Asian markets continue to trade mixed despite US gains

General Trend

- Hang Seng and HK TECH indices have reversed the opening gains [Chongqing Iron and CHALCO rise on Q1 guidance]

- Shanghai extended declines during the morning session [Consumer Staples index declined by over 2%]

- Nikkei is still higher [Topix Marine Transportation, Securities , Pharma and Electric Appliances indices are among the gainers; Fast Retailing declined after earnings report/guidance; Yaskawa Electric is due to issue earnings after the market close; Toshiba commented on takeover proposal]

- Australian equities have remained lower [Decliners include Consumer Staples and Energy indices]

- Largan Precision declined after Q1 earnings; Nanya Technology is due to issue Q1 earnings later today.

- Companies expected to report earnings during the NY morning include JinkoSolar.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened flat.

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Financial Stability Review: Housing Price growth being watched by regulators.

- (AU) Australia Mar AIG Services Index: 58.7 v 55.8 prior.

- (AU) Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.5614%, bid to cover 4.2x.

- (AU) Australia to sell Nov 2032 Bond via syndication during the week of April 12th.

- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Australia secured additional 20M Pfizer coronavirus doses, raising total dose deliveries to 40M in 2021.

- New South Wales State (Australia) has temporarily halted all AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines - Press.

- (NZ) RBNZ buys NZ$140M v NZ$120M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$140M sought.

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) offers to buy a total of NZ$420M in government bonds next week under QE program v NZ$420M prior.

- (NZ) New Zealand Mar Heavy Truckometer Index M/M: 2.8% v 3.3% prior.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened +0.5%, Shanghai Composite -0.2%.

- *(CN) CHINA MAR CPI M/M: -0.5% V -0.4%E; Y/Y: +0.4% V +0.3%E; PPI Y/Y: 4.4% v 3.6%e.

- (CN) US Commerce Dept adds seven Chinese supercomputing entities to 'entity list' for their support of China’s military.

- (CN) PBoC Gov Yi: Reiterates China to keep Macro Economic policy stable and continuous.

- (CN) China Vice Premier Liu He: to implement prudent monetary policy, keep Yuan exchange rate basically stable at above reasonable and balanced levels.

- (CN) China banking regulators set to crack down on personal insurance market irregularities – press.

-(CN) China Ministry has urged cities to help cut down on Housing Speculation - Xinhua.

- (US) China said to maintain anti dumping duties on Unbleached Sack Paper from US for 1-year.

- (CN) Beijing said to have forced Jack Ma Academy to stop enrollments - FT.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5409 v 6.5463 prior.

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

- (CN) China Ministry of Finance Sells 3-month and 30-year bonds.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened +0.5%.

- (JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Wants stricter coronavirus measures for Tokyo, Kyoto, and Okinawa prefectures; Wants measures to apply Apr 12 - May 11.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Declines to comment on Toshiba acquisition by CVC; Reiterates G20 makes it a rule that countries will NOT resort to FX intervention for competitiveness; G-20 language change on currencies merely clarifies stance.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.1%

- (KR) South Korea First Vice Fin Min Lee: South Korea needs to take pre emptive anti inflation steps – Press.

- (KR) South Korea notes that daily coronavirus cases could double in following 1-2 weeks (Reminder reported >700 on Apr 8th)

Other Asia

-(TW) Taiwan Govt: Denies that China Military is using Taiwan Semi Chips [responds to Washington Post report related to Phytium Technology]

North America

- (US) Fed Chair Powell: factors are coming together to support a brighter outlook from fiscal support and vaccines;; We want to see a string of months like the March jobs report to see progress.

- (US) NY Fed EVP Logan: may expand the counterparty pool for access to the Reverse Repo facility; The Reverse Repo may become a more important tool to the Fed; Fed is seeing downward pressure on money market rates.

-Johnson & Johnson [JNJ]: Certain vaccination sites in North Carolina said to have halted JNJ coronavirus vaccine shots due to adverse reactions in at least 26 people - US press.

Europe

- (DE) ECB's Schnabel (Germany): Reiterates Council stance that delaying EU fiscal aid would be disastrous - financial press.

- (UK) UK Travel Taskforce: To announce in Early May categorization of each country by coronavirus threat.

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.6%, ASX 200 -0.2% , Hang Seng -0.9%; Shanghai Composite -0.7% ; Kospi -0.3%.

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

- EUR 1.1920-1.1903 ; JPY 109.39-109.21 ; AUD 0.7662-0.7625 ;NZD 0.7066-0.7041.

- Gold -0.3% at $1,752/oz; Crude Oil +0.2% at $59.66/brl; Copper -0.5% at $4.0713/lb.