Biden again did not implement the SWIFT payment system sanctions against Russia

Asia Market Update: Equity indices trade generally higher after the rebound on Wall St; Biden again did NOT implement the SWIFT payment system sanctions against Russia; cautious trading seen ahead of the weekend; USD Index declines after prior rise; Kishida commented on the Yen.

General trend

- Western Ukraine now in focus; Nuclear power plant in Chernobyl is also a focal point.

- Various central bankers commented on Ukraine (Fed’s Waller, RBNZ Orr).

- Multiple cos. said to face operational disruptions due to Russia/Ukraine situation (Wilmar International, Sumitomo Electric).

- MSCI commented on the Russia sanctions.

- Japanese cos. continue to delay debt sales on market volatility.

- Financials decline amid sanction concerns.

- US equity FUTs decline after prior rebound.

- Nikkei 225 has extended gain.

- Hang Seng reversed gains.

- Shanghai Composite pared gain.

- PBOC stepped up liquidity injection.

- S&P ASX 200 ended slightly higher.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.2%.

- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in 2.75% Nov 2029 bonds; Avg Yield: 2.1648%; bid-to-cover 3.77x.

- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Imposing further sanctions on Russia individuals; Unacceptable that China is easing trade restrictions with Russia at this time.

- (NZ) New Zealand PM: Announces travel bans and prohibition on trade with Russia.

- (NZ) S&P affirms New Zealand sovereign rating; Outlook Stable.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.9%.

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida: Will strengthen sanctions against Russia, Will impose controls on semiconductors; Must avoid commenting on decline in Yen.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Russia Invasion shakes the foundation of global order; Warns financial companies on cyber attacks.

- (JP) Japan Industry Min: Confirms will appropriately deal with oil release from national reserves in cooperation with relevant countries and the IEA.

- (JP) Japan Feb Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 1.0% V 0.7%E; CPI (EX-Fresh FoodY/Y: 0.5% V 0.4%E.

- (JP) Japan said to be increasing Gasoline subsidy to ¥25/L beginning in March.

- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: +¥40.7B v -¥1.91T prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: -¥261.9B v -¥29.7B prior.

- (JP) Japan MOF sells ¥3.0T v ¥3.0T indicated in 0.00% 2-year JGBs: Avg Yield: -0.0200% v -0.0540% prior; bid-to-cover: 4.56x v 3.87x prior.

- (JP) Japan Dec Final Leading Index CI: 104.8 v 104.3 prelim; Coincident Index: 92.7 v 92.6 prelim.

Korea

- Kospi opened +1.1%.

- (KR) South Korea expects Omicron to peak during mid-Mar; sees up to 250K daily cases during the peak phase - South Korea press.

- (KR) South Korea: Confirms to participate in export controls related to Russia; Preparing support measures for impacted companies.

China/Hong Kong

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

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY300B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY200B prior; Net inject CNY290B v Net inject CNY190B prior.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3346 v 6.3280 prior.

- (CN) China PBOC and Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to finalize details on trade finance platform.

- (CN) China Minister of Science and Tech Wang: China will support scientific research efforts by private companies.

Other

- (TW) Taiwan Premier: Will join other countries in putting sanctions on Russia.

- (VN) Vietnam Ministry: to increase imports of Petroleum products in Q2 by 2.4M Cubic Meters to compensate for lowered domestic output.

- (SG) Singapore Jan Industrial Production M/M: -10.7% v 0.4%e; Y/Y: 2.0% v 11.6%e.

North America

- (US) US CDC expected to end mask recommendation for most of the US - US press.

- (US) Fed's Waller (Hawk, Voter): Favors 100bps of rate increases by mid year; Ukraine adds to outlook uncertainty; Support balance sheet run off start by no later than July.

- (US) US Wheat futs hit 14-year highs amid focus on Russia and Ukraine.

Europe

- (UR) Ukraine President signs decree on general mobilization.

- (RU) US White House: China ties with Russia are too limited to make an impact; Believes Putin has 'grander' ambitions than Ukraine.

- (RU) US Commerce Dept: US suspends all current Russia export licenses.

- (RU) Russia President Putin and France President Macron had phone call on Thursday (Feb 24th), cites the Kremlin - Press.

- (UK) Feb GfK Consumer Confidence: -26 v -18e (13 month low, largest m/m decline since start of pandemic).

- (RU) Netherlands PM Rutte: May EU Leaders want Russia shut out of SWIFT; More work must be done on possible SWIFT measures.

- (RU) France President Macron: Putin wants to bring us back to age of empires and confrontations; Belarus will be targeted for penalties.

- (UR) Ukraine envoy to Japan: Russia special operation forces seized Chernobyl facility (Old Nuclear Plant) but do not know how to control it.

- (UR) US Department of Defense: US has deployed ~15K troops in last few days, Has >90K service members in the EU.

- (UR) Ukraine President Zelenskiy: Russia Resumes missile strikes at 4AM Local time on Feb 25th; Russia troops stopped from advancing in most directions.

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +1.8%, ASX 200 +0.1% , Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.7% ; Kospi +1.1%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.6%; Nasdaq100 -0.8%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +1.2%.

- EUR 1.1228-1.1186 ; JPY 115.62-115.14 ; AUD 0.7204-0.7140 ;NZD 0.6721-0.6686.

- Gold -0.6% at $1,915/oz; Crude Oil +2.3% at $94.92/brl; Copper flat at $4.4975/lb.