General trend
- Markets started a bit weaker as Asian indices digested the large block trades processed in New York Friday afternoon (including Baidu and Tencent), before mostly turning positive . Nikkei225 rose higher as yen remained weaker and Japan continues rollout of vaccines
- Oil fell after stuck tanker “Ever Given” was successfully refloated in the Suez Canal, note the backlog of ships being held up is still expected to take days to start moving and will still face delays unload as ports will be backed up
- Shares of Nomura lower by 13% after it warned of losses related to US unit (speculated to be related to prime brokerage)
- Yuan breached its 100 day moving average, looking on track for its largest monthly decline since March 2020
- Australia wine makers weaker after China MOFCOM issued its final report and implementation of tariffs on Australian wine
- China video platform provider, Bilibili, opens lower than its Hong Kong IPO pricing in its first day of trade
- Australia tourism names weaker as Brisbane heads into 3 day lockdown due to COVID
- Looking ahead OPEC+ to talk about May production levels on April 1st
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%
- TWE.AU Notes China final determination on wine imports – combined anti-dumping and countervailing duty rate of 175.6% shall be applied to TWE’s Australian country of origin wine in containers of two litres or less imported into China
- TAH.AU Confirms receiving unsolicited proposals valuing wagering and media business at ~A$3.0B; believes proposals undervalue division, putting search for new CEO on hold, interim CEO to continue
- (AU) Reminder Australia JobKeeper program ended on Sunday, March 28th; the Treasury estimates 150K jobs could be lost with the end of the program
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +1.0%
- 8604.JP Potentially has a loss as much as $2.0B at US Unit; Cancelling USD denominated bonds
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Summary of Opinions: BOJ Must heighten transparency of policy by clarifying band at which it allows long term yields to fluctuate
- 6723.JP Damage from fire larger than initial assessment with 17 machines impacted (originally though 11), assessment ongoing
- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Impact from Suez Canal blockage on Japan economy will be limited
- Note: Tomorrow we will get the release of Japan Feb jobless rate
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.2%
- (KR) South Korea sells KRW760B v KRW700B indicated in 3-month Monetary Stabilization Bonds (MSB): Avg yield 0.56% v 0.48% prior
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.1%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.3%
- (CN) China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issues final ruling on anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on imported wines originating in Australia, tariff of 16.2%-218.4%, effective March 28th
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5416 v 6.5376 prior
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
- 9626.HK IPO opens for trade at HK$790/shr v HK$808/shr pricing
- (CN) China Premier Li: Reiterates calls to deepen reform and opening-up, enhance innovation ability and growth drivers for high quality development, and improved well being for the people – comments while visiting Changzhou and Nanjing in East China’s Jiangsu
- 388.HK Expected to have SPAC listings by end of 2021 with listings framework in place by June to solicit public feedback – press
- 386.HK Reports FY20 (CNY) Net 32.9B v 57.5B y/y; Rev 2.1T v 2.97T y/y
- 1398.HK Reports FY20 (CNY) Net 315.9B v 291.9Be, NII 646.8B v 627.0Be
- (CN) China and Iran sign 25 year economic and strategic cooperation deal called “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”; it focuses on boosting private sector collaborations
- (CN) China Feb YTD Industrial Profits Y/Y: +179% (reminder of low y/y comparison figure)
- (TW) US Officials think that China is considering taking ‘full control’ over Taiwan – Press
- (CN) China Finance Ministry will exempt certain items from import tariffs, including circuit products, raw material, and manufacturing items – Press
Other
- (EG) Update on stuck Suez Canal tanker: Salvage teams are trying to re-float it tonight and tomorrow, it will be unloaded on Tuesday if re-floating fails
- Follow Up: Stuck Suez Canal tanker “Ever Given” has been successfully refloated
North America
- VIAC Said that a 45M share block trade being offered through Morgan Stanley – press
- Looking ahead: President Biden to announce more details on infrastructure stimulus package mid-week
Europe
- CSGN.CH Exiting positions after US hedge fund default (failed to meet margin requirements), premature to quantify exact size of loss, could be “highly significant” to Q1 results
- AF.FR Reportedly French govt near deal with EU on bailout conditions – Le Monde
- (DE) German Chancellor Merkel calls on states in Germany to abide by lockdown rules as COVID cases continue to climb in Germany – press
- (UK) Govt funded study of care home residents in England has found that their risk of infection with Covid (either symptomatic or asymptomatic) fell by 62% 5-weeks after they received their first Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine dose – UK press
- (UK) Bank of England (BOE) is clamping down on lenders who are relocating operations or jobs to EU after Brexit – FT
- (IE) ECB’s Lane (Ireland, chief economist): Essential that the ECB acts as a stabilizing force
Levels as of 01:15ET
- Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.4%; Kospi -0.2%; Nikkei225 +0.5%; ASX 200 -0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.8%; Nasdaq100 -1.1%, Dax -0.8%; FTSE100 -0.8%
- EUR 1.1794-1.1775; JPY 109.81-109.38; AUD 0.7645-0.7620; NZD 0.6998-0.6975
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,728/oz; Crude Oil -2.3% at $59.56/brl; Copper -0.9% at $4.04/lb
