Nikkei again drops over 2%

Asia Market Update: Asia trades generally lower after losses on Wall St; BHP weighs on AU Resources index; Nikkei again drops over 2%; CN outperforms amid bank earnings.

General trend

- US equity FUTs extended declines in Asia [Nasdaq FUTs lagged; Netflix declined over 8% in after-hours trading amid results/guidance].

- Nikkei has lost over 2% again on today’s session [Automakers extend declines (USD/JPY moves lower, US autos dropped amid continued reports related to chip shortages ); Department stores decline in the face of reports related to Tokyo state of emergency; Toshiba declines on report related to CVC ; Rakuten drops amid statement on Tencent].

- S&P ASX 200 has declined by over 1% following the flat open [Resources index dropped over 2% (BHP declines after issuing production update); Energy and Financial indices are also among the losers; Nuix drops on updated guidance].

- Shanghai Composite rebounded from the opening decline [Banks rose after Q1 earnings from Ping An Bank].

- Hang Seng has remained lower, currently trades near the middle of today’s range [HK TECH index has lost over 2%; ANTA Sports drops on stake sale].

- HK earnings remain in focus [ASM Pacific rose by over 13% after results/guidance; China Mobile reported; China Unicom is expected to report today, Great Wall Motor may also issue results].

- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Anthem, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Knight-Swift Transportation, Lithia Motors, Nasdaq, TE Connectivity, Verizon.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened 0.0%.

- BHP.AU Reports Q3 Iron Ore production (100% basis, Waio) 66.7Mt v 68Mt y/y; Waio Iron Ore Shipments 66.0Mt v 67.1Mte; Attributable Iron ore production 59.9Mt v 60.0Mt y/y.

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 CPI Q/Q: 0.8% V 0.8%E; Y/Y 1.5% V 1.5%E.

- (AU) Australia Prelim Mar Retail Sales M/M: 1.4% v 1.0%e.

- (NZ) New Zealand Q1 RBNZ Sectoral Factor Model inflation Index Y/Y: 1.9% v 1.8% prior (highest since 2010).

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -1.5%.

- 6502.JP Concludes CVC proposal can not be evaluated – press (after the close yesterday).

- 7269.JP Said to plan additional cuts to production due to chip shortages – Press.

- (JP) Japan said to maintain its fiscal 2025 fiscal surplus target – Press.

- (JP) Tokyo said to be seeking a declaration of a state of Emergency from Apr 29 to May 9 (Golden Week)- Press.

- 9984.JP Not source of the report on earnings; True company will post unrealized profits on investments.

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.2%.

- (KR) According to satellite imagery, North Korea continues to work on a submersible missile test barge at Nampo.

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min: South Korea closely monitoring property market trends.

- (KR) South Korea Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) held its first meeting for negotiations; labor representatives calling for a "steep increase" to the minimum wage for 2022 to overcome economic inequality deepened amid pandemic; Employers groups called for a smaller increase due to pandemic impact – Yonhap.

- (KR) South Korea Apr 1-20 Exports y/y: 45.4% v 12.5% prior; Imports y/y: 31.3% v 16.3% prior; Chip Exports y/y: 38.2% v 3.6% prior.

- 005930.KR Speculation that Lee family may use its stock holdings as collateral for loans to meet $10B inheritance tax bill - press.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -1.5%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.5%.

- (CN) Former China PBOC Gov Zhou: Digital yuan will mainly be used in small retail deals; Signs that protectionism and tariff wars will not escalate, inflation is a cost of global stimulus - Boao forum.

- (CN) China Industry Ministry (MIIT) spokesman Huang Libin: Will work with other departments to stabilize commodity prices, avoid panic buying and crack down on speculation.

- 522.HK Reports Q1 (HK$) Net 528.4M v 25.5M y/y; Rev 4.3B v 3.0B y/y.

- (CN) China PBOC Gov Yi Gang: Reiterates stance to expand the opening of the financial sector; Vice Gov Li Bo: China can consider issuing very long bonds for pensions - Boao forum comments (yesterday after the close).

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5046 v 6.5103 prior.

Other

- 2317.TW Foxconn said to have signed a scaled-back deal for the Wisconsin LCD factory, to invest $672M (prior up to $10B) – press.

North America

- (US) Weekly API Crude Oil Inventories: +0.4M v -3.6M prior.

- NFLX Reports Q1 $3.75 v $2.98e, Rev $7.16B v $7.14Be; To repurchase up to $5B common stock in 2021.

- AMZN Exec: Taxation of the company has been a sticking point in global talks – Press.

- IBKR Reports Q1 $0.98 v $0.51 y/y, Rev $893M v $532M y/y.

Europe

- (DE) German national poll: Green party at 28%, moving ahead of Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc at 21%.

- (EU) According to a European Commission (EC) report there is no expectation of a post COVID pending boom across all income and age groups (update).

Levels as of 01:15ET

- Hang Seng -1.8%; Shanghai Composite +0.0%; Kospi -1.6%; Nikkei225 -2.1%; ASX 200 -0.8%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.5%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 +0.0%.

- EUR 1.2044-1.2025; JPY 108.14-107.88; AUD 0.7736-0.7705; NZD 0.7187-0.7163.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.2% at $1,782/oz; Crude Oil -0.8% at $62.16/brl; Copper +0.4% at $4.22/lb.