Asian Market Update: China PMI rises for the 2nd month; Australia manufacturing remains in contraction
***Economic Data***
- (CN) CHINA APR MANUFACTURING PMI: 50.4 V 50.5E (3-month high; 2nd consecutive rise)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA APR AIG PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING INDEX: 44.8 (9-month low; 6th month in contraction) V 47.9 PRIOR
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 IMPORT PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 3.2% V 1.8%E; EXPORT PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 3.6% V 1.5%E
- (AU) AUSTRALIA APR RPDATA/RISMARK HOUSE PRICE INDEX: 0.3% V 2.3% PRIOR
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR CPI M/M: 0.1% V 0.1%E; Y/Y: 1.5% V 1.5%E (18th month below 2.5-3.5% target band); CORE CPI Y/Y: 2.3% V 2.1% PRIOR
- (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR TRADE BALANCE: $4.5B V $4.3BE
Market Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT):
- Nikkei225 +0.7%, S&P/ASX -0.8%, Kospi closed, Shanghai Composite closed, Hang Seng closed, Jun S&P500 flat at 1,878, Jun gold -0.5% at $1,289, Jun crude oil -0.1% at $99.67/brl
***Highlights/Observations/Insights***
- The start of Labor Day holiday weekend across much of the far east has kept market volatility to a minimum. China govt put out its official manufacturing PMI just shy of the consensus estimate. Despite the miss, the headline figure marked a 3-month high and a 2nd consecutive month of improvement, even as the most closely tracked subindex of New Export Orders (gauge of external demand) fell into a contraction. Employment component remained unchanged at 48.3, while backlog and inventories recovered slightly. Earlier, China Premier Li warned the govt may need to take more measures just to meet the official target for trade growth in 2014, even though the govt has previously denied speculation it would announce significant fiscal steps. Shanghai Composite index is closed until Monday.
- In Australia, AiG Manufacturing PMI remained in contraction for the 6th consecutive month, and the April decline only deepened further. AiG said "conditions remain extremely difficult in the manufacturing export markets", even though inventories subindex nearly returned to stabilisation. Employment subindex - the most telling of the AiG components - contracted at a faster pace. AUD/USD was little moved by either the China PMI or the AiG manufacturing index, unable to sustain its upward momentum after a brief breach of the $0.93 handle.
- ANZ Bank shares fell nearly 2% after posting H1 results despite a 15% rise in net profit. Net interest margins shrunk by 9bps to 2.15% and common tier 1 ratio fell 15bps to 8.33% from H2 levels, while ROE was flat on the year. On a conference call, CEO Smith said he expects a 10% decline in loss provision for the FY as non-performing loans trend continues to improve, and also forecasted capital ratio to recover to 8.5-9.0% range.
- USD/JPY pair traded in a 20pip range around ¥102.20, despite another nudge by Japan PM Abe's influentiel economic adviser Hamada toward more easing if the impact of higher sales tax becomes more pronounced. Upbeat policy statement by the Fed and another $10B in monthly taper did little to fix the overnight damage by the BOJ and its Gov Kuroda, whose neutral remarks continued to detract from market expectations of more easing this summer.
***Fixed Income/Commodities/Currencies***
- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall 4.2 tonnes to 787.9 tonnes (lowest since Jan 2009)
***Equities***
US markets:
- WTW: Reports Q1 $0.31 (adj) v $0.09e, R$409.4M v $399Me; +11.9% afterhours
- TMUS: Strength attributed to reports of another impending approach by Sprint; Held meetings with banks regarding potential loan package - financial press; +9.3% afterhours
- FLTX: Reports Q1 $0.19 v $0.16e, R$51.9M v $52.3Me; +3.6% afterhours
- FLEX: Reports Q4 $0.24 adj v $0.21e, R$6.72B v $6.09Be; +3.5% afterhours
- ARO: Reaffirms Q1 -$0.75 to -$0.70 v -$0.72e; will cut 100 jobs and will exit mall based locations; +3.4% afterhours
- WDC: Reports Q3 $1.94 v $1.88e, R$3.70B v $3.73Be; Guides Q4 $1.65-1.75 v $1.90e, R$3.5-3.6B v $3.7Be - conf call comments; -1.6% afterhours
- MET: Reports Q1 $1.37 v $1.40e, R$17.1B v $17.5Be; -2.5% afterhours
- TEX: Reports Q1 $0.28 v $0.34e, R$1.65B v $1.70Be; reiterates FY14 guidance; -3.0% afterhours
- BYD: Reports Q1 -$0.04(adj) v $0.00e, R$708M v $718Me; -3.5% afterhours
- JDSU: Reports Q3 $0.10 v $0.11e, R$418M v $432Me; -6.0% afterhours
- ARAY: Signs Three-Year Contract with Novation; Gains Access to Over 2,500 Member Hospitals for the CyberKnife M6 and TomoTherapy H Series; -6.6% afterhours
Notable movers by sector:
- Consumer Discretionary: Japan Airlines Corp 9201.JP -1.5% (FY13/14 results); Start Today 3092.JP +16.0% (FY13/14 results)
- Consumer staples: Yamazaki Baking 2212.JP -6.3% (Q1 results)
- Financials: ANZ Bank ANZ.AU -1.6% (H1 results); Nomura Holdings 8604.JP +6.5% (FY13/14 results; repurchase plan)
- Technology: Seiko Epson Corp 6724.JP +15.9% (FY13/14 results)