Equity indices trade mixed amid holidays

Asia Market Update: Equity indices trade mixed amid holidays, HK property developers drop after Evergrande’s trading halt; US equity FUTS and USD rise.

General trend

- USD/JPY holds above ¥115 amid Japanese holiday.

- WTI Crude FUTs trade modestly higher.

- South Korean bond yields rise on extra budget talk.

- Hang Seng reversed the opening gain.

- Shenzhou International [focuses on knitwear products] said production to be impacted by virus measures in Ningbo.

- XPeng and Li Auto rise after reporting Dec deliveries; Tesla’s Q4 deliveries beat ests.

- Little initial impact seen from better than expected Dec Macau casino revenues.

- Guangzhou R&F debt exchange deadline in focus [Jan 4th].

- Samsung speculated to increase chip investments in 2022, might issue prelim Q4 results on Fri. (Jan 7th).

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 closed for holiday.

- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: From Sept to Nov added 485K jobs, number of employed +5.7% from pre-pandemic - press.

- (AU) Australia PM Morrison feeling “totally fine” and hasn’t had the need to take a Covid test, after a positive case was detected in his residence.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 closed for holiday.

- (JP) Japan said to be planning to invest >¥2.0T in renewables – Nikkei.

- 6758.JP "Spider-Man: No Way Home" top movie in the N. American box office with $52.7M in sales, to date $609.9M.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.7%.

- (KR) South Korea ruling party thought to be seeking KRW30T extra budget - Korean press.

- (KR) South Korea 2021 IPOs totaled KRW20.8T, a record high; the 2022 IPO market expected to be strong – Yonhap.

- (KR) North Korea leader Kim, in his 2022 outline of policy, does not issue specific messages to US or South Korea.

- (KR) South Korea Dec Trade Balance: -$0.6B v $2.3Be; Exports Y/Y: 18.3% v 23.9%e (14th consecutive growth); Imports Y/Y: 37.4% v 40.0%e; 2021 Exports y/y: +25.8% v -5.5% in 2020 (highest since 2010).

- 005930.KR May invest >KRW35.0T into chip business in 2022; invested KRW32.9T in chip facilities in 2020 - Korean press.

- (KR) South Korea President Moon: To enhance support for creation of more private sector jobs and will try to speed up home supplies - New Year's speech.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite closed for holiday.

- 3333.HK Said to have been told by a local government in Hainan province to dismantle some illegal buildings - press.

- (CN) China property developers have a combined $197B in debt coming due in January - financial press.

- (HK) Macau Dec Casino Rev (MOP) 7.96B v 6.75B prior; Y/Y +1.8% v 0.0% prior; 2021 Casino Rev MOP86.9B, +43.7% y/y.

- (CN) China authorities pledge to resolve food shortages in locked down Xi'an – press.

- (CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF) cuts 2022 subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEV) by 30% and fully discontinued on Dec 31, 2022; Subsidies for NEVs in public transport will be cut by 20%.

- 2313.HK Notes certain production sites in Beilun District (Ningbo) to be impacted by virus measures.

Other

- (SG) SINGAPORE Q4 ADVANCED GDP Q/Q: 2.6% V 2.1%E; Y/Y: 5.9% V 5.1%E; 2021 GDP Y/Y: 7.2% v 7.1%e.

- (KR) South Korea Dec PMI Manufacturing: 51.9 v 50.9 prior (15th consecutive expansion).

North America

- TSLA Reports Q4 deliveries 308.6K v 266Ke v 241.3K q/q; FY21 deliveries 936.0K v 499.6K y/y.

- NIO Reports Dec deliveries 10.5K +49.7% y/y v 10.9K m/m.

- LI Reports Dec deliveries 14.1K +130% y/y; YTD deliveries 90.5K, +177.4%.

- (US) NIH Fauci: CDC may add covid testing to isolation guidance after getting pushback (update).

Europe

- (RU) US President Biden affirms support of Ukraine sovereignty to President Zelensky, US would respond "decisively" to any Ukraine invasion.

- (UK) PM Johnson under increasing pressure to address rising energy prices (incl scrapping green taxes), as an 'emergency' and act on cost of living - UK press.

- (IE) Ireland Dec PMI Manufacturing: 58.3 v 59.9 prior (lowest since Mar 2021).

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng -0.6%; Shanghai Composite closed for holiday; Kospi +0.5%; Nikkei225 closed for holiday; ASX 200 closed for holiday.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.4%; Nasdaq100 +0.6%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 -0.3%.

- EUR 1.1381-1.1339; JPY 115.31-115.07; AUD 0.7278-0.7240; NZD 0.6857-0.6823.

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,825/oz; Crude Oil +0.7% at $75.76/brl; Copper -0.5% at $4.44/lb.