With all of Europe and the Americas closed for holiday, what little market action there was overnight came out of Asia, where China once again was engaged in its last hour "National Team" market manipulation, which saved the SHCOMP from a red close after the now traditional last hour buying spree, pushed the Shanghai Composite from red on the session an hour before close to near the highs of the day.
Elsewhere Japan's Nikkei rose 0.7% after tracking the weakening yen as it always does tick for tick, which in turn dropped on some more BOJ jawboning (BOJ board member Harada says negative rate can go lower and there is room for more easing), although the biggest weekly gain in the USDJPY in two months was driven by news that Japanese investors bought record sum of foreign bonds and stocks last week as local investors continue their "silent bank run" (first noted two months ago) in an attempt to get away from Japan's oppressive negative rates.
And since this, by definition, is Yen-negative, and since the entire Japane stock market is a function of currency strength, Japan's capital flight from local stocks was.... bullish for local stocks.
Ah, the magic of centrally-planned markets.
To summarize, the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index adds 0.2%, as gains in consumer shares across the continent outweighed weakness in telecom and health care stks.
Away from Asia, in less than an hour the BEA will release its final revision to Q4 GDP; as a reminder the second revision was for a 1.0% print but since this data is woefully old, the markest will certainly ignore it - especially since it is closed - and will be far more focused on the Q1 GDP which yesterday the Atlanta Fed estimated has tumbled as low as 1.4% after hitting 2.7% just over a month ago.
Market Wrap
- MXAP Index +0.2%
- MXAPJ Index -0.2%
- Nikkei 225 +0.7%
- Topix +0.9%
- Yen spot -0.3% to 113.15
- Shanghai Composite +0.6%
- Kospi -0.1%
- KLCI -0.5%
- SET Index -0.3%
- TWSE -0.4%
- VNI Index -0.2%
Top News
- ChemChina’s Syngenta Bid Needs Broad Scrutiny, U.S. Senators Say
- Nomura Said to Plan Cutting About 20% of North America Staff
- China’s Money-Market Operations Inject Most Cash in Seven Weeks
- USD/JPY rises 0.1% to 113.00 and gains 1.3% on the week; pair continues to test 21-DMA, now at 113.01
- BOJ board member Harada says negative rate can go lower and there is room for more easing
- Yen tomorrow/next repo rate falls to lowest since at least 2007
- BOJ’s 4Q flow-of-funds data shows overseas investors own almost half of Japan’s T-bills, and public pension funds slow overseas investment
- Prime Minister Abe says he doesn’t believe economy in dire circumstances
- BlackRock Downgrades Japan Stocks Amid Volatility, Stronger Yen
- Global Funds Cut Thai and Korean Debt, Buy Indonesian Bonds
- Shanghai Tightens Non-Local Home Buyer Rules as Prices Soar
- Syngenta Says ChemChina Deal Poses No Food Safety Risks: WSJ
Key Ecocnomic Data
- Thailand’s Feb. Exports Rise 10.27% Y/y; Est. 8.70% Drop
- Malaysia Feb. Consumer Prices Rise 4.2% Y/y; Est. +4.1%
- Japan Feb. Core Consumer Prices Unchanged Y/y; Est. 0%
- Japan’s Household Assets Rise 1.7% Y/Y at End-Dec., BOJ Says
- S. Korea 4Q GDP Rose 0.7% Q/q, Revised from 0.6% Prev. Estimate
Movers
- Advancers incl. Highwealth Construction Corp +9.9%, Siliconware Precision +6.8%, Acer +6.6%, GS Retail +4.9%
- Decliners incl. Samsung SDS -7.5%, Kakao -4.4%, Hyundai Development Co-Enginee -4.2%, Casetek Holdings -3.7%, LIXIL Group Corp -3.4%, LG Display -3.2%
Commodities/Currencies/Bonds
- Gold spot little changed to $1216.99/oz
- Brent futures little changed to $40.44/bbl
- WTI Futures little changed to $39.46/bbl
- Euro spot -0.1% to 1.1160
- Australian dollar -0.1% to 0.7522
- NZ dollar -0.1% to 0.6692
Source: BBG