Asian equity markets trade mixed

Asia Market Update: Asian equity markets trade mixed, in line with Monday’s US session; Samsung warns on Q1

General Trend:

- Samsung warns on Q1, shares decline over 0.5%

- Japanese equity markets out perform supported by Marine/Transportation, Machinery, Real Estate and Electric Appliance companies; Softbank lags

- Nintendo rises over 5% amid speculation related to new Switch models

- Telecom services and Industrial companies decline in China

- Australian rare earth miner Lynas Corp receives bid from Wesfarmers

- McDonald’s to acquire AI company Dynamic Yield, no terms disclosed but said to be more than $300M deal

- FOMC member Rosengren comments on Fed balance sheet, Q1 growth

- UK Parliament votes to take control of Brexit, passing the Letwin Amendment

- Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) due to hold policy meeting on Wed

- China bank earnings in focus: ICBC and China Construction Bank are expected to report on Thursday, Bank of China and Agbank results seen on Friday

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened slightly lower

- (AU) RBA Assistant Gov Ellis: Weak income growth is weighing on household consumption; still a bit off from unemployment level that would drive materially faster wages; will not move with other countries on rates - speaking at HIA March Industry Outlook Breakfast

- (NZ) New Zealand Feb Trade Balance (NZ$): +12M v -200Me; Exports: 4.82B v 4.7Be; Imports: 4.8B v 4.9Be; Trade Balance (12-month YTD): -6.6B v -6.7Be

- LYC.AU Wesfarmers make conditional non-binding offer at A$2.25/shr cash

- (AU) Australia sells A$150M v A$150M indicated in 0.75% Nov 2027 indexed bonds, avg yield 0.27%, bid to cover 3.7x

- (NZ) New Zealand Feb New Residential Mortgage Lending Y/Y: 2.8% v 9.6% prior

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened +0.9%

-(JP) BOJ Harada: Biggest contribution of QQE has been the productivity rise - speaking at Daiwa Institute of Research conference (after the close yesterday)

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Summary of Opinions for Mar 24 and 25 meeting: In order to maintain the highly accommodative financial conditions, it is essential to persistently continue with the current monetary easing policy while taking account of developments in economic activity and prices

- (JP) Japan Feb PPI Services Y/Y: 1.1% v 1.1%e

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: CPI target is not a case of prices can go up at any cost, not saying price target should be withdrawn

- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥399.2B v ¥400B indicated in 0.80% (prior 0.8%) 40-yr JGBs, highest accepted yield 0.6100% v 0.7400% prior, bid to cover: 3.50x v 3.79x prior

-(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Feb Core CPI Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.5% prior

Korea

-Kospi opened +0.4%

- 005930.KR Guides Q1 to be lower than market expectations; decline in memory chip and display prices larger than expected

- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: Fiscal policy will help sustain growth; concerns are rising over growth potential

China/Hong Kong

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

- (CN) China Premier Li: To use reform and opening up as a driving force to further stimulate market vitality to ensure the healthy development of the Chinese economy - speaking at China Development Forum 2019 yesterday

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 5th consecutive session; Net drains CNY50B v CNY60B prior

- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.7042 v 6.7098 prior

- 000002.CN Reports FY18 (CNY) Net 33.8B v 34.3Be, Rev 297.7B v 328Be

- 1208.HK To declare force majeure on Las Bambas contracts; Production and transport to be progressively impacted starting later this week due to protesting activity

- (CN) China city of Shanghai will increase minimum wage by 2.5%, effective in April

- (CN) China CSRC (securities regulator) tightens rules for convertible bond subscriptions

- (CN) China State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Jan-Feb profit growth said to be 'solid', the combined profits of SOEs were CNY452B (+10% y/y) and revenues were CNY8.7T (+6.3% y/y) - Xinhua

Other Asia

- (TH) Thailand Feb Manufacturing Production Index Y/Y: -1.6% v +0.4%e

-(SG) Singapore Feb Industrial Production M/M -4.1% v -2.6%e; Y/Y: 0.7% v -0.04%e

North America

- (US) Fed’s Rosengren (moderate, voter): Shortening duration of Fed holdings aids flexibility; it may be important for Fed to increase share of Treasury bills, lower duration of its balance sheet more quickly; personal opinion is negative rates not the best way to respond to next recession - speaking in Hong Kong

- CBS Expected to resume merger talks with Viacom - NY Post

Europe

- (UK) Parliament passes Amendment A (Letwin): approves to take control of parliamentary time to hold indicated votes on Brexit alternatives on March 27th

- (FR) France and China sign deals worth billions of euro yesterday on China President Xi's visit to France

Levels as of 1:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +2.2%, ASX 200 +0.1%, Hang Seng +0.1%; Shanghai Composite -1%; Kospi +0.3%

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

- EUR 1.1323-1.1310; JPY 110.24-109.93 ; AUD 0.7129-0.7107 ;NZD 0.6925-0.6906

- Gold -0.3% at $1,324/oz; Crude Oil +0.7% at $59.24/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.854/lb