Russia and Ukraine held talks, next week’s US Fed meeting in focus

Asia Market Update: Decent losses seen for equity indices; HK TECH index drops >8% on US regulatory concerns; Russia and Ukraine held talks; Next week’s US Fed meeting in focus [Mar 15-16].

General trend

- EUR rises in Asia following the ECB.

- USD/JPY rises to the highest level since early 2017; EUR/JPY also gains.

- China said to have widened the trading band between the CNY currency (Yuan) and RUB currency (Ruble) from 5% to 10% - press.

- Shanghai Nickel FUTs trade limit down; LME Nickel FUTs remain shut.

- Shanghai Property and IT indices decline over 2%.

- China Merchants Bank credit fund said to halt trading.

- SoftBank Group drops over 6% on HK tech selloff; Japanese automakers also decline.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opened slightly higher.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened -0.8%.

- (JP) Japan Jan Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y: -1.2% v -3.0%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: 6.9% v 3.6%e.

- (JP) Japan Q1 BSI leage all industry Q/Q: -7.6 V +9.6E; leage manufacturing Q/Q: -7.6 V +7.9 prior.

- (JP) Japan Govt to spend ¥8.8B in reserve funds for humanitarian support in and around Ukraine; Remaining reserves ~¥86B.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Govt not considering an economic stimulus package now.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BoJ) Head of Monetary Affairs Dept Shimizu reiterated no need to withdraw ultra-easy policy [in line] - financial press.

- (JP) Japan considering additional sanctions against North Korea.

Korea

-Kospi opened +0.5%.

- (KR) South Korea PM: Coronavirus may peak between now and Mar 22nd - Yonhap (in line).

- (KR) South Korea Mar 1-10 Exports Y/Y: +14.9% v -12.6% prior; Imports Y/Y: +15.3% v -6.6% prior.

- (KR) South Korea Feb Foreign Net Investment in Local Bonds: +$3.49B v +$3.16B prior.

- (KR) South Korea Jan Current Account (BOP): $1.8B v $6.1B prior (21st consecutive surplus, smallest since Apr 2021); Balance of Goods (BOP): $0.7B v $4.5B prior.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng opened -2.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -1.1%.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3306 v 6.3105 prior.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net CNY0B v Net CNY0B prior.

- (CN) China regulator says confident can resolve audit issues related to US-listed Chinese cos. - financial press.

- (CN) China reports 1.1K coronavirus cases, highest amount in ~2-years.

- (CN) China Premier Li: Hitting 5.5% GDP target will not be easy; Low rate of inflation in China shows right policies are being used; China lowered the deficit rate and macro leveraging ratio in 2021.

- Various Chinese companies indicated lower due to the US SEC Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act list.

- (CN) CNBC's Faber tweets: "Big decline in $JD and $BABA appears related to naming of first 5 Chinese ADR's by SEC in the 3 years de-listing process established by the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which requires mainly China based registrants to disclose government control and influence."

- (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: Still monitoring if current coronavirus outbreak has peaked; Current coronavirus wave has outgrown Govt capacity.

- (CN) S&P: China soft landing may come with surprises, corporate default risks to remain elevated in 2022.

- (CN) China Human Resources Ministry: Has removed Ning Jizhe from Vice Head of State Planner.

- (HK) Hong Kong to begin derivatives Holiday trading on May 9th.

- (CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF) sells 3-month bills and 30-year bonds.

- (CN) China Cybersecurity Emergency body has been continually attacked from abroad since Feb; Most attacks came from US - Xinhua.

- DIDI Halts Hong Kong listing over cybersecurity probe.

North America

- (US) Colombia said to be prepared to increase oil exports to the US, cites Colombia President Duque - press.

- (US) Senate passes Omnibus spending bill, averting a shutdown through the end of Sept.

- (US) President Biden to speak on Russia at 10:15ET tomorrow (Mar 11th) on holding Russia accountable.

- (US) Russia Embassy in US demands US halts Meta activities.

- (US) US Senate Banking Committee to hold hearing on Digital assets on Mar 17th (Thurs.).

Europe

- (RU) UN Security Council to convene on Friday (Mar 11th) at Russia's request.

- (UR) Satellite Images show Russia Military Convoy near Kyiv, Ukraine has been mainly dispersed or redeployed.

- (NE) Netherlands PM Rutte: May take years for EU Commission to assess Ukraine Bid [to be added to the EU].

- (AT) Austria Chancellor Nehammer: EU Leaders see Ukraine as part of EU Family.

- (US) Press Sec Psaki: Russia seizing company assets will result in more pain; US Stands with companies making decisions on Russia.

- (RU) Russia said to be looking into ways to resume stock trading next week - Press.

- (EU) FT: Hawks are in control at the ECB due to inflation dictating a change in policy [follows Thursday's ECB decision].

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -2.4%, ASX 200 -1% , Hang Seng -3.3%; Shanghai Composite -1.8% ; Kospi -1.2%%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.5%; Nasdaq100 -0.7%, Dax -1.5%; FTSE100 -0.2%%.

- EUR 1.1019-1.0976 ; JPY 116.66-116.10 ; AUD 0.7368-0.7329 ;NZD 0.6876-0.6835.

- Gold -0.6% at $1,989/oz; Crude Oil +0.2% at $106.23/brl; Copper -0.4% at $4.6197/lb.