US SPR release speculation weighs on oil

Asia Market Update: US SPR release speculation weighs on Oil; China Mar PMIs contracted; Equities trade mixed.

General trend

- Russia/Ukraine talks to continue.

- South Korea Leading Index declines for the 8th straight month [Feb data].

- Less exciting session seen for USD/JPY [Japan's fiscal year ends on Mar 31st].

- Will the BOJ continue fixed-rate JGB buying ops into April?.

- Hang Seng has moved lower after opening slightly higher.

- Shanghai traded generally flat during the morning session.

- Property firms extend gains in Shanghai and HK amid earnings [and earnings delays].

- Nikkei 225 has remained slightly lower.

- S&P ASX 200 trades modestly higher [Resources index outperforms]; Markets decline amid selling late in the session.

- US equity FUTs rise.

- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thurs.

- BOJ Q1 Tankan Survey due on Fri. [Reminder from Mar 11: JAPAN Q1 BSI LARGE ALL INDUSTRY Q/Q: -7.6 V +9.6E; LARGE MANUFACTURING Q/Q: -7.6 V +7.9 PRIOR].

- Monthly Macau Gaming Revenues in focus.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened 0.4%.

- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$200M v NZ$200M indicated in 2027 and 2051 bonds.

- (AU) Australia Feb Private Sector Credit M/M: +0.6% v 0.6%e; Y/Y: 7.9% v 7.6% prior.

- (AU) Australia Q4 Job Vacancies Q/Q: 6.9% v 18.8% prior.

- (AU) AUSTRALIA FEB BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: +43.5% V 5.0%E.

- (AU) Said that an Australia Envoy has been denied entry into Australia Journalist Cheng Lei's trial in Beijing, China.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -0.8%.

- Softbank [9984.JP] Said to 'slow down' investments after tech holdings 'crash' - FT.

- (JP) Japan said to consider a ¥2.0T economic stimulus package - Press.

- (JP) JAPAN FEB PRELIMINARY INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: 0.1% V 0.5%E; Y/Y: 0.2% V 0.8%E.

- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: -¥708.2B v -¥109.7B prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: -¥241.1B v -¥631.8B prior.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) offers to buy 5-10 year JGBs at fixed rate of 25bps; Opens window to buy unlimited amount of 10-year JGBs at 0.25% [as expected].

- (JP) Japan MOF sells ¥3.0T v ¥3.0T indicated in 0.00% 2-year JGBs: Avg Yield: -0.0250% v -0.0200% prior; bid-to-cover: 5.43x v 4.56x prior.

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.1%.

- (KR) South Korea Feb Industrial Production M/M: 0.6% v -0.2%e; Y/Y: 6.5% v 4.5%e.

- (KR) South Korea Feb Retail Sales M/M: +0.1% v -1.9% prior; Y/Y: 1.6% v 4.7% prior.

- (KR) South Korea Feb Cyclical Leading Index Change: -0.3 v -0.1 prior (8th consecutive decline).

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Increasing external uncertainties may hurt corporate sentiment; Short term volatilities may impact large scale investment.

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min: Mulling deploying bond market stabilization measures should yield volatility become excessive.

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened +0.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY150B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY150B prior; Net inject CNY130B v Net inject CNY130B prior.

- (CN) CHINA MAR PMI MANUFACTURING (GOVT OFFICIAL): 49.5 V 49.8E (First contraction since Oct 2021).

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3482 v 6.3566 prior.

- (CN) Shanghai to adopt 'static management' of the entire city - press.

- (CN) China Economic Information Daily Commentary: China needs more measures to counter rising commodities prices.

- (CN) Efficiency of Shanghai Port said to be hurt by COVID measures - Chinese press.

- (CN) Shanghai, China says will remove lockdown restrictions depending on testing results.

North America

- (US) Said that the Biden Admin is considering a 'massive' release of oil to combat inflation; Could release up to 1.0Mbbls per day for 'months' from the Strategic Reserve - Press.

Europe

- (UR) Ukraine Negotiator: Ukraine and Russia to continue peace talks on Apr 1 (Friday).

- (RU) Russia Pres Putin reportedly recently spoke to Germany Chancellor Scholz; Germany says Putin proposed procedure to continue gas payments in euros - Russian press.

- (RU) Pentagon spokesperson: Russia seen repositioning about 20% of troops around Kyiv; Some of the troops moved to Belarus, none returned to home garrisons; There is growing tension between Pres Putin and Russian Defense Ministry.

- (UK) Mar Lloyds Business Barometer: 33 v 44 prior.

- (DE) Germany Mar preliminary CPI M/M: 2.5% V 1.6%E; Y/Y: 7.3% V 6.2%E (highest annual pace since 1993 reunification).

Levels as of 01:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, -0.4%, ASX 200 -0.2% , Hang Seng -0.9%; Shanghai Composite -0.3% ; Kospi +0.4%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.5%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.1%.

- EUR 1.1184-1.1156 ; JPY 122.45-121.82 ; AUD 0.7526-0.7479 ;NZD 0.6981-0.6951.

- Gold -0.7% at $1,919/oz; Crude Oil -5.9% at $101.41/brl; Copper -0.7% at $4.7137/lb.