Asia tracks modest gains on Wall Street

General trend

- Financials trade generally higher after rise in the US.

- Nikkei has remained modestly higher throughout the session [Topix Iron & Steel and Electric Appliances indices have outperformed]; Panasonic rises on Tesla news; Oracle Japan drops over 14% on financial results; Toshiba holds shareholders’ meeting; Takashimaya may report Q1 results.

- Equity markets in China have extended gains.

- Shanghai Composite Consumer Staples, Financial and Industrial indices are among the gainers.

- Hang Seng TECH index has risen by over 2%.

- S&P ASX 200 has been supported by gains in the Resources and Financial indices.

- Kospi again hits record high.

- US data releases include May Core PCE.

- Companies due to report during the NY morning include JinkoSolar, Carmax, Paychex.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened flat.

- (AU) RBA Gov Lowe Jun 30th (Wed) appearance at the Australian Banking Association (ABA) Banking Conference has been postponed, cites Sydney coronavirus outbreak.

- (AU) Australia 11 Month to May Underlying cash deficit A$125.4B v deficit A$139.3Be.

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$289.4B v A$273.0B prior (Record high).

- (AU) New South Wales Premier Berejiklian: All existing coroanvirus restrictions extended until next Friday (July 2nd); Four local Sydney areas will be locked down until at least July 2nd.

- (NZ) New Zealand May Trade Balance (NZD): 469M v 388M prior.

- (NZ) Westpac now expects the RBNZ to raise OCR in Aug 2022 (previously expected rates to be unchanged until 2023); ANZ economists said to note risk of RBNZ rate hike before the end of 2021, but maintain call for Feb 2022 rate hike - US financial press.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) offers to buy a total of NZ$200M in government bonds next week under QE program v NZ$200M prior.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.4%, Shanghai Composite flat

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY30B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY30B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY20B v Net CNY20B prior

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4744 v 6.4824 prior

- (CN) China PBOC to conduct CNY5.0B in 3-month Central Bank Bill Swap (CBS) operation on today's session v CNY5.0B prior.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.9%.

-*(JP) JAPAN JUN TOKYO CPI Y/Y: 0.0% V -0.3%E; CPI (EX-FRESH FOOD) Y/Y: 0.0% V -0.1%E.

- (JP) Japan Cabinet Office (Govt) Jun Economic Report: Maintains overall economic assessment of seeing further weakness in parts of the economy.

- (JP) Bank of Japan Q1 Flow of Funds report: Japan total household assets ¥1,946T, +7.1% y/y.

- (JP) Japan Health Min Tamura: State of emergency may be needed if coronavirus cases continue increasing.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.1%.

- (KR) South Korea Jul Business Manufacturing Survey: 99 v 97 prior.

- (KR) South Korea said to be removing bank dividend restrictions in July; Financial Services Commission (FSC) to give banks the freedom to decide on the sizes of dividend payouts - Press.

Other Asia

- (SG) Singapore May Industrial Production M/M: +7.2% v -0.5%e; Y/Y: 30.0% v 24.1%e.

North America

- (US) PRES BIDEN: WE HAVE AN INFRASTRUCTURE DEAL; WE MADE 'SERIOUS COMPROMISES ON BOTH ENDS'.

- (US) White House: the bipartisan $1.2T infrastructure framework includes $579B in new spending - press.

- (US) Federal Reserve: All 23 banks stayed above minimum capital levels in stress tests; additional restrictions put in place during the COVID event will end.

- Nike [NKE]: Reports Q4 $0.93 v $0.51e, Rev $12.3B v $11.1Be; Guides FY22 Rev growth low double digits to over $50B v $48.9Be.

- Fedex [FDX] Reports Q4 $5.01 v $5.04e, Rev $22.6B v $21.7Be; Guides initial FY22 $20.50-21.50 v $20.60e.

-Tesla [TSLA]: Panasonic sold all shares it owned in company in March; the cos. to maintain battery relationship - Nikkei.

- *(MX) MEXICO CENTRAL BANK (BANXICO) RAISES OVERNIGHT RATE BY 25BPS TO 4.25%; NOT EXPECTED; vote was split.

Europe

- (UK) June GfK Consumer Confidence: -9 v -7e.

Levels as of 01:20 ET 

- Nikkei 225, +0.6%, ASX 200 +0.5% , Hang Seng +1.1%; Shanghai Composite +1% ; Kospi +0.5%.

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

- EUR 1.1945-1.1926 ; JPY 110.98-110.80 ; AUD 0.7595-0.7578 ;NZD 0.7077-0.7042.

- Gold flat at $1,776/oz; Crude Oil flat at $73.34/brl; Copper +0.2%% at $4.3185/lb.