Equity markets trade generally higher after the gains on Wall Street

Asia Market Update: Equity markets trade generally higher after the gains on Wall St.; China released inflation data; US PPI due later today; USD/JPY declines.

General trend

- Former Japan Finance Ministry official Nakao [seen as possible Kuroda replacement] said new BOJ leaders should rethink policy, favors policy review with gradual adjustments – US financial press.

- Property firms rise in China amid ongoing stimulus talk [China govt said to consider more property easing measures at an upcoming economic meeting on Dec 15th – press].

- Taiwan Semi may report monthly sales this week.

- China has not yet released Nov bank lending data.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.2%.

- (AU) Narrabri gas pipeline has been declared critical, cites New South Wales (NSW) gov't - press.

- (NZ) New Zealand PM Arden: Sees a chance of a trade mission to China during early 2023.

- (AU) Australia sells A$700M v A$700M indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds; Avg Yield 3.045%: bid-to-cover 4.97x.

- (AU) APRA releases final prudential standard on public disclosure requirements for authorised deposit-taking institutions.

- (NZ) New Zealand Nov Total Credit Card Spending M/M: -0.4% v +0.9% prior.

- (NZ) New Zealand Q3 Manufacturing Activity Q/Q: 5.1% v -3.2% prior; Manufacturing Volume Y/Y: 3.1% v -4.8% prior.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%.

- (JP) Former Japan Finance Ministry official Nakao [seen as possible Kuroda replacement] said new BOJ leaders should rethink policy, favors policy review with gradual adjustments – US financial press.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) offers to buy 5-10 year JGBs at fixed rate of 25bps; Opens window to buy unlimited amount of 10-year JGBs at 0.25% [as expected].

- (JP) Japan said to target increasing corporate taxes to raise ~¥1.0T starting in FY27 to fund defense spending [inline] - Japanese Press.

- (JP) Japan Industry Min Nishimura: Must be careful about tax increases for defense spending; should not slow investments or wage increases.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: PM Kishida gave direction for defense funding; need total ¥4.0T of defense funding each year.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.5%.

- (KR) South Korea Nov Foreign Net Investment in Local Bonds: +0.63B v +$0.28B prior.

- (KR) South Korea Oct Current Account (BOP): $0.88B v +$1.61B prior; Balance of Goods (BOP): -$1.48B v +$0.49B prior.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened flat.

- (CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF) Sells 3-month and 6-month bills.

- (CN) China Premier Li: World economy faces many grim challenges, risk of global recession increasing; Domestic economy currently in stable state after reversing Q3 Economic decline.

- (CN) CHINA NOV CPI M/M: -0.2% V -0.2%E; Y/Y: 1.6% V 1.6%E.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY2.0B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY2.0B prior; Net CNY0B v net drains CNY8.0B prior.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9588 v 6.9606 prior.

- (CN) US to sanction entities from China and Russia, relates to alleged human rights abuses – US financial press.

North America

-(US) Citi US Inflation Surprise Index falls from 26.53 to 20.13 (lowest since Dec 2020).

-(US) Adobe Analytics Nov Digital Price Index (DPI) -2.0% y/y, -3.2% m/m (fastest drop since pandemic).

-(US) Initial jobless claims: 230K V 230KE; CONTINUING CLAIMS: 1.67M V 1.62ME (highest since Feb 2022).

-(US) weekly EIA Natural Gas inventories: -21 BCF VS. -30 BCF TO -32 BCF indicated range.

Europe

- (UR) According to Ukraine energy firm Energoatom, Russia has placed several Grad MLRS on the territory of the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and preparing another provocation at the site.

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +1.3%, ASX 200 +0.5% , Hang Seng +1.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.1% ; Kospi +0.4%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.1%.

- EUR 1.0585-1.0551 ; JPY 136.88-135.76 ; AUD 0.6800-0.6763 ;NZD 0.6411-0.6353.

- Gold +0.5% at $1,809/oz; Crude Oil +0.7% at $71.99/brl; Copper +0.9% at $3.9165/lb.