Equity markets trade mixed
|General trend
- Nikkei 225 declines amid earnings [SoftBank, Nintendo, Sharp].
- Japanese companies due to report earnings include Fujifilm, AGC, McDonald’s Japan.
- Taiwan Semi might issue monthly sales this week.
- China might also release monthly lending data.
Headlines/economic data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opens +0.3%.
-BHP [BHP.AU]: Notes fatal incident at Port Hedland; operations at Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) suspended for 24 hours as safety precaution.
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.0B vs. A$1.0B indicated in 3.00% Nov 2033 bonds; Avg Yield: 3.6854% v 3.3903% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.5x v 2.78x prior.
- (AU) Economists raise terminal RBA cash rate forecast to 3.85% v 3.60% prior [follows hawkish Feb RBA policy statement] - US financial press poll.
- (NZ) New Zealand Treasury: Auckland floods to add 0.4% to 1H inflation.
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Hipkins: Policy to be focused on the cost of living; minimum wage to rise in line with CPI from Apr [Q4 2022 CPI rose by 7.2% y/y].
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opens flat at 21,283.
- Shanghai Composite opens +0.1% at 3,251.
- (CN) Follow Up: US says China military has a 'balloon surveillance program' - Washington Post.
- (CN) Wuhan (China) said to ease limits on home purchases - Chinese press.
- (CN) China: 2 homegrown COVID treatments to be covered by state insurance; the companies are Simcere Pharma and Shanghai Junshi.
- (CN) China EV supply chain faces overcapacity risk - Chinese press.
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY641B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY393B prior; Net injects CNY486B v CNY78B drain prior.
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.7752 v 6.7967 prior.
- *(CN) hina Jan foreign reserves: $3.184T V $3.155TE; gold portion rise for the 3rd straight month.
- (CN) China President Xi: Reiterates stance to strive to achieve an overall improvement in economic operations.
- (CN) China Preliminary Jan Retail Passenger Vehicle Sales at 1.24M -41% y/y - PCA.
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opens flat at 27,690.
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announcement related to daily bond buying operation: inline with planned amounts.
- (JP) Japan Dec BOP Current Account: ¥33.4B v ¥112.0Be; Adj Current Account: ¥1.2T v ¥1.236Te.
- (JP) Japan Jan Bank Lending Y/Y: 3.1% v 2.7% prior; Bank Lending (ex-trusts) Y/Y: 3.5% v 3.0% prior.
- (JP) Japan MOF issues Jan Flows Data: Japanese purchased net ¥1.12T in Foreign Bonds; Foreigners sold net ¥4.24T in Japan bonds.
- (JP) Japan PM Kishida: Reiterates BOJ Governor choice concerns basic economic policy; Is mindful of very strong market attention.
- (JP) Japan to end blanket testing for all travelers from China upon arrival - Japanese press.
Korea
- Kospi opens +0.7% at 2,469.
- (KR) South Korea Dec Current Account: +$2.7B v -$0.6B prior.
Other Asia
- (IN) India central bank (RBI) raises repurchase rate by 25BPS TO 6.50%; as expected.
- (PH) Philippines Central Bank Gov Medalla: Can't rule out another surprise after CPI data, not ruling out a surprise supply shock after Jan [follows hotter Jan CPI data].
North America
- (US) Fed Chair Powell: Disinflationary process has begun, but we are at the very early stages.
- (US) President Biden: Reiterates US seeks competition and not conflict with China - State of the Union.
Europe
- (UK) National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) raises forecasts for UK CPI in 2023 and 2024; cuts 2023 and 2024 GDP forecasts.
Levels as of 00:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.4%, ASX 200 +0.4% , Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -0.3% ; Kospi +1.3%.
- Equity S&P500 Futures: flat; Nasdaq100 flat, Dax +1%; FTSE100 flat.
- EUR 1.0735-1.0721 ; JPY 131.38-130.72 ; AUD 0.6970-0.6944 ;NZD 0.6332-0.6309.
- Gold +0.2% at $1,888/oz; Crude Oil +0.2% at $77.31/brl; Copper +0.2% at $4.0750/lb.
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