Market quiet ahead of US non-farm payrolls data

Asian Mid-session Update: China Finance Minister held news conference in Beijing; Market quiet ahead of US non-farm payrolls data

Economic Data

- (AU) AUSTRALIA FEB AIG PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION INDEX: 43.9 V 45.9 PRIOR

- (JP) JAPAN FEB OFFICIAL RESERVE ASSETS: $1.25T V $1.26T PRIOR

- (MY) Malaysia Jan Trade Balance (MYR): 9.0B v 7.0Be

- (CO) Colombia Jan Exports FOB: $2.88B v $3.60Be

- (CO) Colombia Feb CPI M/M: 1.2% v 0.7%e; Y/Y:4.4% v 3.9%e

Index Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT)

- Nikkei225 +1.1%, S&P/ASX -0.2%, Kospi +0.5%, Shanghai Composite +0.2%, Hang Seng +0.1%, Mar S&P500 flat at 2,099

Commodities/Fixed Income

- Apr gold +0.2% at $1,199, Apr crude oil +0.5% at $51.13/brl, May Copper +0.1% at $2.65/lb

- (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Total Assets for week ending Mar 4th: $4.49T v $4.49T prior; Reserve Bank Credit: $4.45T v $4.45T prior; M1: +$3.9B v +$12.1B prior; M2: +$43.5B v +$29.0B prior

- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$700M in 5.75% bonds due 2022; Avg yield: 2.3850%; Bid-to-cover: 2.63x

- (JP) BOJ offers to buy ¥300B in 1-3 yr JGBs, ¥350B in 3-5yt JGBs, ¥240B in 10-25 yr JGBs and ¥140B in JGBs with maturity over 25-yr

- USD/CNY: (CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.1533 v 6.1528 prior setting

Market Focal Points/FX

- Slow session during Asian trading hours today. China Finance Minister Lou Jiwei held a news conference at annual political meeting in Beijing. Lou reiterated China fiscal policies to be moderately expansionary. Lou mentioned that China's fiscal deficit for 2015 to be 2.7% of GDP, versus 2.3% in Premier Li Keqiang's government work report, after counting new disposable spending. Lou also noted that China is facing weak tax revenue growth. On local government debt problem, Finance Minister expressed optimism, saying risks are controllable in local debts. Shanghai Composite traded slightly higher by 0.1% in morning trading session, during Finance Minister's news conference.

- US released stress test results for banks just after US market closed. All banks were above thresholds in Fed's stress test. Citi was in the spotlight, with Tier 1 common ratio of 8.2% under extreme scenarios, just at its minimum required ratio. Zions was also at minimum required ratio of 5.1%. Just note that each bank has its own mandated minimums required to meet. Major currency pairs traded little changed during evening's Asia session. AUD traded up by about 10pips to just below $0.78 level. EUR traded off the US session low, at around $1.1025 level during evening session. Overall, market was quiet ahead of morning's US non-farm payrolls data, expected at 08:30 EST.

Equities

US markets:

- FNSR: Reports Q3 $0.25 v $0.25e, R$306.3M v $306Me; +5.8% afterhours

- YY: Reports Q4 $1.04 v $0.86e, R$188.7M v $101.1M y/y; +5.6% afterhours

- THO: Reports Q2 $0.54 v $0.43e, R$852M v $770M; +3.5% afterhours

- COO: Reports Q1 $1.75 v $1.53e, R$445.2M v $449Me; +2.9% afterhours

- SKUL: Reports Q4 $0.26 v $0.24e, R$96.8M v $82.2Me; -0.6% afterhours

- GPS: Reports Feb SSS -4.0% v +2.2%e; -1.9% afterhours

- EBS: Reports Q4 $0.75 v $0.72e, R$148M v $148Me; discloses BioThrax manufacturing issues; -8.3% afterhours

- CKP: Reports Q4 $0.26 v $0.30 y/y, R$183.1M v $194.4M y/y; Declares $0.50/share special dividend; -19.6% afterhours

Notable movers by sector:

- Consumer Discretionary: Sekisui House 1928.JP +2.6% (FY14/15 results); Melco Crown Entertainment 6883.HK -6.1% (HSBC cuts rating)

- Financials: Resona Holdings 8308.JP -1.2% (analyst action); PAX Global Technology 327.HK -4.6% (FY14 results)

- Materials: Regis Resources RRL.AU -28.0% (issues op update)

- Energy: Caltex Australia CTX.AU -1.4% (Jan op results)

- Industrials: CSR Corp 601766.CN +5.1%, CNR Corp 601299.CN +4.6% (receives approval for merger); Great Wall Motor 2333.HK +1.1% (Feb production results); Guangzhou Automobile 2238.HK +1.7% (Feb production results)

- Technology: Skyworth Digital 751.HK +1.5% (Feb sales results)

- Healthcare: GI Dynamics GID.AU -48.3% (provides update from US FDA)

- Telecom: Recruit Holdings 6098.JP -1.7% (acquisition)