.0%E; Owner Occupier Loan Value m/m: -1.3% v 0.0%e; Investment Lending m/m: -4.1% v -1.5%e
NEM Barrick and Newmont Forge Nevada JV agreement; Withdraws offer for Newmont following agreement
(AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence: 109.5 v 114.8 prior
XIP.AU To be acquired by IPH for A$1.97/share in cash and shares ( $1.28 cash and 0.1056 IPH shares)
(AU) Australia Labor financial services spokeswoman O’Neil: Will fully implement 75 of 76 of Hayne’s royal commission recommendations – AFR

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +1.1%
(JP) JAPAN Q1 BUSINESS SURVEY INDEX (BSI) LARGE ALL INDUSTRY Q/Q: -1.7 V 4.3 PRIOR; BSI LARGE MANUFACTURING Q/Q: -7.3 V 5.5 PRIOR (weakest since 2016)
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Gov Amamiya: BOJ has several options available, will consider benefits and side effects of policy – Q&A in parliament
(JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Do not expect domestic economy to worsen rapidly; reiterates to raise sales tax as planned – Q&A in parliament
(JP) Japan may cancel plan to invite China President Xi Jinping to Japan in June, move could be out of consideration for US President Trump – Japanese Press
RNO.FR Confirms talks on new alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi; have not led to a definitive pact
7201.JP Tokyo court denies Ghosn request to attend Nissan’s board meeting on Tuesday, 12th March
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) said to consider more cautious view of exports and output, seen as poised to cut assessments of exports and industrial production during this week’s policy meeting – Japanese Press
6645.JP To be added to the Nikkei 225 index, replacing Pioneer; effective March 18th (+4.6%)
(JP) Japan LDP Secretary General Nikai: 4th term for PM Abe is possible (in line with prior comments)
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.0T v ¥2.0T prior in 0.10% (prior 0.10%) 5-yr JGB: avg yield: -0.157% v -0.151% prior, bid to cover: 4.71x v 4.84x prior

Korea

Kospi opens +0.8%
(KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: IMF calls for active fiscal and monetary polices (overnight)
(KR) North Korea to limit the number of foreign visitors to limit to 1.0K/day v 1.8K avg , effective next week; struggling to cope with a surge in the number of tourists following the first summit with the US – Yonhap
(KR) South Korea Land Ministry: 2018 construction permits -6.2% y/y
(KR) In Feb foreign investors remained net sellers in the South Korean bond market for second consecutive month; selling $190M v $3.2B sold in Jan – Yonhap

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opens +0.9%; Shanghai Composite opens +0.7%
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO (9th consecutive skip); Net: nil v nil prior
(CN) China PBoC Sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.7128 v 6.7202 prior
(CN) China Housing Min: Expectations for the property market has been rationalized; will increase stability of market and avoid big fluctuations
(CN) China Liu he spoke with USTR Lighthizer and US Treasury Sec Mnuchin on the phone to make arrangements for next step in trade talks – Xinhua
(CN) China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) exec: holding talks with US LNG companies (doesn’t identify any particular names)
486.HK Names Bernard Zonneveld new chairman, effective March 6th
(CN) China Economic Information Daily: Domestic steel and iron industry to embrace ‘bullish’ outlook, notes the government’s tax cuts and downstream demand
(CN) China Stats Bureau Chief: Jan-Feb economic operation was generally good; China GDP data is reliable
(CN) China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT): China Feb Mobile Phone shipments -19.9% y/y

Other Asia

2354.TW Microsoft files lawsuit against unit over unpaid royalties and not providing documentation to auditors – press
(PH) Philippines Central Bank Gov Diokno: Reiterates room for easing, to consider CPI in timing of reserve ratio cut (room for 100bps cut to RRR every quarter); Peso’s movement after his appointment within band
(SG) Singapore Jan Retail Sales M/M: +0.2% v -3.4% prior; Y/Y 7.6% v 2.6%e; Retail Sales ex-auto Y/Y: +5.3% v -3.0% prior

North America

BA CEO letter to employees: remains confident in safety of 737 MAX; have delivered more than 370 737 Max planes to 47 customers – press
BA Makes Statement on 737 MAX Software Enhancement: has been working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on development, planning and certification of the software enhancement, and it will be deployed across the 737 MAX fleet in the coming weeks
BA FAA looking to mandate design changes to 737 Max by April – US Press
OPEC Sec Gen Barkindo: Dialogue with shale drillers is essential; Rebalancing the oil market continues to be work in progress, supply adjustments will continue in 2019

Europe

(EU) EU Juncker: EU goal is an orderly Brexit, reiterates Brexit decision must be respected; Have a deal on the table which protects citizens and peace in Ireland
(UK) PM May: Negotiations were hard fought, stand by what Brexit deal achieves; we have secured what Parliament asked for on backstop
(UK) Labour Leader Corbyn: PM May negotiations have failed, agreement with EU does not contain changes May promised to Parliament
(UK) Details emerge on UK PM May and Juncker talks, including 3 main parts (joint interpretative instrument ; unilateral statement from the UK; Additional language in the political declaration to emphasize the urgency on both sides) – Guardian
(UK) UK Cabinet Office Minister Lidington: Negotiations are still taking place in Strasbourg, PM May has secured legally binding changes that strengthen and improve withdrawal agreement

Levels as of 1:25 ET

Nikkei 225, +1.9%, ASX 200 -0.1%, Hang Seng +1.4%; Shanghai Composite +2%; Kospi +0.8%
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 flat
EUR 1.1274-1.1244 ; JPY 111.34-111.17 ; AUD 0.7081-0.7066 ;NZD 0.6841-0.6829
Gold +0.4% at $1,296/oz; Crude Oil +0.6% at $57.05/brl; Copper +0.8% at $2.930/lb