Asian equities decline as US officials commented on equity volatility

Asia Market Update: Asian equities decline as US officials commented on equity volatility; Apple and Tesla declined following earnings; Modest losses seen in commodity currencies and precious metals amid drop in risk appetite; Samsung did not issue CAPEX guidance.

General Trend

- Hang Seng TECH and Finance indices decline by over 2%

- Shanghai IT index declines over 2%

- Decliners in Australia included Resources, Energy and Financial cos.

- Topix Information & Communication and Electric Appliances indices were among the losers in Japan; Marine Transportation index rose amid earnings speculation related to Kawasaki Kisen

- Japan companies expected to report results include Daiwa Securities, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Canon Inc, Fujitsu and Seiko Epson

- DAX FUTs outperform, BMW reported Q4 results for auto unit

- MSCI said it will not delete China cos. from its indices, noted comments from the US Treasury Dept.

- China repo rates continue to rise amid PBOC cash drains

- Australia Q4 export prices rose on ores and metal scrap prices; AUD appreciation weighed on both export and import prices

- NZ Dec dairy exports to China declined, dairy product exports to China dropped for the first time in 6 years

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

- BOJ is due to release the Summary of Opinions from its Jan policy meeting on Fri (Jan 29th)

- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include American Airlines, Comcast, Dow Inc, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Altria Group, MSCI, Northrop Grumman, Nucor, PulteGroup, Sherwin-Williams, Stanley Black & Decker, Valero Energy

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened -0.7%

- (NZ) New Zealand Dec Trade Balance (NZD): 17M v 800Me

- FMG.AU Reports Q2 Iron Ore Shipments 46.4Mt v 46.4Mt y/y; Ore Mined 50.0Mt v 54.6Mt y/y

- (AU) Australia Q4 Import Price Index Q/Q: -1.0% v -1.0%e; Export Price Index Q/Q: +5.5% v +5.3%e

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened -1.6%

- (JP) JAPAN DEC RETAIL SALES M/M: -0.8% V -0.7%E; Y/Y: -0.3% V -0.5%E

- (JP) Japan PM Suga to decide on state of emergency extension right before current one is set to end on Feb 7th - Japan press

Korea

-Kospi opened -0.2%

- 005930.KR Reports final Q4 (KRW) Net 6.6T v 5.2T y/y; Op 9.1T v 9.0T prelim; Rev 61.6T v 61T prelim

- (KR) South Korea PM Chung: Should resume short selling after system improvement, cannot extend short selling ban forever

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) To end Standing Lending Facility on Feb 3rd as planned; May resume lending for financial firms if necessary

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened -1.3%; Shanghai Composite opened -1.1%

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY180B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY150B v Net drain CNY100B prior

- (CN) China Finance Ministry: Will maintain stable marco leverage ratio; Will resolutely deal with hidden debt risks and avoid systemic risks

- (US) US Treasury OFAC amended the restrictions that were placed on investments related to the securities of certain China military cos.; MSCI said will not proceed with the deletion of the securities referenced in communication on January 26 - update

- HUAWEI.CN White House press secretary Psaki: Telecommunications equipment made by "untrusted vendors" including China's Huawei is a threat to US security and its allies

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4845 v 6.4665 prior

- (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) HK Money markets operating smoothly, to maintain monetary and financial stability

Other

- 2330.TW Addressing chip supply challenges in auto sector as top priority, Expediting critical auto products through wafer Fabs

North America

- (US) Treasury Sec Yellen: Will try to better understand risk of stranded assets (projects shutdown by Govts), Keystone pipeline significance for energy and economy is limited - answers to Senate Finance Committee

- TSLA CFO: Semiconductor shortage may have a temporary impact ; Q1 deliveries aided by Model Y production in China and offset by slowdown in Model S, X during production transition in US - conf call comments

Europe

- (UK) Dec Auto Manufacturing 71.4K v 73.1K y/y; 2020 Car production 920.9K, -29.3% y/y (lowest level since 1984) - SMMT

Levels as of 12:15ET

- Hang Seng -1.8%; Shanghai Composite -1.2%; Kospi -1.7%; Nikkei225 -1.4%; ASX 200 -1.9%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.4%, Dax +0.4%; FTSE100 -0.8%

- EUR 1.2112-1.2083; JPY 104.38-104.06; AUD 0.7666-0.7621; NZD 0.7163-0.7130

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.5% at $1,835/oz; Crude Oil -0.4% at $52.62/brl; Copper +0.1% at $3.55/lb