General Trend:
- Kospi outperforms after over 3.5% losses on Monday’s session
- Japanese equities underperform on catch up selling following recent holiday
- Shanghai Composite opened below 3,000, the index has been weighed down by declines in IT shares and small caps.
- Early decliners in Hong Kong include energy, telecom and financial companies; Gaming firms trade mostly higher, Tencent also rises
- Declining sectors in Australia include Telecom, Resources, Consumer Discretionary and Energy.
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.5%
- AWC.AU Reports FY19 adj Net $326.6M v $689.9M y/y, adj EBITDA $1.59B v $2.79B y/y; Net receipts from AWAC $420.9M v $678.2M y/y
- (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly consumer Confidence: 108.3 v 109.1 prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$100M v A$100M indicated in 0.75% Nov 2027 indexed bonds, avg yield -0.4045%, bid to cover 4.55x
- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Economy is facing a number of shocks, coronavirus impact on Australia significant, economy is remarkably resilient and job market strong
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -1.5%
- 4978.JP Has started stem cell treatment trials – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Economy Minister Nishimura: Need to pay close attention to impact from coronavirus including to financial markets
- (JP) Japan Chief cabinet Sec Suga: No change to basically improving trend in Japan economy
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Executive Dir Maeda: Reiterates BOJ policies do not target FX, will take appropriate steps as needed by looking at impact of FX moves on Japan’s economy and long term price trend
- 4901.JP Confirms Japan government has asked it to consider increasing output of AVIGAN
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.2%
- (KR) South Korea Feb Consumer Confidence: 96.9 v 104.2 prior (6-month low)
- (KR) US Sec Def Esper: confirms trilateral cooperation between, US South Korea and Japan; South Korea can and should contribute more to common defense
- (KR) South Korea President Moon said to ask secretaries to consider extra budget with parliamentary approval if needed as current status is an “emergency situation” – financial press
- 051910.KR Announces exclusive agreement to supply EV batteries to Lucid Motors
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened -1.6%
- (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for Feb 24th: 508 additional cases v 409 prior; Additional deaths 71 v 150 prior; Hubei: 499 additional cases v 398 prior; additional deaths 68 v 149 prior
- (CN) China PBOC Official Peng Lifeng: coronavirus will have an impact on firms’ ability to repay bonds but the overall effect on the market is not huge – Xinhua
- HUAWEI.CN US reportedly is still looking at ways to limit sales to Huawei following Pres Trump’s comments about chipmakers – press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repo operations for the 6th consecutive time, Net CNY0B v drains CNY300B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0232 v 7.0246 prior
Other
- 2330.TW Said to be looking at hiring 1,500 employees in Taiwan – local press
- SIA.SG Implements hiring freeze due to coronavirus, considering other measures including asking staff to take voluntary no-pay leave – Singapore press
North America
- MA Cuts Q1 net rev growth to +9-10% if coronavirus trends continue (prior ‘low double-digits’); cuts FY20 net rev growth to ‘low end of the low-teens range’ if virus effects are limited to Q1 only (prior ‘growth low double-digits’)
- UAL Withdraws FY20 guidance on coronavirus disruption; expects Q1 Adj EPS to remain within prior guidance range of $0.75-1.25 v $$0.95e – filing
- (US) FDA gives coronavirus update: taking steps to ensure quality of foreign products
- TUP Reports prelim FY19 $1.35-1.70 (guided $2.77-2.83); Rev -14% to -12% y/y (Affirms -10% to -8% at cc)
- EXPE Spokesperson: To cut 12% of direct workforce, will notify employees this week, will simplify the way we do business – US financial press
Levels as of 12:30ET
- Hang Seng -0.3%; Shanghai Composite -1.6%; Kospi +1.0%; Nikkei225 -3.3%; ASX 200 -1.6%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.8%; Nasdaq100 +1.0%, Dax +1.0%; FTSE100 +0.8%
- EUR 1.0868-1.0845; JPY 111.05-110.64; AUD 0.6623-0.6600; NZD 0.6359-0.6334
- Commodity Futures: Gold -1.3% at $1,655/oz; Crude Oil +0.3% at $51.59/brl; Copper +0.4% at $2.59/lb
