Asia Trades Mixed Amid Holiday Impact, UST Yields Decline

General Trend

• Asian markets are currently mixed after the mostly higher opens.
• S&P ASX 200 has outperformed after the recent 2-day holiday [Consumer Discretionary and Resources indices have outperformed; Travel stocks rise on AU/NZ travel news].
• Nikkei has declined after the opening gain, moved back below 30K [Topix Marine Transportation, Banks and Air Transport indices are among the decliners; Softbank Group drops after prior gain].
• Shanghai Composite has reversed the opening gain [Consumer indices lagged during morning session].
• HK markets to return from 3-day holiday on Wednesday (April 7th).
• RBA affirmed forward guidance.
• Companies due to report earnings during the NY morning include Greenbrier, Lindsay Corp, Paychex.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened 0.0%.
• (AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) LEAVES CASH RATE TARGET UNCHANGED AT 0.10%; AS EXPECTED; Maintains 3-year yield target at 0.10%; Maintains bond purchase program at A$100B.
• (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Conditions to open up quarantine free travel with Australia have been met, to open Apr 19th.
• CWY.AU Entered into an agreement to acquire Suez R&R Australia for A$2.52B; Announces entitlement offering.

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%.
• 9984.JP Confirms to acquire 40% stake in Norway’s AutoStore for $2.8B ($7.7B enterprise value).
• (JP) Japan Feb Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y: -0.2% v -0.6%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: +0.2% v -0.1%e (1st y/y gain in 1-year).
• (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Confirms extending sanctions on North Korea for 2-years.
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥900B v ¥900B indicated in 0.7% 30-year JGBs, avg yield 0.6880% v 0.6910% prior, bid to cover: 3.11x v 2.77x prior.

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.1%
• 010950.KR Awarded KRW2.44T supply agreement contract for Aramco Trading.
• (KR) South Korea 2020 national debt KRW846.9T (record high) v KRW723.2T y/y – Yonhap citing Cabinet report.

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng closed for holiday; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%.
• (CN) CHINA MAR CAIXIN PMI SERVICES: 54.3 V 52.1E (11th month of expansion, highest level since Dec); PMI Composite: 53.1 v 51.7 prior (8th consecutive month of expansion, highest since Dec).
• (CN) China Apr 2nd-5th holiday weekend, total box office sales CNY814M.
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5527 v 6.5649 prior.
• (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY10B v CNY0B prior (first net drain since March 5th).
• (CN) China solar company, Longi Green Energy Technology, has registered to have a hydrogen company in China – press; note that Longi is considered one of the largest, if not the largest solar company in the world, making this a notable shift.

Other

• 3008.TW Sees April Rev decline due to materials shortages of components such as semiconductors and sensors – local press.
• (PH) Philippines Mar CPI Y/Y: 4.5% v 4.8%e (3rd consecutive month above target range).

North America

• (US) Fed’s Mester (FOMC voter): we need more job reports like the one we’ve had in March; Fed is still far from its policy goals; 8.5M are still out of work.

Europe

• CSGN.CH Guides Q1 Pretax ~ -CHF900M, CET1 at least 12%; Charge of CHF4.4B; suspends stock buyback program; Confirms Chief Risk Officer Lara Warner to step down.
• Reportedly Credit Suisse is shopping blocks of VIAC, VIPS, FTCH – press.
• CSGN.CH Said to be considering replacing Chief Risk Officer Lara Warner following the collapse of Archegos Capital Management; CEO Gottstein expected to keep job – financial press.
• CSGN.CH Losses related to Archegos may total $5.0B (prior $3-4.0B as speculated in FT in March) – US financial press.
• (UK) Mar New Car Registrations Y/Y: +11.0% v -35.5% prior (1st increase since July 2020).

Levels as of 01:15ET

• Hang Seng closed for holiday; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi +0.2%; Nikkei225 -1.1%; ASX 200 +0.9%.
• Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.0%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 -0.2%.
• EUR 1.1822-1.1800; JPY 110.41-110.12; AUD 0.7661-0.7631; NZD 0.7069-0.7043.
• Commodity Futures: Gold +0.4% at $1,736/oz; Crude Oil +0.7% at $59.07/brl; Copper -1.2% at $4.09/lb.