Equity markets trade mixed

General trend

- Hang Seng outperforms after holiday; Xiaomi up on EV launch.

- Vanke [2202.HK]: Declines by >10% amid financial results and cautious broker comments.

- Another quiet session seen for USD/JPY.

- Gold extends rise.

- Fast Retailing to report monthly sales after the Tokyo close.

- Germany inflation data due later today.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opens +0.1% at 7,905.

- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assist Gov Kent: endorsed a plan to move to an ample reserves system with full allotment repurchase agreement (repo) auctions for our Open Market Operations (OMOs); The Board has decided not to maintain the current floor system with excess reserves. One reason is that it would require the RBA to hold a sizeable buffer of reserves over underlying demand, necessitating a relatively large balance sheet on an ongoing basis.

-Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Mar Minutes: No mention that board considered option to raise rates.

-Australia Mar Melbourne Institute Inflation M/M: +0.1% v -0.1% prior; Y/Y: 3.8% v 4.0% prior.

-Australia Mar Final PMI Manufacturing: 47.3 v 46.8 prelim (confirms 2nd month of contraction).

-Australia Mar ANZ-Indeed Job Advertisements M/M: -1.0% v -2.8% prior.

- Australia Mar CoreLogic House Price Index M/M: 0.06% v 0.6% prior.

-New Zealand RBNZ's Gov Orr: Agrees personal banking market is limited competition.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opens +1.6% at 16,811.

- Shanghai Composite opens flat at 3,076.

- Numerous HK-listed companies have been halted from trading: includes Country Garden [pending publication of annual results].

- China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0957 v 7.0938 prior.

- Major state-owned banks in China again seen selling US dollars in the onshore market to support the Yuan– financial press.

- China RRR cut not likely in the short-term [inline]; cites analyst - China Securities Daily.

- Hong Kong Mar new home sales hit 10-year high – HK press.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opens +0.2% at 39,892.

- Former BOJ Gov Kuroda sees recent yen weakness as excessive, says possible Japan would intervene in the FX market; cites speech from Monday – Japanese press.

- Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Reiterates will take appropriate response if excessive FX moves; carefully watching daily market moves.

-Japan Mar Monetary Base Y/Y: 1.6% v 2.4% prior.

- Japan approves up to ¥590B in subsidies for Rapidus.

- Japan sells ¥2.6T VS. ¥2.6T indicated in 10-year JGB bonds; AVG yield: 0.7530% V 0.718% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.80X V 3.24X prior.

Korea

- Kospi opens -0.1% 2,744.

- Samsung Electronics [005930.KR]: Said to hike SSD prices by up to 25% q/q on strong demand; Also considering increasing production of SSD for business - press.

- South Korea Mar CPI M/M: 0.1% V 0.1%E; Y/Y: 3.1% V 3.0%E; CPI Core Y/Y: 2.4% v 2.4%e [slowest annualized pace since Dec 2021].

-South Korea Fin Min: Inflation likely hit a peak in Mar; inflation to stabilize quickly from H2.

-Bank of Korea (BOK): Uncertainty in inflation path is still big; inflation expected to ease at moderate pace.

North America

-*(US) Mar ISM Manufacturing: 50.3 V 48.3E; prices paid: 55.8 V 52.9E (highest since July 2022).

- (US) Fed’s Cook: Does not comment on monetary policy in speech text.

- (US) Federal Railroad Regulator to impose 2 person crew mandate – WSJ.

- Follow Up: US told Iran it had no involvement in strike by Israel – US press.

Europe

- Ireland Mar PMI Manufacturing: 49.6 v 52.2 prior; Activity has now contracted in nine months of the year to March; Output Index fell to its lowest level in five months.

- (UK) Mar BRC Shop Price Index Y/Y: 1.3% v 2.2%e [below 2% for the first time in 2 yrs].

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.1%, ASX 200 -0.1% , Hang Seng +2.3%; Shanghai Composite -0.2% ; Kospi +0.1%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 flat.

- EUR 1.0744-1.0729 ; JPY 151.78-151.50 ; AUD 0.6498-0.6483 ;NZD 0.5956-0.5943.

- Gold +0.9% at $2,276/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $84.15/brl; Copper flat at $4.0578/lb.