General Trend:
- Nikkei rises as USD/JPY moved above ¥108
- Chinese equities outperform; Banks gain as PBoC seen as having more room to ease RRR
- Shanghai Composite property index rises over 3%
- Rusal rallies over 30% after US government said it could ease sanctions on the company
- Asian Aluminum producers decline following drop in prices after Rusal news
- Australian iron ore miner Fortescue drops over 3%; cautious on steel demand post Chinese Lunar New Year
- South Korean chipmaker Hynix declines over 3%, Q1 revs below ests amid mobile weakness
- Australia core CPI remains below RBA’s 2-3% target
- Aussie trades near 2018 low, later pares loss
- Australia and New Zealand markets closed for holiday on Wednesday April 25th
Headlines/Economic Data
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.6%; closed +0.9%
- TOPIX Real Estate index +1.3%, Electric Appliances +1.2%
- Automakers gain as USD/JPY trades above ¥108.00
- Megabanks rise following gains in US 10-yr Treasury yield
- (JP) Japan Mar PPI Services y/y: 0.5% v 0.5%e
- Sharp [+1.6%], 6753.JP Sharp may report FY17/18 Net +50% y/y due to strong LCD sales; Rev +20% y/y to ¥2.5T – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Econ Min Motegi: Japan/US minister meeting on new trade agreement framework to be after mid-June
- (JP) Japan Trade Min Seko: TPP 11 nations should prioritize ratifying deal
- (JP) Japan Finance Min Aso: Will make judgement on Fukuda after hearing both sides; not considering resigning
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.1T v ¥2.1T indicated in 0.10% (prior 0.10%) 2-yr JGBs; avg yield -0.134% v -0.160% prior; bid to cover 5.39x v 5.84x prior
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.2%
- Hynix [-1.5%], 000660.KR Reports Q1 (KRW) Net 3.12T v 3.3Te; Op 4.4T v 4.4Te; Rev 8.7T v 8.8Te
- USD/KRW Concerns over the possibility of capital outflow amid a widening gap between interest rates in Korea and the US are being eased by the strengthening of the won against the dollar – Korean press
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.3%, Shanghai Composite +0.1%
- Hang Seng Property/Construction index +2.1%, Consumer Goods +1.9%, Industrials +1.4%, Financials +1.3%, Energy +1.2%
- (CN) China Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (Politburo): China has seen a good start to its high-quality development – Xinhua
- (HK) Hong Kong 3-month HKD Hibor rises to highest level since 2008
- (CN) China has additional room to cut RRR and repay maturing MLF; China is likely to ease liquidity tension in week – China Securities Journal
- (CN) China banking and insurance regulator to conduct special investigations into the business activities of local asset management companies – press
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate at 6.3229 v 6.3034 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY30B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY80B prior; Net: injects CNY30B v CNY0B prior
- Rusal, [+33%], 486.HK US Treasury Sec Mnuchin: Weighing petition for sanction delisting
- (CN) China investors said to be finding it more difficult to finance offshore bond investment due to higher dollar funding costs and China govt crackdown on leverage, causing a slowdown in USD denominated debt – financial press
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%, closes +0.7%
- ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary index +1.7%, Utilities +1.4% Financials +1.2%, Energy +0.9%; Resources -1%
- (AU) RBA Assistant Gov Kent: Impact of interest only expires likely to be moderate, some borrowers may see genuine difficulty from I/O expiry
- Fortescue[-3.9%], FMG.AU Reports Q3 ore mined 41.6Mt v 44.7M y/y; total ore shipped 38.7Mt v 39Mte
- Beach Energy[+2.6%], BPT.AU Reports Q3 (A$) Rev 393M v 153M y/y
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 CPI Q/Q: 0.4% V 0.5%E; Y/Y: 1.9% V 2.0%E; TRIMMED MEAN Q/Q: 0.5% V 0.5%E; Y/Y: 1.9% V 1.8%E
- Boral, [-9.4%], BLD.AU Q3 North America earnings below expectations, cites weather impact; Guides FY18 total EBITDA contribution from property at ~A$55-65M
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Arden: Very positive about prospects for FTA with EU, still work to be done
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$100M in 6-month bills, avg yield 1.813%
Other Asia
- (ID) Indonesia Central Bank (BI) Gov Martowardojo: Intervened in FX market and bond market to help stabilize
North America
- US equity markets ended mostly lower: Dow -0.1%, S&P500 flat, Nasdaq -0.3%, Russell 2000 -0.1%
- S&P500 Energy +0.6%; Technology -0.4%
After market movers:
- Sanmina SANM, +16%, Reports Q2 $0.50 v $0.76 y/y, Rev $1.68B v $1.68B y/y
- Cadence Design Systems CDNS, +13%,Reports Q1 $0.40 v $0.38e, Rev $517M v $506Me
- Tivitv Health TVTY, -19%, Reports Q1 $0.49 v $0.49e, Rev $149.9M v $154Me
- Epizyme EPZM, -16%, FDA places partial clinical hold on tazemetostat trial, following a safety report of a pediatric patient who developed a secondary lymphoma
- GOOG, -1%, Reports Q1 ad $9.93* (ex $3.40 accounting adj) v $9.21e, Rev $24.9B (ex $6.29B TAC) v $24.2Be
- (US) Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommends approval of Pompeo nomination as Secretary of State
- (CA) Bank of Canada (BOC) Gov Poloz: protectionist trade policies remain biggest risk to the economic outlook; see some progress on inflation uncertainties
Europe
- (UK) House of Lords votes 316-245 to add an EU rights charter to UK law, another defeat for PM May; The amendment will be included in the bill when it goes back to the House of Commons
- (UK) UK Chancellor of Exchequer Hammond (Fin Min) said to accept proposal for GBP2 FOBT Limit – UK Press
- Michelin [ML.FR]: Reports Q1 Rev €5.22B v €5.23Be: affirms outlook
Levels as of 02:00ET
- Hang Seng +1.0%; Shanghai Composite +1.8%; Kospi -0.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.0%
- EUR 1.2219-1.2185; JPY 108.87-108.67; AUD 0.7614-0.7579;NZD 0.7157-0.7114
- Jun Gold +0.4% at $1,328/oz; Jun Crude Oil +0.7% at $69.14/brl; May Copper +0.8% at $3.13/lb
