Dollar weakness across the region

Asia Market Update: Mixed markets in last day of trade before Lunar New Year; dollar weakness across the region

Headlines/Economic Data

General Trend: Asian equities trade mixed

- Nikkei hits 4-month low

- Shanghai Composite moves between gains and losses in last trading session ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year break (Chinese equity markets to close from Thursday Feb 15th to Wed Feb 21st)

- Japan Q4 prelim GDP below ests amid decline in housing investment and weaker business spending

- US dollar (USD) trades generally weaker ahead of US CPI and Retail Sales data

- USD/JPY hits lowest since Nov 2016

- Kiwi (NZD) rises after Q1 inflation expectations survey

- Aussie (AUD) gains before Thursday’s release of Jan Employment data

- Australia Feb Westpac Consumer Confidence index eases from the 4-year high hit in Jan

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened flat; closed -0.4%

- TOPIX Info& Communications Index -2% (Softbank declines over 1.5%), Electric Appliances -1.6%, Iron & Steel -1.1%, Real Estate -1%

- McDonald’s Japan [2702.JP] declines over 1% after guiding FY net profit lower y/y

- Shipping firm Nippon Yusen [9101.JP] declines amid probe into Chinese subsidiary

- Toshiba [6502.JP] gains amid release of earnings report

- (JP) JAPAN Q4 PRELIM GDP Q/Q: 0.1% V 0.2%E (8th consecutive quarter of growth); ANNUALIZED GDP Q/Q: 0.5%V 1.0%E; NOMINAL GDP Q/Q: 0.0% V 0.4%E

- (JP) Japan Economy Min Motegi comments after Q4 GDP data: Growth was supported by private sector demand; consumer spending improving due to wage growth; Economy is no longer in deflation

-(JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga: Japan's economic fundamentals are firm; no comment on FX levels

-(JP) Japan Jan Tokyo Condominium Sales Y/Y: +39.7% v -7.5% prior

-Toshiba, 6502.JP Reports 9M Net ¥27.0B v loss ¥532.5B y/y; Op ¥49.6B v loss ¥576.3B y/y; Rev ¥2.80T v ¥3.85T y/y; Raises FY17/18 Net forecast and cuts view for Op and Rev (cites decision to move chip business to discontinued operations)

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.7%

- Samsung Electronics gains over 2%

- Lotte Shopping [023530.KR] declines by over 1%: Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-Bin found guilty of bribery charge, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in jail

- (KR) South Korea office of President: Will continue to firmly act against unfair acts by institutions that handle cryptocurrency; cracking down on illegal acts regarding virtual coin trade is rightful and responsibility of Govt

- (KR) IMF: South Korea monetary policy should remain accommodative, fiscal policy should become 'much more' expansionary - Article IV Consultation

- (KR) South Korea 81 conglomerates combined reports FY17 Op profit +47% y/y - Korean press

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.6%, Shanghai Composite +0.1%

- Hang Seng Materials Index +1.4%, Financials +1%, Info Tech +0.9%, Property/Construction +0.6%;Telecom -0.5%

- Shanghai Property Index declines over 0.5%

- BAIC Motor [1958.HK]: Declines over 2% following profit warning

- (CN) China may sell ~CNY4T in local govt bonds this year v CNY4.4T in 2017 - China News

- (CN) China PBoC: Skips Open Market Operation(OMO) for the 16th straight session

- USD/CNY (CN) PBOC SETS YUAN REFERENCE RATE AT 6.3428 V 6.3247 PRIOR

- HNA, 521.HK HNA Group: Group executives purchased offshore US dollar (USD) denominated bonds; is in 'very healthy'financial position

-(CN) China Jan Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) CNY80.4B, Y/Y: +0.3% v -9.2%prior

-Note:This is the last day of trade before Lunar New year break

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened flat; closed -0.3%

- ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index -1%, Financials-0.7% , REIT -0.6%

- (AU) Group of Australia dairy farmers is pushing to end the single processing company system where farmers are locked into one processor every year and move closer to a best-price system - Australian

-Insurance Australia (+2.2%) IAG.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 551M v507Me; Gross written premium 5.83B v 5.80B y/y

- Fletcher Building (-13%) FBU.NZ Chairman Norris to step down no later than AGM; additional provisions of NZ$486M for B&I for total of NZ$660M in FY18

- Woodside Petroleum, WPL.AU To acquire Exxon's stake in Scarborough and 50% stake in WA-1-R for $444M and contingent payment of $300M ;Announces A$2.5B rights offering priced at A$27/shr

- Domino's Pizza, (-7%) DMP.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 62.9M v 70Me; EBITDA 122.4m v 133Me; Rev 567.6M v 583Me

- Biotherapies firm CSL Limited [CSL.AU] rises over 5% on better than expected H1 results

- (NZ)New Zealand Jan Food Prices m/m: +1.2% v -0.8% prior (first gain in four months)

- (AU) Australia Feb Westpac Consumer Confidence Index: 102.7 v 105.1 prior; M/M:-2.3% v 1.8% prior

- (AU) Australia sells A$600M v A$600M indicated in 2.25% May 2028 bonds, avg yield 2.8612%, bid to cover 3.66x

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 INFLATION EXPECTATION SURVEY: 2-YEAR: 2.1% V 2.0% PRIOR;1-YEAR: 1.86% V 1.87% PRIOR

Looking Ahead: Australia Jan Employment Data due on Thursday

Other Asia

- India’s Punjab National Bank [PNBK.IN] declines over 4% after detecting ~$1.8B in fraudulent transactions

- (MA) Malaysia Q4 GDP Q/Q: 0.9% v 1.8% prior; Y/Y: 5.9% v 5.8%e

- (SG) Singapore Q4 Final GDP Q/Q: 2.1% v 2.0%e; Y/Y: 3.6% v 2.9%e; 2017 GDP: 3.6% v 3.5% prior

- (SG) Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS):Monetary policy stance remains unchanged; has not revised core or headline CPI forecasts since Oct

North America

- US equity markets closed higher: Dow +0.2%, S&P500+0.3%, Nasdaq +0.5%, Russell 2000 +0.3%

- S&P 500 Real Estate Sector +0.7%, Consumer Discretionary+0.5%

- (US) Fed Chair Powell: Fed will remain alert to any financial stability risks

- (US) Trump administration reportedly considering Cleveland Fed Pres Loretta Mester (voter, hawk) for Fed board Vice Chair position - press

- (US) Pres Trump: reviewing all options over Sec 232 trade probe on steel and aluminum; Looking at tariffs and/or quotas on steel and aluminum imports

- (US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: Crude: +3.9M v -1.1M prior

- (US) According to an individual who submitted a letter anonymously to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) some of the most popular measures of volatility are being manipulated by fake quotes - financial press

Looking Ahead: US Jan CPI and Retail Sales due to be released on Wed, along with the Weekly DoE Crude Oil Inventories

Europe

- (DE) Germany SPD Leader Schulz steps down as party chairman; Andrea Nahles nominated as SDP chair by executive board;; Schedules SPD special party convention for April 22nd- press

- (NL) Netherlands PM Rutte said to survive no-confidence vote after Foreign Minister stepped down

Looking Ahead: Germany and Euro Zone prelim Q4 GDP data due to be released

 

Levels as of 01:00ET

- Nikkei225 -0.4%, Hang Seng +1.2%; Shanghai Composite +0.4%; ASX200 -0.3%, Kospi +0.9%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%,Dax +0.0%; FTSE100 +0.1%

- EUR 1.2392-1.2347; JPY107.90-106.84; AUD 0.7889-0.7852;NZD 0.7335-0.7271

- Apr Gold +0.5% at $1,337/oz; Mar Crude Oil -0.1% at $59.17/brl; Mar Copper +0.2% at $3.17/lb