Equities Mostly Decline Amid Omicron Headlines

Dec 14 21, 06:24 GMT

General trend

Asian bond yields trade generally lower after decline in UST yields.
BOJ again acted amid rise in short-term rates.
AUD declined after NAB business confidence data, omicron cases in NSW rose.
WTI Crude FUTs have traded modestly lower.
US equity FUTs trade slightly higher; On Monday, US equity markets and UST yields declined amid focus on Fed meeting [Dec 14-15], UK and omicron was also in the headlines.
Travel-sensitive firms trade generally lower in Asia.
Hang Seng has declined by over 1%; Property developers remain in focus [Agile Group drops >9%, Evergrande down >5%, Shimao Group declines by >6%; Fantasia denied press report related to creditor takeover]; Casinos drop amid focus on omicron.
Shanghai Composite traded slightly lower during the morning session (-0.3%); Property index dropped >1.8%.
Nikkei 225 has extended decline [Heavyweights decline (Fast Retailing, Softbank Group)]; Japan’s PM commented on stock buybacks.
S&P ASX 200 has pared losses; Resources and REIT indices rise; Woolworths guidance weighs on Consumer Staples index.
China PBOC may conduct MLF operation around Dec 15th.
NZ to publish half-year fiscal update on Dec 15th (Wed).
US PPI data is due later today.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.2%.
WOW.AU Guides H1 Australia food EBIT A$1.19-1.22B v A$1.31B y/y; in Q2 Australia food market has moderated.
AIR.NZ Enters into revised Crown support package which is to include extra NZ$500M liquidity.
MSB.AU Novartis to terminate agreement before closing; Mesoblast to focus on bringing Remestemcel-L to market.
(AU) Australia Nov NAB Business Confidence: 12 v 20 prior; Conditions: 12 v 10 prior.
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Has lent an additional NZ$500M under the Funding for Lending Program (FLP), total loans under the program are now at NZ$6.71B.
(AU) Australia, New South Wales not planning lockdowns despite rise in COVID cases [omicron cases in NSW rose to 85, NSW Health said further cases of the new strain are expected] – AFR.

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%.
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) to buy ¥2.0T in bonds via repurchase agreements (2nd consecutive operation, follows rise in Japanese repo rates); Reminder yesterday was the first operation of this kind since 2006.
(JP) Japan PM Kishida: Need to think carefully about stock repurchase restrictions; Quarterly Financial Results review is a meaningful issue.
(JP) Bank Of Japan (BOJ) Offers to purchase ¥7.0T in JGB futures.
7203.JP Halts additional factories; Maintains 9.0M volume forecasts.
(JP) Japan Oct Final Industrial Production M/M: 1.8% v 1.1% prelim; Y/Y: -4.1% v -4.7% prelim.

Korea

Kospi opened -0.6%.
(KR) South Korea Nov Export Price Index Y/Y: 25.5% v 25.3% prior; Import Price Index Y/Y: 35.5% v 35.8% prior; Import Price M/M: -0.6% v 4.8% prior (1st decline in import prices in 7 months).

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -1.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%.
(CN) China State Planner (NDRC): Makes promise to increase the effective supply of raw materials to help increase industrial sector development.
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3675 v 6.3669 prior.
941.HK Receives approval for RMB share issue from CSRC; Guides FY21 Net CNY114.3-116.5B (+6-8% y/y), Op Rev CNY844.9-852.6B (+10-11% y/y).
(CN) ADB cuts 2021 China forecast to 8.0% from 8.1%, cuts 2022 forecast to 5.3% from 5.5%.
(CN) Mainland China detects first Omicron variant case in Tianjin – Global Times.
(HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: China to hold meetings with Hong Kong on travel plan in Shenzhen.
Fantasia, 1777.HK Denies media report on creditor takeover.
(CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net CNY0B v Net CNY0B prior.
(CN) China Beijing Think Tank: China needs to cut rates to ensure growth of at least 5% during 2022.

North America

TSLA CEO Musk files form 4: exercises options related to ~2.13M shares at $6.24/share; to sell ~934K shares.
(US) According to Solar Energy Industries Association solar installations in the US will decline 15% in 2022 due to higher prices – press.

Levels as of 00:15ET

Hang Seng -1.2%; Shanghai Composite -0.4%; Kospi -0.5%; Nikkei225 -0.8%; ASX 200 -0.0%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 -0.6%.
EUR 1.1286-1.1272; JPY 113.67-113.46; AUD 0.7135-0.7090; NZD 0.6765-0.6736.
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.1% at $1,786/oz; Crude Oil -0.6% at $70.91/brl; Copper -0.4% at $4.27/lb.