Equity markets trade mixed after US cancellation of North Korea summit

Asia Market Update: Equity markets trade mixed after US cancellation of North Korea summit: North Korea suggests it is still willing to hold talks

General Trend:

- Automakers in Asia remain weaker after recent US auto imports probe announcement

- Shares of Samsonite [1910.HK] remain under pressure following report by short-seller

- Yen (JPY) trades generally weaker, led by declines in JPY/KRW

- Corporate defaults remain a topic in the Chinese press

- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) faces temporary labor strike

- US Commerce Sec Ross to visit China from June 2-4th to discuss trade - Xinhua

 

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened -0.3%; closed flat

- ASX 200 Energy index -1.5%, Resources -1.4%, REIT -0.5%; Telecom +2.8%, Consumer Discretionary +1.5%, Financials flat

- (AU) Australia banknote printer workers said to plan to go on temporary strike, seeking pay increase of 4%; Note Printing Australia is owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) – Australian Press

- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in Nov 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.8273% v 2.8181% prior, bid to cover 5.21x v 3.57x prior

- (AU) Australia to sell new May 21, 2030 bond during week of June 4th

China/Hong Kong

- Shanghai Composite opened -0.2%, Hang Seng -0.3%

- Hang Seng Energy index -3.4%, Telecom -0.7%, Info Tech -0.6%; Consumer Goods +0.8%, Materials +0.8%, Industrial Goods +0.5%, Financials flat

- Rusal [486.HK]: Says Oleg Deripaska resigns as non-executive board member; effective May 25 2018

- (CN) China NDRC said to plan to hold a meeting with miners and utilities later today related to coal prices - US financial press

- (CN) China regulator said to urge sellers of bonds to manage cash flows; Official rules out systemic risks related to bond defaults - Chinese Press

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO v CNY40B injected in 7 and 14-day reverse repos prior: Net: v CNY0B prior

- (CN) For the week, the PBOC drained a net of CNY30B through OMOs v CNY410B net injection w/w

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%; closed +0.1%

- TOPIX Marine Transportation index -1.7%, Iron & Steel -1.5%, Real Estate -1.5%, Information & Communications -0.7%, Securities -0.3%

- Automakers remain weaker

- Softbank and other telecoms decline: Japan government said to issue guidance to Softbank related to phone discounts (Japanese press)

- Fast Retailing +0.8% (declined over 1% on prior session)

- (JP) Japan May Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.5%e; Ex-Fresh Food (Core) Y/Y: 0.5% v 0.6%e

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Financial sanctions against North Korea may be prolonged after cancellation of US/North Korea summit

- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga: Sees progress as more important than holding summit with North Korea

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.5%

- Samsung rises after Apple patent ruling; The ruling ordered Samsung to pay ~$533M in damages vs the $1B in damages that Apple had sought.

- (KR) North Korea Vice Foreign Min Kim Kye Gwan: Willing to talk with US at 'any time'; no change in will to do the best for peace - KCNA

- (KR) Pres Trump sends letter to North Korea's Kim: says inappropriate to have June 12 summit at this time; looks forward very much to meeting some day; The anger and open hostility in your most recent statement makes a meeting inappropriate at this time

- (US) Pres Trump: Possible existing summit could take place or it could take place at a later date

Other

- IMF Deputy Managing Dir Zhang: Short-term outlook for Asia and global economies is ‘strong’; Low inflation in Asia mainly due to temporary factors

- (ID) Indonesia Rupiah (IDR) on track to trade lower for the 6th straight week – US financial press

- (MY) Malaysia Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government will honor all payments on debt raised by state investment fund 1MDB – financial press

- (SG) Singapore Apr Industrial Production M/M: 0.2% v 1.2%e; Y/Y: 9.1% v 8.0%e

- Nanya Technology [2408.TW]: Said to see sales growth on higher DRAM prices (Taiwanese Press)

North America

- US equity markets closed mixed: Dow -0.3%, S&P500 -0.2%, Nasdaq flat, Russell 2000 flat

-S&P500 Energy -1.7%, Financials -0.8%

- (US) NY Fed Survey of Primary Dealers: expect 3 more Fed rate hikes this year (responses submitted between 4/19-4/23)

- (US) According to Fed data, foreign holdings of US Treasuries declined for the 4th straight week – FT

- (BR) Brazil Gov't: Has reached 'deal' with certain truckers unions, under the agreement the nationwide strike will end for 15 days

Europe

- (UK) BOE Gov Carney: the gentle path for rate hikes expected by BOE is dependent on GDP growing faster than the 1.5% trend rate; Rates might rise quicker than the path described in May if investment recovers much more robustly; Brexit will be key factor in BOE rate policy; Uncertainty about consumer spending is elevated due to slower consumer lending and spending and the state of the housing market

- (ES) PSOE Leader Sanchez reportedly considering triggering no confidence vote against Spain PM Rajoy following corruption verdict this morning – press

- (SA) Saudi Oil Min Falih: Aims for balancing and not 'over correction' of oil market, Easing OPEC+ caps is on the table but no decision yet

- (RU) Russia Energy Min Novak: OPEC+ will in June for sure discuss easing caps

- (RU) Russia Energy Min Novak: the global oil glut is over

Levels as of 02:00ET

- Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi -0.2%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.2%

- EUR 1.1705-1.1727 ; JPY 109.12-109.76 ; AUD 0.7561-0.7583 ;NZD 0.6923-0.6939

- Jun Gold -0.2% at $1,301/oz; Jun Crude Oil -0.1% at $70.66/brl; Jul Copper -0.2% at $3.094/lb