China Official PMIs Stay In Expansion Territory

Apr 30 18, 06:51 GMT

General Trend:

Asian equity markets trade generally higher, although participation limited; China and Japan closed for holidays
Hang Seng outperforms led by financial index: ICBC, Bank of China, Agbank and Bocom all gain after Q1 earnings reports
Singapore’s DBS reports Q1 results above ests; shares rise
M&A in focus: Sprint confirms merger with T-Mobile; Marathon Petroleum expected to make bid for Andeavor; REIT DCT Industrial to be acquired by Prologis; Sainsbury in talks to acquire Asda from Walmart
China April official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs generally little changed m/m
Trump to meet with North Korea’s Kim within 3-4 weeks
Following last week’s inter-Korean summit, North Korea said to pledge to close nuclear test site in May
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate decision due on Tuesday, quarterly statement on monetary policy (including forecasts) expected on Friday, May 4th
Market closures expected on Tuesday’s session include China, HK, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand
US Fed decision expected on Wed, May 2nd: US payrolls due on Friday
This week’s US/China trade talks in focus

Headlines/Economic Data

Japan

Nikkei 225 closed for holiday
(JP) Japan PM Abe Cabinet approval rating 43% v 42% in March – Nikkei Poll
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced Bond purchases for month of May (released on Friday, April 27th)

Korea

Kospi opened +0.4%
(KR) According to South Korea officials North Korea has pledged to close its nuclear test site in May and invite foreign inspectors to verify the closure; This is notable but not new, the site has been inactive since the mountain it is located under started to collapse due to testing – press
Samsung Electronics, 005930.KR Trading halted starting today, for 3 days, as part of first-ever stock split action, which is 50-for-1
(KR) North and South Korea signed the Panmunjeom Declaration Friday, it minimized economic cooperation but left room for the possibility in the future
(KR) SOUTH KOREA INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: -2.5% V -0.4%E; Y/Y: -4.3% V -1.6%E
(KR) South Korea Mar Retail Sales m/m: 2.7% v 1.0% prior; y/y: 2.7% v 6.3% prior
(KR) South Korea Mar Construction Output y/y: -6.3% v 0.9% prior

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.8%, Shanghai Composite closed for holiday
Hang Seng Financials index gains over 2%, Property/Construction +1.5%
(CN) CHINA APR GOVT OFFICIAL MANUFACTURING PMI: 51.4 V 51.3E; NON-MANUFACTURING PMI: 54.8 V 54.5E
(CN) China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) eases restrictions on foreign investment in security joint ventures, removing the restriction of single foreign investors to a 30% stake in JVs – China Securities
(CN) China President Xi and India PM Modi in an informal visit reached broad consensus on the overarching, long-term and strategic issues of global and bilateral importance – Xinhua
(CN) According to China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) trade volume between China and Russia expected to reach $100B or more in 2018 – Xinhua
(CN) China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approves 2 IPO applications that will raise a total of CNY1.5B – Xinhua
(HK) Hong Kong government said to not easily withdraw measures aimed at cooling the property market – HK Press
486.HK Oleg Deripaska agreed to sell down his majority ownership in EN+ Group PLC, the holding company that owns 48% of Rusal
Xiaomi: Follow Up: Speculated to plan to submit application for HK IPO later this week – HK Media

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.1%, closed +0.5%
ASX 200 Financials index +0.9%; Resources -0.4%
(NZ) New Zealand Treasury: Sees 2018 annual inflation less than 2%; H1 2018 annual GDP growth below 3%
Origin Energy, ORG.AU Reports Q3 (A$) Rev 491.9M v 385.3M y/y; production 62.7 pje v 79.7 y/y; Sales 61.2 pje v 56.0 y/y
Ramelius Resources, RMS.AU Guides Q4 production 58-62K oz; Raises FY18 production 205-215K oz (prior 200-210K oz)
(AU) AUSTRALIA MAR PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT M/M: 0.5% V 0.4%E; Y/Y: 5.1% V 4.9%E
(AU) Fitch Report: Housing downturn could pressure bank ratings in Australia
(AU) Australia APRA: March loan balances A$2.6T, +0.5% m/m
(NZ) New Zealand Apr ANZ Activity Outlook: 17.8 v 21.8 prior; Business Confidence: -23.4 v -20.0 prior
(AU) Australia Apr Melbourne Institute Inflation m/m: 0.5% v 0.1% prior; y/y: 2.0% v 2.1% prior
(AU) Australia Apr TD Inflation Gauge m/m: 0.5% v 0.1% prior
(AU) Australia Mar HIA New Home Sales m/m: -2.0% v -0.7% prior
AGL.AU Received highly conditional A$250M cash proposal from Alinta and Chow Tai Fook for Liddell

Other Asia

DBS.SG Reports Q1 (S$) Net 1.51B v 1.4Be, Net interest income 2.13B v 1.83B y/y, Rev 3.36B v 2.89B y/y

North America

S Confirms agreement to merge with T-Mobile in all stock transaction with enterprise value of $146B; Jonh Legere named CEO
TWTR Sold data in 2015 to Aleksandr Kogan, the Cambridge University academic who gathered millions of Facebook users’ information without their knowledge – UK press
BIDU Enters into Definitive Agreements to Divest its Financial Services Business (FSG); Through deal FSG which will be renamed as Du Xiaoman Financial will raise ~$1.9B
ANDV Marathon Petroleum said to plan to acquire Andeavor for more than $20B or ~$150/share (cash and stock) – US financial press
WMT Sainsbury confirms in talks to acquire Asda from Walmart in deal said to be worth £10B – press
(US) Commerce Sec Ross: White House plans to extend the steel and aluminum tariffs to some countries, but not all, following the scheduled expiration on May 1st

Europe

(UK) UK PM May accepts resignation of Home Sec Amber Rudd –
(IT) Five Start leader signals no Italy government possible with democrats – press

Levels as of 02:00ET

Hang Seng +1.7%; Shanghai Composite +0.2%; Kospi +0.7%
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.6%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.1%
EUR 1.2134-1.2119; JPY 109.18-109.02; AUD 0.7582-0.7559;NZD 0.7089-0.7063
Jun Gold -0.1% at $1,322/oz; Jun Crude Oil -0.3% at $67.92/brl; Jul Copper +0.3% at $3.08/lb