Equities Trade Generally Lower In Asia

Mar 28 19, 07:34 GMT

General Trend:

Chinese financial, property and energy shares are among the early decliners
Telecom services index out performs in China; ZTE rises over 10% post earnings
China bank earnings in focus: China Construction Bank declines post earnings
ICBC is expected to report results later today, Bank of China and Agbank seen on Friday
China property developer Vanke rises over 2%, announced stock offering to repay foreign debt
Financial, Energy and Resources companies rise in Australia
Marine/Transportation and Securities Brokers under perform in Japan
Japanese automakers trade broadly lower
Japan’s Gunma Bank declines over 7% after profit warning
Yen gains amid lower bond yields and equity declines
Kiwi (NZD) rebounds from the initial losses seen after weaker business confidence data
Indonesia plays down contagion concerns related to Turkey
US/China due to hold trade talks in China on March 28-29th (Thursday-Friday)
Upcoming end of Japan’s fiscal year in focus (March 31st)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened slightly lower
(NZ) New Zealand 8-month Budget Surplus NZ$2.26B, NZ$347M wider than forecasted
(NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: economy is well placed to weather a global downturn
(NZ) New Zealand Mar ANZ Activity Outlook: 6.3 v 10.5 prior (lowest level since August); Business Confidence: -38.0 v -30.9 prior; Inflation expectations 2.05% v 2.06% prior
(AU) Australia Feb Job Vacancies: 1.4% v 1.6% prior
(NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$200M v NZ$200M indicated in April 2025 bonds, avg yield 1.4456% v 1.9118% prior, bid to cover 2.4x v 4.4x prior

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.9%
(JP) Japan Investors Weekly Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: ¥1.8T v -¥595.3B prior; Foreign Buying of Japan Stocks: -¥1.1T v -¥1.59T prior
(JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga: Nissan/Renault merger needs to satisfy all parties
8697.JP Confirms basic agreement to merge with TOCOM, no terms disclosed, expected to close in Sept
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.1T v ¥2.1T indicated in 0.10% (0.10% prior) 2-yr JGBs, avg yield: -0.175% v -0.167% prior, bid to cover 5.28x v 6.08x prior
(JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Fiscal year budget aimed at smoothing demand around the upcoming sales tax increase (after the close yesterday)

Korea

Kospi opened -0.7%
(KR) US Sec State Pompeo: Time we see real action by North Korea on nuclear talks
(KR) US Commander in S. Korea, Army Gen. Robert Abrams, North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities have been “inconsistent” with its pledge to denuclearize, the commander of US forces in South Korea – Yonhap
000660.KR To invest KRW1.2T for new chip manufacturing complex, targeting to start construction from 2022

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.4%
(CN) Trump Administration Official: China tariffs will be key sticking point and will be resolved as part of the deal; no specific time frame set for trade deal, talks could conclude anytime from April to June
(CN) China Premier Li: Have not adopted loose monetary policy to stimulate growth, policies are paying off, Economic indicators steady in first 2 months of the year, market expectations are improving; Cannot rule out some fluctuation in quarterly economic growth this year, enough policy tools to deal with any slowdowns
(CN) China Feb Swift Global Payments CNY: 1.9% v 2.2% prior
(CN) Pork stocks in Shandong said to decline amid impact of African swine fever outbreak – HK Press
2202.HK Announces placement of 263M H shares at HK$29.68/shr for HK$7.8B
2628.HK Reports FY18 (CNY) Net 11.4B v 32.3B y/y, Total Rev 627.4B v 643.4B y/y
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 7th consecutive session; Net drains CNY0B v CNY0B prior
(CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.7263 v 6.7141 prior (weakest setting since Feb 20th)
(US) US President Trump: We’re going to make ‘very good’ deal with China – US media interview
(CN) China General Administration of Customs: To cut import VAT tax by CNY225B ($33.5B) in 2019, effective April 1 – Xinhua

North America

(US) Fed’s George (hawk, voter): Support Fed outlook to be patient on policy in a good place for it, current outlook for inflation looks benign; sees 2019 GDP ~2.0%
(US) DOE CRUDE: +2.8M V -0.5ME; GASOLINE: -2.9M V -2.5ME; DISTILLATE: -2.1M V -1ME

Europe

(UK) Parliament approves legislation to delay date of Brexit (as expected); Vote count was 441 to 105
(UK) UK Parliament indicative votes: no majority reached on any indicative votes (as expected); MP Letwin proposes parliament should vote again on Monday to reconsider these matters
(UK) PM May told Tory MPs that she’ll hand over leadership once Brexit is delivered; does not offer a specific timetable for stepping down
(UK) Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Foster says she regrets DUP cannot support PM May’s Brexit deal while it poses a threat to the integrity of the UK – press
(UK) Tory Lawmaker Rees-Moog: If PM May brings Brexit deal to vote, will support DUP

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, -1.6%, ASX 200 +0.7%, Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -0.3%; Kospi -0.7%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 +0.3%
EUR 1.1259-1.1243 ; JPY 110.53-110.11 ; AUD 0.7100-0.7073 ;NZD 0.6823-0.6780
Gold -0.1% at $1,316/oz; Crude Oil -0.3% at $59.23/brl; Copper flat at $2.862/lb