Asian indices trade mixed after gains on Monday, oil prices extend losses

General Trend:

- Chinese Telecom Services and IT names decline in early trading as China moved to fast track IPOs on the ChiNext; US has placed new restrictions on exports to military buyers in China (press)

- HK bank earnings in focus (HSBC, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications)

- Japanese equities decline after gains on Monday, declining sectors include Iron & Steel and Real Estate

- Australia ASX 200 Energy index underperforms; Consumer Discretionary sector rises as more local governments in Australia announce easing of social distancing measures

- BHP considering plan to increase iron ore export capacity

- HK Leader: Civil servants can return to office work starting on May 4th

- Australia Q1 CPI due for release on Wed (April 29th
 

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.1%

- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Will give updated economic and fiscal outlook in June

- WES.AU Reports Q3 Kmart, Target sales broadly inline with H1 supported by online sales, remain profitable, Target earnings decreased significantly

- WBC.AU Guides H1 pretax impairment charge A$2.2B; guides CET1 ratio 10.8%

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$69.8B v A$66.4B prior

- BHP.AU Starting process to increase volumes if market conditions allow, looking to go beyond 290Mt/year

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adds A$950M to banking system through repos v A$4.28B prior

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$445M in Govt Bonds at QE auction v NZ$450M sought

- (AU) Australia sells A$2.5B v A$2.5B indicated in 1.25% May 2032 bonds, avg yield 1.0722%, bid to cover 3.20x

- (AU) Australia Treasury: Not working on any new economic packages at this time

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened flat

- (JP) According to Asahi poll 66% of Japanese do not want Japan PM Abe to serve another term

- (JP) Japan Gov't: Plans to cut issuance of inflation-linked government bonds at May 8th auction to ¥200B from ¥300B

- (JP) JAPAN MAR JOBLESS RATE: 2.5% V 2.5%E; Job to applicant ratio: 1.39 v 1.40e (lowest level since 2016 for Japan)

- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Most important economic responsibility is to protect jobs - speaking in parliament

- (JP) Japan Medical Association President: There would need to be very fast development of drugs, vaccine to make Olympics possible in 2021

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announcement related to daily bond buying operation: Raises all buying amounts

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.4%

- (KR) South Korea President Moon: Q2 GDP to be worse than Q1 (implies technical recession)

- (KR) South Korea Apr Consumer Confidence: 70.8 v 78.4 prior (over 10-year low)

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Needs additional KRW4.6T to fund cash handouts to every household - local press

- 051910.KR Reports Q1 (KRW) Net 36.4B v 211.9B y/y; Op 236.5B v 281.0B y/y; Rev 7.12T v 6.62T y/y; Cuts FY20 capex plan

- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) provides KRW180B in liquidity vai weekly repo operations v KRW270B prior

- (KR) South Korea Unification Min: We are aware of North Korea leader Kim location, no unusual movement in North Korea

- (KR) South Korea Mar Department Store sales Y/Y: -40.3% v -21.4% prior; Discount Store Sales Y/Y -13.8% v -10.6% prior

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%

- (CN) China PBOC to soon start trials related to digital currency in the Xiongan New Area (Hebei)– China Daily

- (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 27th: 6 additional cases ( 3 imported v 2 prior) v 3 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior; Additional Asymptomatic cases: 40 v 25 prior

- USD/HKD HKMA sells HK$10.7B into the market during NY trading hours as HKD traded at strong end of trading range

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0710 v 7.0703 prior

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips Reserve Repo Operations for the 19th consecutive session; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior

- (CN) China Ministry of Human Resources and Social Securities: 6 regions in China have increase minimum wage above CNY2,000/month - China Daily

- 5.HK Reports Q1 Net $1.8B v $4.1B y/y, adj Pretax $3.0B v $6.2B y/y, Rev $13.7B v $14.4B y/y; to temporarily delay parts of transformation plan

Other

- (SG) Singapore Central Bank (MAS) Economic Review: Singapore Economy in 2020 is likely to contract markedly, could be more than official GDP forecast of -4% to -1%; core and headline CPI to turn negative

North America

- (US) President Trump: US continuing to see encouraging signs of progress; All parts of the US are in good shape or getting better, states should be open quickly and safely; testing is good enough to open

- BA Seattle Times corrects report, Company has not provided job cut estimates to union (had reported to cut workforce by 15-35%)

- GM Ford, and Fiat Chrysler reportedly to resume limited US factory output with May 18th as target restart date - press

Europe

- (UK) Apr Lloyds Business Barometer: -32 v +6 prior
 

Levels as of 1:15ET

- Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite 0.0%; Kospi +0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.4%; ASX 200 -0.5%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.2%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 +0.2%

- EUR 1.0837-1.0817; JPY 107.34-107.19; AUD 0.6470-0.6433; NZD 0.6050-0.5992

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.9% at $1,708/oz; Crude Oil -12.9% at $11.13/brl; Copper -0.2% at $2.34/lb