General Trend:
- Hang Seng outperforms on gains in the Info Tech, Financials and Services sectors
- Australia’s Graincorp H1 results hurt by dry weather conditions
- Rusal reports rise in Q1 results, notes sanctions limit ability to forecast
- Oil prices see little volatility during Asia
- Generally quiet session for Asian bonds
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.2%; closed flat
- ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index +1%, Telecom +1%, Resources +0.7%; Financials -0.4%, Utilities -0.4%, Energy -0.2%
- (AU) Australia March Home Loans M/M: -2.2% v -1.8%e; Investment Lending: -9.0% v 0.5% prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.0B v A$1.0B indicated in 3.25% April 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.7842%, bid to cover 3.91x
- (NZ) RBNZ Gov Orr: Move lower in Kiwi (NZD) after Thursday’s rate decision ‘a good thing’
- (NZ) New Zealand April Business NZ Manufacturing PMI 58.9 v 52.2 prior
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%, Hang Seng +1.1%
- Hang Seng Information Technology Index +1.5%
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate 6.3524 v 6.3768 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO v CNY30B injected in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos prior; Net drain: CNY20B
- For the week, PBoC drained a net of CNY140B through OMOs v CNY110B drain w/w
- (CN) PBoC said to plan full custody of payment companies’ reserves – China Securities Times
- (CN) Credit risks in China are controllable despite defaults – China Securities Journal
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.3%; closed +1.2%
- TOPIX Electric Appliances Index +1.8%, Marine Transportation +1.1%, Retail +0.9%
- (JP) Nikkei 225 May options said to settle at ~22,621
- (JP) Japan April Money Stock M2: 3.3% v 3.2%e; M3 2.8% v 2.8%e
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.2%
Other
- (ID) Indonesia Central Bank Gov Martowardojo: Has ample room to adjust rates; reiterates Rupiah currency (IDR) depreciation not in line with fundamentals
North America
- US equity markets ended higher: Dow +0.8%, S&P500 +0.9%, Nasdaq +0.9%, Russell 2000 +0.5%
- S&P500 Utilities +1.4%, Tech +1.3%
- (US) TREASURY’S $16B 30-YEAR BOND AUCTION DRAWS 3.130%; BID-TO-COVER RATIO: 2.38 V 2.26 PRIOR AND 2.25 AVG OVER THE LAST 4 AUCTIONS (highest yield since March 2017)
- (US) US President Trump: Hope to make better deal with Iran
Europe
- (IE) Ireland April Consumer Confidence: 104.0 v 108.1 prior
Levels as of 02:00ET
- Hang Seng +1.3%; Shanghai Composite -0.1%; Kospi +0.6%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 flat, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.2%
- EUR 1.1909-1.1926 ; JPY 109.19-109.58 ; AUD 0.7522-0.7544 ;NZD 0.6954-0.6978
- Jun Gold -0.2% at $1,320/oz; May Crude Oil flat at $71.36/brl; May Copper flat at $3.110/lb
