Shanghai pared gain upon return from holiday, copper rises; crude oil extended gain amid move by Texas

Asia Market Update: Asia trades generally lower after directionless session on Wall St.; Shanghai pared gain upon return from holiday, Copper rises; Crude oil extended gain amid move by Texas.

General trend

- Following the mostly higher opens, Asian equities are generally lower

- Hang Seng has lagged and trades closer to the lows [TECH and Finance indices decline]

- Shanghai Consumer Staples index drops over 3% [Kweichow Moutai fell], Financial and Property names rose, along with the IT index

- Automakers in Japan underperform, financials trade generally weaker, Air Transportation and Pharma cos. outperformed

- Australia’s Energy index drops [Santos and Woodside reported results], financials trade modestly higher [ANZ reported Q1 results]

- Earnings reactions: [Australia]: NRW Holdings, Perpetual Ltd, Woodside Petroleum decline; ANZ, CSL and Fortescue; [Japan]: Trend Micro declines

- Natural gas shortages in the US have started to impact auto plants in Mexico; Texas Gov told producers not to export natural gas out of the state until Feb 21st

- Companies due to report during the NY morning include Blue Apron, Colfax, Dana Inc, Fiverr International, Barrick Gold, Hormel Foods, Marriott International, Newmont Group, Omnicomm, Reliance Steel, Teck Resources, Tri Pointe Homes, Visteon Corp, Vonage, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies, Waste Management, Walmart

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened +0.4%

- (AU) AUSTRALIA JAN EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: 29.1K V +30.0KE; UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 6.4% V 6.5%E

- STO.AU Reports FY20 underlying Net $287M v $719M y/y, Rev $3.39B v $4.03B y/y

- ORG.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 224M v 528M y/y; underlying EBITDA 635M v 723M y/y; Rev $6.07B v $6.73B y/y; Affirms FY21 guidance

- ANZ.AU Reports Q1 (A$) adj Cash profit 1.84B v 1.70B y/y

- S32.AU Reports H1 (A$) underlying Net 136M v 131M y/y, underlying EBITDA 633M v 678M y/y; Rev 2.94B v 3.22B y/y; expands capital management program by $250M, raises buyback fro $1.39B (prior $1.14B)

- FMG.AU Reports H1 Net $4.08B v $2.45B y/y, underlying EBITDA $6.64B v $4.22B y/y; Rev $9.34B v $6.49B y/y

- (AU) Former Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board Member Edwards: RBA extension of QE beyond Sept is likely

- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Facebook ban on sharing news is wrong and heavy handed, Reminder: FB Plans to restrict pageviews and sharing of news content in Australia in response to proposed new Media Bargaining law

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%

- (JP) According to local press only a few Japan companies are planning to offer a blanket pay raise during the 2021 shunto talks (Spring Wage Talks)

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Discussed recent global economic events with PM Suga, Also discussed Mar policy review

- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: ¥477.1B v ¥1.03T prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: ¥330.1B v ¥463.2B prior

- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥1.2T v ¥1.2T indicated in 0.5% 20-year JGBs: avg yield: 0.4820% v 0.4430% prior; bid to cover 3.13x v 3.35x prior

Korea

-Kospi opened -0.2%

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: There is a need to keep expansionary fiscal and monetary policy

- (KR) South Korea 2020 M&A activity -53.1% y/y, attributed mostly due to a lack of "mega deals" – Yonhap

- (KR) US officials say North Korea is running a cyptocurrency theft scheme that targets finance and energy - press

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened +0.3%; Shanghai Composite opened +1.8%

- (CN) China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) reports spending over Lunar New year for retail and catering CNY821B, +28.7% y/y - Xinhua

- (CN) China Securities Journal: China Market liquidity to remain stable after Lunar New Year

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY20B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY20B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY260B v Net drain CNY80B prior

- (CN) China Jan Swift Global Payments CNY: 2.4% v 1.88% prior.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4536 v 6.4391 prior.

- (CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY200B IN 1-YEAR MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (MLF) AT 2.95% V 2.95% PRIOR

North America

- (CN) According to US Chamber of Commerce if US and China engage in a tariff war or US companies halve their investments in China, they stand to lose up to $500B collectively; A 25% tariff on all bilateral trade would cut $190B from US GDP by 2025 - press

- (US) Texas Gov Abbott: orders producers not to export natural gas out of the state until Sunday, Feb 21st, amid severe winter weather

- (MX) Mexico Economy Minister: Contacted US Govt Representative in Mexico looking to guarantee supplies of natural gas into Mexico

- (MX) Mexico Deputy Trade Min De La Mora: Texas export restriction of Natural gas will affect both Mexico and US economies

- BIDU Reports Q4 $3.08 v $2.51e, Rev $4.64B v $4.46Be

Europe

- (IT) Mario Draghi govt wins vote of confidence in Italy Senate – press.

Levels as of 12:15ET

- Hang Seng -1.2%; Shanghai Composite +0.9%; Kospi -0.8%; Nikkei225 -0.1%; ASX 200 0.0%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.5%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 +0.3%.

- EUR 1.2050-1.2035; JPY 105.92-105.69; AUD 0.7771-0.7748; NZD 0.7202-0.7182.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,782/oz; Crude Oil +1.1% at $61.80/brl; Copper +1.9% at $3.89/lb.