Asia trades mostly higher amid Japanese holiday; WTI crude and copper FUTs extend gains

Asia Market Update: Asia trades mostly higher amid Japanese holiday; WTI Crude and Copper FUTs extend gains; USD Index FUTs pare loss; Nasdaq FUTs rise after prior decline.

General Trend

- Asia is currently trading generally higher after the opening losses; Hang Seng outperformed [gaming firms rose on news related to Macau, Financials gained ahead of HSBC’s earnings, Property index also rose]

- Higher commodity prices supported the ASX 200 [Energy, Resources and Financial indices rose; Consumer Discretionary stocks lagged]

- Shanghai reversed the opening decline [Financials outperform]

- Energy firms track the rise in oil prices, miners rise as Copper extends gain; Financials rise amid gains in longer-term gov’t bond yields; Tech firms trade mixed in Asia after the decline on the Nasdaq; Consumer Discretionary cos. trade lower

- Earnings reactions: [Australia] Monadelphous, Worley, AUB Group rise; Western Areas, MacMahon Holdings decline; HSBC extends gain

- Australia prelim Jan exports declined; iron ore export volumes fell

- NZD lagged the commodity currencies ahead of the RBNZ decision; NZ Q4 retail sales missed ests

- RBNZ is due to release its monetary policy statement on Feb 24th (Wed)

- Australia Q4 Wage Price Index and Construction Work Done due on Wed (Feb 24th)

- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Armstrong World Industries, The Brink’s Company, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Cracker Barrel, Crocs, Home Depot, LGI Homes, Macy’s, Medtronic, Steve Madden, Spirit Aerosystems, Thomson Reuters, Westlake Chemical

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened -0.0%

- WOR.AU Reports H1 (A$) underlying net 117M v 216M y/y, Underlying EBITDA 207M v 366M y/y; Rev 4.88B v 6.90B y/y

- OSH.AU Reports FY20 Core Net $22M v $321M y/y, Rev $1.07B v $1.58B y/y; resumes dividend at $0.50/shr

- (AU) Australia Stats Office (ABS) Jan Preliminary Trade Balance (A$): 8.8B v 6.8B prior final; Exports M/M: -9% v 3% prior final; Imports M/M: -10% v -2% prior final

- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: confirms Jobkeeper and Jobseeker supplements will expire in March; affirms to permanently increase unemployment benefit by A$50/fortnight

Japan

-Nikkei 225 closed

- (JP) Japan Govt considering lifting emergency declaration outside of Tokyo - Japanese press

-BOWX Reportedly WeWork in talks with the BowX SPAC and other and could reach a deal soon; Softbank is reportedly near a settlement deal with WeWork Co-founder Neumann and other shareholders that would reduce payments to the holders to around $1.5B from $3B - press

Korea

-Kospi opened -0.3%

- (KR) South Korea Vice Fin Min Kim: Closely watching financial market trend and risks, market volatility may increase due to US bond yield and oil prices

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: Reiterates to keep accommodative monetary policy, conditions remain favorable for supplying foreign currency; see a modest recovery; GDP growth path inline with Nov projection - report to parliament

- (KR) South Korea Q4 Household Credit (KRW): 1,726.1T v 1,682.1T prior; Y/Y: 7.9% v 7.0% prior (fastest growth since Mar 2018)

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened -0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.7%

- 5.HK Reports FY20 Adj pretax $12.1B v $22.1B y/y, Adj Rev $50.4B v $54.9B y/y; resumes dividend at $0.15/shr, no stock buybacks in near term

- (CN) According to China Information Daily 2021 GDP will be ~8%, the recovery will allow monetary policy to normalize

- (HK) Hong Kong expected to offer guaranteed loans up to HK$80K at 1% for up to 5 years for unemployed as part of budget - HK press

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

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4516 v 6.4563 prior

- (CN) CHINA JAN NEW HOMES PRICES M/M: 0.3% V 0.1% PRIOR; Y/Y: 3.9% V 3.8% PRIOR

- (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: 42K have registered for COVID vaccine as of 9AM

- (HK) Macau and mainland China now fully open for quarantine free travel, effective Feb 23rd; gaming names stronger on the news

- (CN) China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Vice Min: China has built 718K 5G base stations, pushing for global partnerships in 5G construction

North America

- CCIV Confirms Lucid Motors to go public in merger with Churchill Capital Corp IV; transaction valued at $11.8B

- MRNA President Hoge: FDA has given positive feedback on proposal that may allow up to 15 doses to be drawn from each vial - press citing testimony

- (US) SEMI Jan North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $3.04B v $2.68B prior, M/M: +13.4% v 2.6%prior; Y/Y: +29.9% v 7.6% prior

- (US) US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Sumwalt: A loud noise could be heard on cockpit recorder, plane had minor damage from engine failure - comments on Air Flight 328 accidentfeel like its me as I cant hear any sounds

- (CN) US Delegation to the WTO said to support the Trump administrations' 'made in China' rule for Hong Kong exports; the delegation specifically said the WTO had no right to mediate the matter - SCMP

Europe

- (UK) Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak (Fin Min) reportedly expected to extend help to furloughed workers until May - UK's Times.

- (UK) BOE's Vlieghe: we may not see interest rates similar to before the financial crisis during my lifetime; may see decades of low interest rates.

Levels as of 12:15ET

- Hang Seng +1.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi +0.3%; Nikkei225 +0.5%; ASX 200 +0.9%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.5%; Nasdaq100 +0.8%, Dax +0.5%; FTSE100 +0.3%.

- EUR 1.2177-1.2156; JPY 105.11-104.92 ;AUD 0.7935-0.7909; NZD 0.7334-0.7312.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.2% at $1,811/oz; Crude Oil +1.6% at $62.67/brl; Copper +1.0% at $4.19/lb.