Corrective day for Asian equities with Nikkei heavyweights under pressure

Asia market update: Corrective day for Asian equities with Nikkei heavyweights under pressure; Tesla’s FSD ambitions in CN may require patience; Focus tomorrow on CN Apr imports/exports, BOJ Summary of Opinions, UK BOE rate.

General trend

- Japan’s Nikkei led a correction in Asia, -1.5%, with only Korea’s Kospi edging into positive territory. Toyota Motors initially -4.0% despite releasing better earnings than last year and a ¥1.0T buyback (~3.0% of shares). Toyota guided FY25 global sales to be slightly down vs last year. Toyota later pared losses. Mitsubishi Heavy -7.0% on Net profit guidance of ¥230B for FY25 whereas market had expected ¥253B. Sony also down -4% ahead of reporting FY23/24 next week (May 14th).

- China may have put a restraining hand on Elon Musk’s Full Self-Driving ambitions, saying that it may support domestic testing, but has not yet approved full implementation of FSD.

- Japan BOJ Gov Ueda and Fin Min Suzuki both followed the script in parliamentary testimony today, refusing to be drawn on any specific level for the Yen, and whether any "yentervention" took place last week, or if Yen intervention will take place moving forward.

- AU yields continued downwards, inline with global trends, with AU 3-yr during morning trading well below 4% at 3.90% and 10-yrs having lost a similar 13bps over the past 24 hours since yesterday's RBA decision and continued weak Retail Sales (Q1 yesterday).

- US equity FUTs flat to slightly down during Asian trading.

Looking ahead (Asian time zone)

- Thu May 9th CN Apr imports/exports, BOJ Summary of Opinions, (Thu eve UK BOE rate decision).

- Fri May 10th NZ Apr PMI, JP Current A/c, TSM Apr Rev, (Fri eve UK Q1 GDP, Fri night ECB meeting minutes, Michigan May Consumer Sentiment.

- Sat May 11th CN PPI/CPI.

Holidays in Asia this week

- Thu May 9th Indonesia.

- Fri May 10th Indonesia.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opens +0.1% at 7,796.

- Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in 3.25% Apr 2029 bonds; Avg Yield: 3.9486% v 3.2198% prior; bid-to-cover: 4.12x v 2.34x prior.

- Fonterra Global Dairy Trade Auction Dairy Trade price index: +1.8% v +0.1% prior [overnight update].

- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov Bullock: Data is proving bumpy; Discussed option of raising rates at today's meeting - Post rate decision press conference [overnight update].

- Australia Apr Foreign Reserves (A$): A$89.8B v A$89.7B prior [overnight update].

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opens +0.2% at 18,510; Shanghai Composite opens -0.2% at 3,141.

- Tesla Proposes to launch Robotaxis in China; China says it may support domestic testing but has not yet approved full implementation of FSD in China - Chinese press.

- China RRR cut is possible in Q2 [inline]; cites analysts - China Securities Journal.

- Reportedly US will revoke licenses for supply of chips to China's Huawei – FT [overnight update].

- China State Admin of Foreign Exchange (SAFE): Domestic fundamentals are stable [overnight update].

- China Apr foreign reserves: $3.201T V $3.23TE [overnight update].

- China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.1016 v 7.1002 prior.

- China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY2B in 7-day reverse repos; Net injects CNY2B v drains CNY438B prior.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opens -0.4% at 38,677.

- Japan BOJ Gov Ueda: Reiterates that monetary policy is not meant to control FX (inline) - parliamentary testimony.

- Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Reiterates there is no 'absolute line' for FX levels, we are focused on the fluctuations - Japanese press.

- Japan sells ¥2.6T VS. ¥2.6T indicated in 10-year JGB bonds; AVG yield: 0.857% V 0.7530% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.15X V 3.80X prior.

- BOJ Gov Ueda: Regularly exchange views with PM Kishida on economy and financial markets; Confirmed BOJ and Govt are in close collaboration for price target [overnight update].

- Japan business lobby Keidanren Chief Tokura: Desirable for FX to reflect fundamentals in mid- and long-term - Japanese press [overnight update].

South Korea

- Kospi opens flat at 2,732.

- South Korea Apr Foreign Net Investment in Local Bonds: (KRW): +2.6T v -5.9T m/m.

Other Asia

- Philippines Mar Trade Balance: -$3.2B v -$4.1Be.

- Philippines Mar Unemployment Rate: 3.9% v 3.5% prior.

- Taiwan Apr CPI Y/Y: 2.0% v 2.2%e [overnight update].

North America

- (US) Weekly Redbook LFL Sales w/e May 4th: +6% y/y, Apr MTD +5.4% y/y.

- (US) Fed's Kashkari (non-voter): Housing market is proving more resilient to a tighter monetary policy than has been seen in prior years.

- (US) April Manheim wholesale used vehicle Index at 198.4; -2.3% m/m; -14% y/y.

- (US) Treasury's $58B 3-year note auction results: draws 4.605% V 4.548% prior, bid-to-cover ratio: 2.63 V 2.50 prior and 2.68 over the last 8 auctions.

- (US) Mar consumer credit: $6.3B V $15.0BE.

Europe

- Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Lviv reportedly under attack after more than a 1 month pause - financial press.

- (UK) Shadow MPC say that Bank of England (BOE) should leave rates unchanged on Thursday, but look at loosening policy in June (inline).

- SZG.DE prelim Q1 EBITDA €126M v €290M y/y, External Rev €2.7B v €3.0B y/y v €2.6Be; Cuts guidance citing indications that the German economy will not be able to keep pace with the upswing in other industrial nations.

- (EU) France Fin Min Le Maire: Considering a tax on corporate share buybacks.

- (IL) Israel PM Netanyahu: The Hamas proposal falls far short of Israel's essential demands.

- (IL) Biden Admin holding shipments of Boeing-made precision bombs to send political message to Israel - press.

- FRE.DE Raises FY24 organic rev +4-6% (prior 3-6%), EBIT (cc) +6-10% (prior 4-8%).

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225 -1.4%; ASX 200 -0.1%; Hang Seng -0.5%; Shanghai Composite -0.5%; Kospi +0.1%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures flat; Nasdaq100 -0.1%; Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 flat.

- EUR 1.0738-1.0757; JPY 154.27-155.26; AUD 0.6570-0.6600; NZD 0.5983-0.6015.

- Gold +0.1% at $2,326/oz; Crude Oil -0.6% at $77.94/brl; Copper -0.5% at $4.5687/lb.