Asia trades mixed, Nikkei outperforms after extended holiday

Asia Market Update: Asia trades mixed; Nikkei outperforms after extended holiday, Shanghai opened flat; Markets pare gain, AUD drops on NDRC headline; China trade data due on Friday.

General trend

- Asian markets trade mixed after similar US session, Japan and Shanghai returned from extended holidays.

- Nasdaq FUTs erased gain during Asia after underperforming during the NY session.

- Nikkei opened higher and has risen by over 2% following 3 day holiday [Topix Iron & Steel index rises over 5% amid earnings speculation related to Nippon Steel; Other outperformers included Automakers, Marine Transports and Banks; Tech related indices lag].

- Various Japanese companies have delayed earnings reactions following holiday [Komatsu, Japan Tobacco and Dai-ichi Life rise; Tokyo Electron declines].

- Nintendo is due to report earnings later today.

- Shanghai opened flat after extended holiday, the index has since moved modestly lower [Consumer indices decline; Banks index rises after prior loss].

- Shanghai Health Care index drops over 4%, Chinese vaccine makers also decline in Hong Kong [SCMP attributed the weakness in shares of China vaccine makers to US President Biden issuing support for a waiver of vaccine patent protections].

- Hang Seng has pared the opening gain amid NDRC headline [TECH index reversed gain; Coal stocks supported by rise in Chinese coal prices].

- S&P ASX 200 has declined after the flat open [Financials decline after results from NAB; Resources index rises amid gain in Chinese iron ore prices; Macquarie is due to report earnings on Fri.].

- RBA Dep Gov Debelle is due to speak on monetary policy during COVID at 7 GMT.

- RBA to release quarterly statement on monetary policy (SOMP) on Fri. (May 7th).

- BOE rate decision is due later today.

- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thursday.

- Companies due to report during the NY morning include Adient, AES, Blue Apron, Aptiv, Arrow Electronics, Bombardier, Becton Dickinson, Cardinal Health, Cars.com, Hain Celestial, Himax, IAC, Iron Mountain, Kellogg, Magna International, Moderna, NRG Energy, NetScout, Penn National Gaming, Papa Johns, Regeneron, Sally Beauty, SeaWorld, Tapestry, Viacom/CBS, Wayfair, DENTSPLY.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened 0.0%.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Deputy Gov Bascand: Reiterates rates will need to stay low for quite a long time, think inflation spike is temporary.

- NAB.AU Reports H1 (A$) adj Cash profit 3.34B v 1.72B y/y; Net interest income 6.84B v 6.91B y/y; Rev 8.44B v 8.35B y/y.

- NEA.AU Made aware of complaint in Utah Court that alleges patent infringement related to the plaintiffs' roof-estimation technology.

- (NZ) New Zealand May Preliminary Business Confidence: +7.0 v -2.0 prior; Activity Outlook: 32.3 v 22.2 prior; Inflation expectations 2.2% v 1.97% prior.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.7%.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) March Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes: Members agreed YCC is exerting intended policy effect.

- 7201.JP Confirms sold stake in Daimler.

- (JP) Tokyo said to seek extension of COVID emergency (in line with prior speculation) - Japan press.

Korea

- Kospi opened 0.0%

- (KR) South Korea Apr Foreign Reserves: $452.3B v $446.1B prior (record high).

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) sells KRW2.3T v KRW2.3T indicated in 2-year MSB, avg yield 0.91% v 0.88% prior.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.8%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.

- (CN) CHINA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION (NDRC) 'INDEFINITELY' HALTS ACTIVITIES UNDER CHINA AUSTRALIA ECONOMIC DIALOGUE

- 1876.HK Reports Q1 Normalized Net $236M v -$6.0M y/y, Adj EBITDA $528M v $171M y/y, Rev $1.63B v $1.52Be.

- (HK) Hong Kong Exchange plans to ease profit requirements related to IPOs, the exchange is no longer planning to raise the profit qualification for IPOs on the main listing board - HK press.

- 700.HK Said to be speaking with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) to keep investments in Riot Games and Epic Games – Press.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY40B v Net CNY0B prior.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4895 v 6.4672 prior.

- 2196.HK Shares decline by 16%, Sinopharm drops by over 13%, Cansino declines over 21%; SCMP attributed the weakness in shares of China vaccine makers to US President Biden issuing support for a waiver of vaccine patent protections.

- 293.HK Hired banks for possible dollar bond offering (if executed would be 1st USD offering since 1900s) - press.

Other.

- (BR) Brazil Central Bank (BCB) raises Selic Target Rate by 75bps to 3.50%; as expected.

- UOB.SG Reports Q1 (S$) Net 1.0B v 0.86B y/y, NII 1.5B v 1.6B y/y.

North America

- LLY Group of employees accuse factory executive of altering documents relating to quality control at its COVID-19 vaccine plant - financial press citing internal complaint.

- ALL Reports Q1 $6.11 v $3.85e, Rev $12.45B v $9.87B y/y.

- COST Reports Apr total SSS +24.2% (ex-gas).

- PYPL Reports Q1 $1.22 v $1.01e, Rev $6.03B v $5.90Be; Raises outlook.

- MET Reports Q1 $2.20 v $1.48e, Rev $15.6B v $16.2Be.

Europe

- (UK) UK government said to examine whether to stockpile rare metals - UK press.

- (EU) European Parliament member from Ireland, Mick Wallace, calls on EU to cooperate with China instead of going head to head - Xinhua.

Levels as of 01:15ET.

- Hang Seng +0.2%; Shanghai Composite -0.0%; Kospi +0.6%; Nikkei225 +1.6%; ASX 200 -0.6%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.0%; Nasdaq100 -0.0%, Dax -0.0%; FTSE100 -0.0%.

- EUR 1.2012-1.1993; JPY 109.42-109.17; AUD 0.7758-0.7702; NZD 0.7229-0.7186.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.2% at $1,788/oz; Crude Oil +0.1% at $65.66/brl; Copper +0.5% at $4.54/lb.