Asian Indices Have Generally Reversed The Higher Openings Seen After The Gains On Wall St

Mar 02 21, 06:19 GMT

General Trend

Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng have moved lower following comments from China CBIRC Chairman [discussed leverage, loan rate, property market, foreign bubbles, capital flows] and Hong Kong’s Financial Sec [commented on stock trading tax and dividend tax]
Australian equities ended lower despite the higher open [Energy, Resources and Consumer Discretionary firms declined; Financials rose]
Nikkei 225 is currently close to session lows [Transports underperform]
South Korea Kospi outperformed following Monday’s holiday
Energy firms trade generally lower after drop in oil prices
Fast Retailing is due to report Feb sales later today
South Korea disclosed the size of its latest extra budget and associated bond issuance
RBNZ official discusses recent move to not issue cash rate projections
RBA commented on its recently stepped up bond purchases, no specific mention of Nov 2024 bond; 10-yr yield rose following statement
Australia Q4 GDP data due on Wed (March 3rd)
Japan’s bid to cover declines at 10-year JGB auction
Companies expected to report during the NY morning include AerCap, Abercrombie & Fitch, AutoZone, Chico’s, Dine Brands, Hovnanian, International Game Technology, Kohl’s, Lumber Liquidators, Target

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.6%
(AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) LEAVES CASH RATE TARGET UNCHANGED AT 0.10%, AS EXPECTED; MAINTAINS 3-YEAR YIELD TARGET AT 0.10%; MAINTAINS A$100B BOND BUYING PROGRAM
(AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index: 110.3 v 109.2 prior (highest since Apr 2020)
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand Assistant Gov Hawkesby: Reiterates have room to cut rates, can increase bond buying if needed, committed to prolonged stimulius; recovery remains uneven, fragile with a muted outlook
(AU) AUSTRALIA JAN BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: -19.4% V -3.0%E

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.9%
(JP) JAPAN JAN JOBLESS RATE: 2.9% V 3.0%E; Job to applicant ratio: 1.10 v 1.06e
(JP) JAPAN Q4 CAPITAL SPENDING (CAPEX) Y/Y: -4.8% V -2.0%E; CAPITAL SPENDING EX-SOFTWARE: -6.1% V -3.0%E

Korea

Kospi opened +0.3%
(KR) South Korea Feb PMI Manufacturing: 55.3 v 53.2 prior (highest since April 2010)
(KR) South Korea Jan Industrial Production M/M: -1.6% v 1.0%e; Y/Y: 7.5% v 3.4% prior
(KR) South Korea Jan Retail Sales M/M: 1.6% v +0.2% prior; Y/Y: 0.0% v -2.0% prior (1st positive reading in 5 months)
005930.KR Said to be increasing investment into semiconductors and speeding up equipment installation amid a global chip shortage – Industry press
(KR) South Korea said to increase bond issuance by KRW9.9T to finance extra budget

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.9%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.4%
(CN) China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) Chairman Guo: To keep focusing on preventing financial risks; China to curb reckless capital expansion
(CN) Former PBOC Official Sheng Songcheng reiterates that China should not tighten policy in H1 2021 – financial press
(HK) Hong Kong Financial Sec Chan: Increased Stock trading tax a fraction of costs for high frequency traders; Not ruling out additional duties on equity trades, but not currently planning for additional stock tax increase; No plan for a dividend tax at this stage
(CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY0B v Net drain CNY10B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4625 v 6.4754 prior
981.HK Said to have received supplier’s license for some US manufacturers – Chinese press
6688.HK Exec Chairman Jing: Looking for ways to help workers monetize some shares after IPO was suspended, also assuring them there will be an IPO – Press

North America

Europe

Levels as of 12:15ET

Hang Seng -1.7%; Shanghai Composite -1.5%; Kospi +0.4%; Nikkei225 -1.0%; ASX 200 -0.4%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.5%; Nasdaq100 -0.5%, Dax -0.8%; FTSE100 -0.3%.
EUR 1.2051-1.2015; JPY 106.92-106.69 ;AUD 0.7781-0.7737; NZD 0.7284-0.7240.
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.6% at $1,713/oz; Crude Oil -1.3% at $59.83/brl; Copper -0.8% at $4.06/lb.