Asian Equities Trade Mixed, China And Singapore April Data Miss Expectations

May 17 21, 06:05 GMT

General trend

US equity FUTs have moved modestly lower following earlier gains.
Nikkei underperforms and was unable to maintain the opening gain [heavily weighted cos. (Fast Retailing and Softbank Group) see 2% declines; Seven & I drops on regulatory news ].
Japan earnings [Honda declines after issuing guidance; Japan Post Bank drops amid dividend guidance; Mitsubishi UFJ and Bridgestone to report later today].
Hang Seng ended the morning session near the opening level.
Shanghai Composite outperforms amid gains in Consumer and IT indices; Energy index also rises amid consumption tax news.
S&P ASX 200 has pared gains [Energy index rises (refiners gain on gov’t support); Hotels/Restaurants index supported by earnings from Aristocrat Leisure; Incitec Pivot weighs on Materials index; Consumer Staples decline after results from Elders; Financials lag amid Macquarie ex-dividend].
Taiex drops over 4% amid virus curbs, Hon Hai declines following results/guidance.
Gold rises to 3 month highs on COVID concerns, Taiwan implements strictest measures to date and Singapore moves to distance learning.
PBOC MLF operation matched maturities.
Companies expected to report during the NY morning include China Online Education, Lazydays, Niu Technologies, Tencent Music, Hostess Brands.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened 0.0%
(AU) Australia PM Morrison to announce A$2.3B in govt payments to the 2 remaining refineries Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane and Viva Energy’s Geelong plant; so they are not closed down – AFR (later confirmed).
(NZ) New Zealand Apr Performance Service Index: 61.2 v 52.9 prior (record high).
CWN.AU Blackstone offer undervalues company; Has yet to review merits of Star Entertainment proposal.

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.8%.
(JP) Japan Apr PPI (CGPI) M/M: 0.7% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: 3.6% v 3.1%e (Highest since late 2017).
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥200B v ¥200B indicated in 10-yr 0.005% (prior 0.1%) inflation-indexed bonds; highest yield -0.185% v 0.117% prior; bid to cover 3.8x v 3.8x prior.
(JP) According to a recent poll >80% of Japanese public are against hosting Olympics this summer – press.

Korea

Kospi opened +0.3%.
(KR) South Korea Finance Ministry reiterated it will take timely action to stabilize financial market if needed, global financial markets have showed stabilizing movements since April; notes market volatility has risen recently amid global inflation worries – Local press.
000270.KR To idle part of South Korea production from May 17-18th due to chip shortages.

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.
(CN) CHINA APR RETAIL SALES Y/Y: 17.7% V 25.0%E; YTD Y/Y: 29.6% V 31.9%E.
(CN) CHINA APR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 9.8% V 10.0%E; YTD Y/Y: 20.3% V 21.1%E.
(CN) China Apr Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.1% v 5.2%e.
2618.HK Confirms offering 609.2M shares in IPO at HK$43.36/shr v indicated range HK$39.39-43.36/shr.
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4307 v 6.4525 prior.
(CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY100B IN 1-YEAR MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (MLF) AT 2.95% V 2.95% 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 Net CNY0B prior.
(CN) CHINA APR NEW HOMES PRICES M/M: 0.5% V 0.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.8% V 4.6% PRIOR (all major cities prices rise both m/m and y/y).
(CN) CHINA APR YTD FIXED URBAN ASSETS Y/Y: 19.9% V 20.0%E.
(CN) China Stats Bureau Official: China faces relatively big pressure in fulfilling Carbon Neutrality goals, China is able to keep CPI steady this year; domestic consumption expanded in Apr.
(CN) China Govt further tightens private education measures, will not allow foreign investment to control any onshore education companies.

Other

(SG) SINGAPORE APR NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: -8.8% V -2.8%E; Y/Y: 6.0% V 12.1%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: 10.9% v 24.4% prior; Pharmaceutical exports y/y: -40.9% v +25.5% prior.
(TW) Taiwan tightens COVID measures to most restricted to date: closes movie theaters, entertainment venues, no more than 5 people gathered indoors and 10 outside, masks to be worn outside until May 28th (update).

North America

BTC/USD Trading lower on Musk twitter comments that Tesla is speculated to sell its Bitcoin holdings and Musk responding.
MSFT Follow Up: Board decided Bill Gates needed to leave the board in 2020 due to prior relationship with staffer; board had him investigated for relationship – US financial press.
DISCA Said to be in talks with AT&T on combining media business, transaction valued at $50B – US press.

Europe

(UK) According to South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS) and Manufacturing Growth Programme survey, 48% of small and medium sized manufacturers expect to meet or exceed pre-covid levels within the next 3-months – UK press.
(UK) US Treasury said to be planning to remove large number of pre-Brexit financial rules, since the EU has yet to reach an agreement with the UK – US press.

Levels as of 01:15ET

Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite +1.0%; Kospi -0.5%; Nikkei225 -1.2%; ASX 200 +0.3%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 -0.4%.
EUR 1.2152-1.2129; JPY 109.51-109.27; AUD 0.7784-0.7751; NZD 0.7251-0.7220.
Commodity Futures: Gold +0.7% at $1,851/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $65.67/brl; Copper +0.8% at $4.69/lb.