Japanese equities lag again amid ongoing BoJ speculation

Asia market update: Japanese equities lag again amid ongoing BOJ speculation; Ueda is waiting on more data; USD/JPY pared drop; US CPI data due later today.

General trend

- Nikkei pared drop on Ueda’s comments.

- Oracle results support Nasdaq FUTs.

- New Zealand RBNZ's Gov Orr to speak at events in London on Mar 12 & 13.

- China might release bank lending data.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opens +0.1% at 7,707.

-Australia Feb Business Confidence: 0 v 1 prior.

-Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Gov Hunter: Q4 GDP largely in line with forecasts; recent inflation data consistent with forecasts.

-Australia sells A$150M v A$150M indicated in 0.25% Nov 2032 indexed Bonds: Avg Yield: 1.453% bid-to-cover: 2.90x.

-ACCC [Australia competition regulator]: Extends wholesale price controls to superfast fixed-line broadband networks.

-Appen [APX.AU]: Halted.

-New Zealand Feb Total Card Spending M/M: -1.9% v 2.0% prior.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opens +0.7% at 16,701.

-Shanghai Composite opens flat at 3,068.

-China Financial Regulator (NFRA) Chief Li: Studying lowering down payment ratio for cars.

-China is testing an AI assistant for neurosurgeons at seven hospitals in Beijing and other cities in coming months - press.

-China 30-year government bond yield rises by >4bps [**Reminder Feb 29th (CN) China 30-year bond yield again hits a fresh record low].

-US Steelworkers Union to file USTR petition on China practices - FT.

- BYD [1211.HK]: Not likely to achieve 2024 overseas sales target of 400K units; cites executives - WSJ.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opens -0.9% at 38,470.

-Nikkei 225 FUTs in Singapore open -275 points at 38,280.

-BOJ Gov Ueda; Sees weakness in consumption of nondurable goods; More data will come out this week, so will look at these comprehensively in reaching appropriate monetary policy decision.

- Japan Fin Min Suzuki: We have not reached a stage where Japan can avoid the risk of falling back into deflation [**Reminder Feb 16th: (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Reiterated that an end to BOJ's negative interest rate policy won't immediately prompt the govt to declare a complete end to deflation].

-Japan Q1 BSI large all industry Q/Q: 0.0 V 4.8 PRIOR; Large Manufacturing Q/Q: -6.7 v +5.7 prior.

-Japan Feb PPI (Domestic CGPI) M/M: 0.2% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 0.6% v 0.5%e [highest annualized pace since Oct].

-BOJ seen ending negative rate policy if Rengo wage data is 'strong' - JIJI [Reminder Mar 8th: *(JP) growing number of Bank of Japan (BOJ) members reportedly leaning to end negative interest rate policy (NIRP) at March 18-19th meeting; key determinant will be outcome of March 13th's wage talks – press; BOJ reportedly may hold off until April 25-26th meeting if many board members prefer to wait for next month's "tankan" business sentiment survey and the bank's regional branch managers' report on the nationwide wage outlook, before making a final decision].

-Bank of Japan (BOJ) did not buy ETFs today, Mar 11th despite decline in indices of over 2% - press.

-Japan Business Lobby (Keidanren) Chairman: High possibility BOJ will normalize policy in near future but not sure if it will be meeting on Mar 18-19th.

-Japan PM Kishida: To hold three-way meeting among govt, labour and corporate management on Mar 13th to strengthen momentum for higher wages.

-Japan Economy Minister Saito: This year’s wages key turning point to growth economy.

- Japan sells ¥2.5T V ¥ 2.5T indicated in 5-year JGB bonds; AVG yield: 0.3720% V 0.3100% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.99X V 3.44X prior.

-Renesas [6723.JP]: Said to delay regular salary raise by 6 months, to reduce staff; notes slow recovery in chip demand - Japanese press.

Korea

-Kospi opens +0.5% at 2,673.

-South Korea chipmakers said to halt old equipment sales; cites concerns of US backlash – FT.

Other Asia

-ASE Technology [2311.TW]: Awarded packaging orders for Apple M4 Processor - Taiwan press.

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -0.4%, ASX 200 +0.1% , Hang Seng +2.3%; Shanghai Composite -0.2% ; Kospi +0.5%.

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

- EUR 1.0938-1.0921 ; JPY 147.44-146.62 ; AUD 0.6621-0.6607 ;NZD 0.6191-0.6164.

- Gold -0.2% at $2,185/oz; Crude Oil +0.2% at $78.10/brl; Copper -0.3% at $3.9207/lb.