India Makes Emergency Rate Cuts

Mar 27 20, 07:43 GMT

General Trend:

Australian equities underperform, declining sectors include Energy and Financial
Japanese equity markets rise following losses on Thursday
Shanghai Property sector rises over 3% in early trading
Various HK-listed banks are due to report earnings later today (including ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications)
Singapore Airlines declined by over 9%, announced up to S$15.0B stock and convertible bond offering
USD/JPY declines in the face of general weakness in the US dollar, investors assess recent US weekly jobless claims data; US House may vote on stimulus bill on Friday, Japan’s fiscal year is due to end on March 31st
Japan PM Abe: Lockdown of Tokyo would have severe impact on economy, shares Tokyo Gov Koike’s sense of crisis
Trump and Xi held phone conversation following recent G20 video conference
Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.6%
(NZ) New Zealand Mar ANZ consumer Confidence Index: 106.3 v 122.1 prior; M/M: -12.9% v -0.5% prior
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: Planning 3rd round of economic stimulus; Tightens enforcement on self isolation for citizens returning from overseas; all new arrivals to be quarantined for 2 weeks
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) signs MOU with Financial Markets Authority (FMA); to assist each agency cooperate in areas of common interest where cooperation and coordination results in the most effective and efficient regulation of the New Zealand financial system
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$63.6B v A$59.3B
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adds A$2.25B to banking system through repos v A$2.69B prior
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) offers to buy total of A$3.0B in bonds v A$3.0B prior
(NZ) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBNZ) proposes to buy NZ$1.35B in Govt bonds with maturities from 2021-2037 in next week’s operation; Operation dates: March 20, April 1 and April 3
(AU) Australia Feb 8-month underlying cash deficit A$16.3B v -A$13.7Be

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +1.9%
(JP) Japan Mar Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.3%e (2-year low); CPI (ex-fresh Food) Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.4%e; CPI (ex-fresh f/energy) Y/Y: 0.7% v 0.6%e
(JP) Japan PM Abe: Want to take bold steps to reach V-shaped recovery; a 2-year delay to Olympics would put Japan at risk for losing momentum – speaking from parliament
(JP) IOC expected to make decision on the schedule for the Tokyo Olympics in 3 weeks – Japanese press
(JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Reiterates no need to declare state of emergency currently
(JP) JAPAN CABINET OFFICE (GOVT) MARCH MONTHLY ECONOMIC REPORT: Cuts overall economic assessment to “severe” and no longer sees the domestic economy in recovery (after the close yesterday)

Korea

Kospi opened +4.1%
(KR) South Korea Mar Consumer Confidence: 78.4 v 96.9 prior (10-year low)
(KR) South Korea confirms 91 additional coronavirus cases v 104 prior, total cases 9,332 v 9,241 prior
(KR) South Korea diplomat: Don’t expect coronavirus to destabilize North Korea – Yonhap
005930.KR To temporarily close another manufacturing plant in Campinas, Sao Paulo Brazil due to coronavirus for 2-weeks until April 12th
(KR) South Korea Feb duty free sales KRW1.1T, -45.5% m/m

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +1.8%; Shanghai Composite opened +1.0%
(CN) CHINA FEB INDUSTRIAL PROFITS YTD Y/Y: -38.3% V -3.3% PRIOR
(CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for March 26th: 55 additional cases (54 imported) v 67 prior; Additional deaths: 5 v 6 prior; Hubei: 0 additional cases v 0 prior; additional deaths: 5 v 6 prior
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repo operations for the 28th consecutive session, Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0427 v 7.0692 prior
(CN) China Ministry of Commerce official Xian Guoyi: China will encourage local authorities to to roll out measures to help stimulate auto sales, including encouraging purchases of new energy vehicles and unveil auto replacement policies – Xinhua

Other Asia

(IN) INDIA CENTRAL BANK (RBI) CUTS REPURCHASE RATE BY BY 75BPS TO 4.40%; widens rate corridor (intra-policy move)
SIA.SG Prices 1.77B shares at S$3.00/share in rights offering; To issue S$5.3B in new equity and raise up to S$9.7B through issuance of mandatory convertible bonds; arranged S$4.0B bridge loan facility
(SG) Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): To support lending via a new $60B facility for banks (yesterday after the close)
(SG) Singapore govt said to allocate another S$48.0B in second virus stimulus package – press (yesterday after the close)

North America

(US) US House expected to debate stimulus bill for 2 hours starting at 09:00ET (13:00GMT) on Friday (March 27th), unclear if the bill will be able to pass through a voice vote as some Democrats may request a recorded vote; there are talks about a possible roll-call (recorded) vote if a voice vote is blocked
(US) Pres Trump: G20 leaders expressed ‘tremendous spirit’ to get coronavirus ‘over with’; will have more information next week on relaxing social distancing; expect to speak with China President Xi tonight, expect another deal with China
(US) Some Lawmakers said to have asked President Trump to delay all tariffs for 90-days – press
(US) VP Pence: Abbott is seeking approval for a 15-minute coronavirus test; so far 552K coronavirus tests have been completed
(G7) Considering a plan to invest “several billion dollars” in a research organization to develop a vaccine for coronavirus – press

Europe

(EU) EU Council President Michel: Leaders’ priority is to preserve flow of goods in EU and preserve the single market; EU institutions will lay ground to get out of crisis
(EU) Germany Chancellor Merkel: impact of coronavirus is likely to be bigger than the 2008 financial crisis; the ESM was created to address this kind of crisis – comments after EU leaders summit
(IT) Italy total coronavirus cases rise to 80,539 from 74,386 (+8.3% v +7.5% prior); death toll rises to 8,165 from 7,503 prior, +8% d/d
VOW3.DE CEO: Production shutdown costs €2.2B/week – German Press
(UK) Feb Auto Manufacturing 122.2K units, -0.8% y/y – SMMT

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, +1.7%, ASX 200 -5.3%, Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.9%; Kospi-0.1 %
Equity Futures: S&P500 -2%; Nasdaq100 -1.8%, Dax -2.2%; FTSE100 -2.2%
EUR 1.1087-1.1023; JPY 109.71-108.26 ; AUD 0.6127-0.6034 ;NZD 0.6015-0.5932
Gold -0.7% at $1,640/oz; Crude Oil +1.8% at $23.00/brl; Copper +0.2% at $2.187/lb