Copper remains volatile

Asia Market Update: Asia tracks decline on Wall St., 10-yr gov’t bond yields generally higher after rise in UST yields; Japan BTC drops; Copper remains volatile.

General trend

- Asian markets have extended declines following the negative openings; Most markets are off of their respective lows; Tech firms have generally tracked the declines on the Nasdaq, Financials have outperformed amid the higher 10-year gov’t bond yields; Recent drop in metals has weighed on Resource cos.

- Hang Seng TECH index drops over 5%, Financials continued to outperform in HK; Banks also continued to outperform in Shanghai, Consumer Staples index declines over 4% in Shanghai [Kweichow Moutai drops over 5%].

- Nikkei 225 has been weighed down by large components [Fast Retailing drops on price cuts; Softbank tracks weakness in tech; Hitachi Zosen rises on battery news], Japan markets extended declines following JGB auction

- Ex-dividends [Rio Tinto, Woolworths, BHP, CSL] and drop in Resources index weigh on Australian market

- Chipmakers decline in South Korea, Taiwan Semi drops over 3%

- Shanghai Nickel trades limit down after drop in US metals

- RBA did not step up daily bond purchases despite yield rise

- Japan 30-yr JGB auction has lowest BTC since 2016 [despite higher yield]

- Japanese investors again net sellers of foreign bonds (weekly data)

- Another Japan corporate said to delay bond sale amid volatility

- China National People’s Congress (NPC) begins today (Mar 4-10th)

- Chinese Premier Li is due to issue China’s 2021 work report on Friday (March 5th; the specific time is not yet known)

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

- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include BJ’s Wholesale, Burlington Stores, Baozun, CIENA Corp, Charles River Associates, Kroger, Methode Electronics, Michaels

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened -0.2%

- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Gov Orr: RBNZ is in a sound position to continue to meet its mandate in the face of COVID-19 induced economic shock; our remit remains unchanged

- Rio Tinto, CSL, Woolworths and BHP trade ex-dividend

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) head of financial stability Kearns: Expects some increase in non performing loans, overall picture is positive - speaking at Moody's Credit Trends

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -1.2%

- 9983.JP Uniqlo and Gu to cut prices of its clothing products in Japan by 9.1%, in response to many people experiencing unprecedented difficulties - Nikkei

- 8411.JP Again had a temporary disruption to its ATM services Wednesday and was separate from the system glitch experienced on Sunday – press

- Japan MoF sells ¥900B v ¥900B indicated in 0.7% (prior 0.6%) 30-year JGBs, avg yield 0.6910% v 0.6620% prior, bid to cover: 2.77x v 3.47x prior(lowest btc since 2016)

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.2%

- (KR) SOUTH KOREA FEB CPI M/M: 0.5% V 0.4%E; Y/Y: 1.1% V 1.0%E (1st reading above 1% in 5 months); CPI Core Y/Y: 0.8% v 0.7%e

- (KR) SOUTH KOREA Q4 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 1.2% V 1.1%E; Y/Y: -1.2% V -1.4%E

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -1.2%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.9%

- (CN) China Securities Journal: China Market rates unlikely to have surges in short term; market rates might rise in Q2 amid an acceleration in gov't bond sales

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

- (CN) Reminder: China top political advisory body will open its annual session today, the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Discussions on the draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the long-range objectives through the year 2035 will be on the agenda at this year's session

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4758 v 6.4565 prior

- (CN) China CIC Official Zhao: China Wealth Fund CIC expects relatively stable markets in 2021; Had >12% return in 2020

North America

- (US) Senate will not vote tonight on motion to proceed on COVID relief bill; will wait until lawmakers receive the CBO/JCT score on the bill – press

- AAPL US State of Arizona pushing forward bill that would require Google and Apple to allow alternative payment options outside of their own – press

- (US) CDC delays issuing guidelines for COVID vaccinated people - press

Europe

- (DE) German Chancellor Merkel: confirms reached agreement with state leaders on a five stage plan to ease COVID restrictions

Levels as of 12:15ET

- Hang Seng -2.5%; Shanghai Composite -1.7%; Kospi -1.1%; Nikkei225 -2.2%; ASX 200 -0.8%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.5%; Nasdaq100 -0.8%, Dax -0.4%; FTSE100 -0.6%

- EUR 1.2067-1.2044; JPY 107.11-106.97; AUD 0.7799-0.7752; NZD 0.7261-0.7228

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,713/oz; Crude Oil +0.8% at $61.73/brl; Copper +0.6% at $4.13/lb