Asian Equities Trade Modestly Lower After Mixed US Session

General Trend

• Shanghai Composite declined during the morning session after the flat open.
• S&P ASX 200 has extended declines [Consumer indices decline; Resources index rises amid strength in Shanghai Copper prices].
• Hang Seng opened modestly lower, currently trades near the opening level; HSBC reported Q1 results above ests; WH Group and Sinopharm are due to report later today.
• Nikkei has moved slightly lower after the higher open [Topix Real Estate and Pharma indices were among the decliner (Astellas and Daiichi Sankyo reported results); Topix Marine Transportation index rises amid guidance from Maersk; Securities index rises ahead of results from Nomura].
• Japan companies continue to report earnings [Canon pares gain after raising guidance; Nomura, Fanuc, Kyocera, Advantest, Hino Motors, Makita are due to report later today].
• Australia’s Q1 CPI data is due on April 28th (Wed).
• Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Asbury Automotive, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Armstrong World Industries, Centene, Crocs, Ecolab, Fiserv, GE, Corning, Graphic Packaging, Hasbro, JetBlue, Eli Lilly, 3M, MSCI, Paccar, Pulte Group, Polaris, Raytheon Technologies, Sherwin-Williams, Shutterstock, Sensata Technologies, UPS, Waste Management.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened 0.0%.
• RWC.AU Reports Q3 (A$) Rev 359.4M, +14% y/y, to continue to raise prices for products that have seen input prices increase.
• BSL.AU Raises H2 EBIT guidance to A$1.0-1.08B (prior A$750-830M).
• (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index: 112.4 v 114.0 prior.

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%.
• (JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) LEAVES INTEREST RATE ON EXCESS RESERVES (IOER) UNCHANGED AT -0.10%; AS EXPECTED, Maintains all policy.
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices: Raises GDP for this year and next, adjusts CPI outlook (implies Gov Kuroda will not reach 2% price target before term ends), maintains economic assessment.
• 3863.JP Said to be developing batteries that do not use rare earth metals – Press.
• 7751.JP Reports Q1 Net ¥44.5B v ¥21.9B y/y; Op ¥70.6B v ¥32.9B y/y; Rev ¥842.7B v ¥782.3B y/y; raises outlook (yesterday after the close).

Korea

• Kospi opened 0.0%.
• (KR) SOUTH KOREA Q1 PRELIMINARY GDP Q/Q: 1.6% V 1.1%E; Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.2%E.
• (KR) South Korea President Moon: More than mid to high 3% GDP is possible this year.

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.
• (CN) China Ministry of State Security announces new measures to counter corporate foreign spying – SCMP.
• 2799.HK Fitch cuts rating to BBB from A (lowest investment grade) due to concerns that China Govt may not give support.
• (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net CNY0B v Net CNY0B prior.
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4924 v 6.4913 prior.
• 486.HK Reports Q1 Aluminum production 932Kt v 940Kt y/y; Sales 962Kt v 914Kt y/y.
• 5.HK Reports Q1 Net $3.9B v $1.8B y/y, adj Pretax $6.4B v $3.0B y/y, Rev $13.3B v $13.7B y/y.

Other

• VALE5.BR Reports Q1 Net $5.6B v $239M y/y, adj EBITDA $8.4B v $8.8Be; Rev $12.7B v $12.5Be.

North America

• TSLA Reports Q1 $0.93 v $0.79e, Rev $10.4B v $9.92Be; Affirms it expects to achieve 50% annual growth in deliveries.
• TSLA CEO: demand is the best we have ever seen; normally see a seasonal demand drop in Q1 but we saw demand increase – earnings call.
• (US) Census Bureau: Texas to gain two seats in House of Representatives; NY and California to lose one seat each.
• LYFT Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota, to acquire Lyft’s self-driving car division for $550M; accelerates Adj EBITDA profitability to Q3 2021.

Europe

• MAERSKB.DK Reports prelim Q1 Rev $12.4B, EBITDA $4B, EBIT $3.1B; raises FY guidance significantly; Raises FY21 adj EBITDA $13-15B (prior $8.5-10.5B), EBIT $9-11B (prior $4.3-6.3B), FCF $7B (prior $3.5B).
• UBSG.CH Reports Q1 Net $1.82B v $1.60B y/y, Adj Pretax $2.29B v $2.00B y/y, Rev $8.7B v $7.9B y/y.

Levels as of 01:15ET

• Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -0.7%; Kospi -0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.3%; ASX 200 -0.3%.
• Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax -0.0%; FTSE100 -0.1%.
• EUR 1.2090-1.2065; JPY 108.39-108.08; AUD 0.7805-0.7781; NZD 0.7238-0.7211.
• Commodity Futures: Gold +0.0% at $1,780/oz; Crude Oil +0.6% at $62.28/brl; Copper +0.4% at $4.47/lb.