NVDA leads Asian chip-relateds lower

Asia market update: Quiet Monday following no fresh geopolitical tensions; BTC halving uneventful; NVDA leads Asian chip-relateds lower; Tesla cuts prices; Pick-up in EU, US, JP earnings this week.

General trend

- Middle East update: Quieter markets opened near their Friday close following Friday's extensive volatility due to Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran and some of its proxies in Iraq and Syria; No further escalation over the weekend. Only Kataib Hezbollah brigades in Iraq said that they were to resume attacks on US forces due to lack of progress on US troop withdrawal. Gold -1.0%, WTI Crude -0.8%.

- Copper extended its two-year highs to $4.55/lb.

- Kiwi and Aussie dollars led modest recoveries in currencies vs USD, with AU 10-yr yields +13bps.

- In addition to NDAQ100’s worst week since Nov 2022, Nvidia fell 10% in NY trading on Friday, its biggest fall since Mar 2020, with media attributing the drop to the -23% plunge in server vendor Super Micro, after SMCI neglected to provide its usual prelim results (reports on Apr 30th). Asian chip-makers Advantest fell as much as -3.3%, Tokyo Electron -4.0%, SK Hynix -1.0%, with Taiwan Semi -1.0%.

- Tesla cut prices by ~2k in the US, China and Germany, and Li Auto chimed in with its own China price cuts of ~$3k.

- Bitcoin prices were stable over the weekend at ~$65k mark as it completed its fourth “halving” (the pre-programmed cutting of BTC’s rate of supply by halving miner rewards in order to reduce the rate at which bitcoins are created).

- China released its March YTD Foreign Direct Investment after skipping the reading for February; YoY -26.1% shows that foreign capital has continued its exodus out of the economy, despite Beijing’s multiple measures and meetings over recent months designed to re-attract foreign funds to its shores.

- Late Friday BOJ Gov Ueda said that long-term JP inflation expectations are 1% to 1.5% long-term, a lot less than the ~2.5% to ~4% monthly CPI readings that Japan has recorded over the past year.

- Hang seng outperformed as high as +2.1% after China CSRC (securities regulator) said to lower commission rate for equity fund trading and new measures to cooperate with Hong Kong capital markets.

- US equity FUTs +0.3-0.5% during Asian trading.

Looking ahead (Asian time zone)

- Tue Apr 23rd AU Apr PMI, JP Apr PMI, (Tue eve DE & UK Apr PMI; Tue night US Apr PMI).

- Wed Apr 24th AU Q1 CPI, NZ Mar Balance of Trade, ID rate decision.

- Thu Apr 25th KR Q1 Adv GDP, (Thu eve DE Consumer Confidence, Thu night US Q1 Adv GDP).

- Fri Apr 26th JP BOJ rate decision, AU PPI, (Fri night US Mar PCE).

Holidays in Asia this week

- Thu Apr 25th Australia, New Zealand.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opens +0.2% at 7,581.

- Goldman Sachs said to consider applying for Australia banking license - Australian Press.

- Australia Treasurer Chalmers said the government will cut the growth outlook for most major economies in the May budget release – financial press [update].

- Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in 0.50% Sept 2026 bonds: Avg Yield: 3.8965% v 4.2877% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.76x v 4.03x prior.

- Australia Energy Min Bowen: Announces largest-ever renewable project tender - Australian press.

- RBNZ: Urges banks to monitor insurance status of mortgages.

- Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Mar Credit Card Spending M/M: 0.7% v 2.1% prior; Y/Y: 1.4% v 2.1% prior.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opens +1.2% at 16,410; Shanghai Composite opens -0.2% at 3,059.

- China PBOC monthly loan prime rate (LPR) setting: Leaves rates unchanged; as expected.

- LI Auto cuts prices by CNY18-19,000 for some models incl.h L7, L8 , L9 and MEGA, effective today - financial press.

- China must avoid spillover risk related to property, real estate credit risk is ‘basically controllable’; cites bank executives – China Economic Daily.

- US House within its $95B aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan included legislation on TikTok that would force the company to be sold or face a national ban in the US [weekend update].

- China Mar YTD Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (CNY-denominated) Y/Y: -26.1% v -19.9% prior [weekend update].

- China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM): Will support foreign institutions to invest in Chinese sci & tech firms via investment scheme QFLP [weekend update].

- China CSRC (securities regulator): To lower commission rate for equity fund trading; Announces measures to cooperate with Hong Kong capital market [weekend update].

- China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.1043 v 7.1046 prior.

- China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY2B in 7-day reverse repos; Net CNY0B v net CNY0B prior.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opens +0.5% at 37,240.

- Japan BOJ Gov Ueda: BOJ will reduce JGB purchases at an unspecified time in the future, but the extent of the reduction remains undetermined [weekend update].

- IMF Japan Mission Chief Salgado: BOJ will likely have room to raise interest rates further; Further tightening must be gradual and data-dependent [weekend update].

South Korea

- Kospi opens +0.9% at 2,615.

- South Korea Apr 1-20th Exports Y/Y: 11.1% v 11.2% prior; Imports Y/Y: +6.1% v -6.3% prior.

- South Korea denies it might raise gas prices - update.

Other Asia

- Vietnam Central Bank (SBV) delays gold auction to Apr 23rd from Apr 22nd - Press.

- Malaysia Econ Min: Malaysia seeks to attract global tech companies with visas, tax concessions and subsidies, incl the largest IC design park in SE Asia - Malaysian press.

North America

- TSLA Cut prices in the US for the Model Y, Model X and Model S by $2.0K; also cut prices in markets including China and Germany - financial press [update].

- Informatica (INFA) Reportedly Salesforce talks to buy Co. have failed – WSJ.

- (US) FDIC considers tighter checks on passive investors in US banks - FT.

- (US) NYSE said to query market participants on ‘round-the-clock- trading - FT.

- US Fed speakers in blackout from April 20 - May 2.

Europe

- (UK) Apr Rightmove House Prices M/M: 1.1% v 1.5% prior; Y/Y: 1.7% v 0.8% prior.

- (EU) ECB Villeroy (France): Reaffirms view that Middle East tensions should not delay June rate cut and more should follow - interview.

- NATO Sec Gen Stoltenberg: Confirms NATO has agreed to provide more air defenses to Ukraine [weekend update].

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225 +0.4%; ASX 200 +0.9%; Hang Seng +1.9%; Shanghai Composite -0.6%; Kospi +0.6%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.5%; Dax +0.4%; FTSE100 +0.3%.

- EUR 1.0651-1.0671; JPY 154.45-154.74; AUD 0.6414-0.6455; NZD 0.5886-0.5929.

- Gold -1.3% at $2,381/oz; Crude Oil -0.8% at $82.52/brl; Copper +0.3% at $4.5085/lb.