Equity markets trade mixed despite US gains

Asia Market Update: Equity markets trade mixed despite US gains, US confirmed upcoming trade talks with China; Aussie CPI leaves focus on RBA rate cut

General Trend:

- Financial and Property shares decline in Shanghai, PBOC denied rumor related to targeted RRR cut

- China telecom earnings in focus: China Mobile declines after Q1 results, Unicom rises

- China’s Ping An Bank rises after Q1 profits rose ~13% y/y

- Nikkei 225 trades flat amid focus on corporate earnings and declines in financials; Fanuc and Canon expected to report results after market close

- Various utilities decline in Japan on regulatory concerns

- Nissan declines on speculation that the company may cut its FY outlook

- LG Display declines as lower prices hurt operating results

- Steelmaker Posco’s profits decline on lower steel prices, affirmed FY sales forecast

- Australian equities out perform on rate cut bets, REITs and Utilities outperform

- Bellamy’s rises over 16% in Australia after receiving a regulatory approval in China

- Aussie yields drop over 15bps on weaker CPI, some are now focused on the May 7th RBA policy decision

- PBoC confirms targeted MLF operation as markets await direction regarding RRR cut

- Korean Won (KRW) remains weaker amid some focus on dividend related flows , South Korea’s extra budget in line with market speculation

- South Korea prelim Q1 GDP data is due on Thursday

- Brent Crude Futures decline after recent gains

- Bank of Japan (BOJ) is due to meet April 24-25th

- Japan Fin Min Aso is expected to discuss forex issues with US Treasury Sec Mnuchin this week, Aso is expected to travel to the US on April 25th (Thursday)

- US companies expected to report results on Wed morning include Boeing, Biogen, Caterpillar, Dominos Pizza, Moody’s, AT&T

 

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.1%

- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 CPI Q/Q: 0.0% V 0.2%E; Y/Y: 1.3% V 1.5%E; CPI Trimmed Mean (core) Q/Q: 0.3% v 0.4%e; Y/Y: 1.6% v 1.7%e (3rd consecutive reading below target and matches lowest level since Q3 2016)

- (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence: 119.5 v 115.3 prior

- (AU) Australia Mar Skilled Vacancies M/M: -1.5% v -1.2% prior

- AJX.AU Receives approval from US EPA for the manufacture and sale of ALEXIFLAM NF in the US

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%

- 6594.JP Reports Q4 Net ¥7.79B v ¥36.9B y/y; Op ¥9.25B v ¥20.9Be, Rev ¥364.0B v ¥382.2B y/y; cites ¥38.8B in temporary expenses for decline in Op

- (JP) Japan Mar PPI Services Y/Y: 1.1% v 1.1%e

- 6501.JP Acquires JR Automation for $1.43B from Crestview Partners

Korea

-Kospi opened +0.4%

- Korean Won (KRW) trades at lowest level since Sept 2017, some have cited repatriation related to stock dividend payments

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min: Announces KRW6.7T extra budget (in line with press speculation); Expected to add 0.1% to 2019 GDP; Will issue KRW3.6T in treasury bonds to fund extra budget

- (KR) North Korea leader Kim on his way to Russia, expected to enter via train later today in Vladivostok where he will meet President Putin – Nikkei

- 034220.KR Reports Q1 (KRW) Net -62.6B v -101.5Be; Op -132.0B v -96.3Be; Rev 5.88T v 5.8Te

- 005490.KR Reports Q1 (KRW) Net 778B v 732Be; Op 1.2T v 1.2Te; Rev 16.0T v 16.5Te

-005930.KR Investing KRW133.0T into logic chips by 2030

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%

- (CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY267.4B V CNY257.5B PRIOR 1-YEAR TARGETED MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (TMLF) AT 3.15% v 3.15% PRIOR (2nd use of TMLF)

- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.7205 v 6.7082 prior

-(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repo operations for the third consecutive session; Net: CNY0 v drain CNY40B prior

- HUAWEI.CN UK PM May grants Huawei approval to work on UK's 5G network rollout - UK's Telegraph

 

Other Asia

North America

- (US) SEMI: Mar North America Billings: $1.83B v $1.86B prior, m/m: -1.9% v -1.7% prior; y/y: -24.6% v -23% prior

- BA Said to target receiving FAA approval for software upgrade by as early as the third week of May - financial press

- (US) Trump said to consider waiving US ship mandate related to natural gas, the report is referring to the Jones Act waiver - US financial press

- TSLA To re-introduce lower entry price for Model S and Model X by resuming standard range option

- (US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: Crude: +6.9M v -3.1M prior

- (US) White House: Lighthizer and Mnuchin to travel to China, trade talks to start on April 30th; talks to cover IP, tech transfer and agriculture

Europe

- (UK) Cabinet ministers reportedly urging PM May to end talks with Labour Party and force a fourth Commons showdown on Brexit deal next week - The Sun

 

Levels as of 1:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -0.3%, ASX 200 +0.9%, Hang Seng -0.7%; Shanghai Composite -0.4%; Kospi -1.1%

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

- EUR 1.1229-1.1208 ; JPY 111.98-111.80 ; AUD 0.7104-0.7030 ;NZD 0.6660-0.6613

- Gold -0.2% at $1,271/oz; Crude Oil -0.5% at $65.97/brl; Copper -0.2% at $2.888/lb