Asian Mid-session Update: Shanghai falls again as CSRC warns on margin trading risks
***Economic Data***
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND MAR TRADE BALANCE (NZD): 631M V 300ME (3rd consecutive month of surplus)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND APR ANZ ACTIVITY OUTLOOK: 41.3 V 42.2 PRIOR; BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: 30.2 V 35.8 PRIOR
- (KR) South Korea May Business Manufacturing Survey: 82 v 80 prior; Non-Manufacturing Survey: 78 v 74 prior
***Index Snapshot (as of 02:30 GMT)***
- Nikkei225 closed, S&P/ASX -1.3%, Kospi -0.7%, Shanghai Composite -0.4%, Hang Seng -0.4%, Jun S&P500 -0.1% at 2,110
***Commodities/Fixed Income***
- Jun gold -0.3% at $1,210/oz, Jun crude oil -0.3% at $56.90/brl, May copper -0.4% at $2.77/lb
- (AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$700M in 2025 bonds; avg yield: 2.6077%; bid-to-cover: 3.23x
- (US) API Petroleum Inventories: Crude: +4.2M v +3Me; Gasoline: +0.41M v +0.5Me; Distillate: +0.75M v +1Me
***Market Focal Points/FX***
Asian equity indices are mixed with little direction going into an extremely active US and overseas session tomorrow. Stateside, the initial Q1 GDP print will be followed by the FOMC decision, with expectations now firmly biased toward rate liftoff in September. In Asia, RBNZ and BOJ decisions highlight the docket. Tokyo earnings season will also resume in earnest after today's holiday break, with Fujitsu, JAL, and Japan shippers all set to post results.
Shanghai Composite traded down by over 1.6% in the morning session but came well off those lows. Among the key developments on the mainland attributed to the decline, CSRC issued a warning to retail investors about the risks of equity investment, calling for a "slow and healthy" bull market. CSRC also warned against excessive margin trading, just as Citic announced it will stop accepting hundreds of securities as collateral for margin. Note this also marks the 8th instance that CSRC has warned on market risks.
Economic data was contained to mixed reports out of New Zealand. Terms of trade marked the 3rd straight month of surplus that was also higher than expected, boosted by a near 30% rise in shipments to the US, even though China shipments fell 29% and overall exports of dairy were down 20%. ANZ business activity slumped however, and ANZ inflation expectations gauge was also unchanged well below 2%. NZD/USD hit session highs above 0.7730 after trade numbers but then sold down below 0.7690. In other FX majors, AUD/USD consolidated its latest gains after crashing the upside of $0.80 on overnight hawkish comments from Gov Stevens.
New cult name GoPro is sharply higher after beating estimates and guiding well above consensus. WDC was softer afterhours on poor earnings and guidance. TWTR is a big loser, both on earnings and the bungled delivery, as the leaked Q1 results sent shares down nearly 20%. In Asia corporates, Samsung Electronics reported its final Q1 results. Net profits fell 40% as handset segment struggled on oversaturation and ahead of this quarter's release of the latest Galaxy model.
***Equities***
US equities / ADRs:
- XPO: To Acquire Norbert Dentressangle SA for €3.24B; +11.0% afterhours
- GPRO: Reports Q1 $0.24 v $0.17e, R$363.1M v $341Me; Guides Q2 $0.24-0.26 v $0.15e, R$380-400M v $335Me; Did not see a significant FX impact in Q1 - conf call; +9.9% afterhours
- LOGM: Reports Q1 $0.33 v $0.27e, R$61.1M v $60.5Me; +4.1% afterhours
- BGFV: Reports Q1 $0.11 v $0.11e, R$243.6M v $243Me; +4.0% afterhours
- TPX: Reports Q1 $0.55 v $0.48e, R$739.5M v $720Me; +2.0% afterhours
- VRSK: Reports Q1 $0.67 v $0.61e, R$459.4M v $439Me; +1.9% afterhours
- ESRX: Reports Q1 $1.10 v $1.10e, R$24.9B v $24.3Be; +1.7% afterhours
- OI: Reports Q1 $0.44 v $0.42e, R$1.40B v $1.44Be; -0.2% afterhours
- KRFT: Reports Q1 $0.72 (incl items) v $0.81e, R$4.35B v $4.44Be; -1.0% afterhours
- POST: Reports Avian Influenza at Third Party Supplier that accounts for 10% of egg supply; Reports preliminary Q2 Adj EBITDA at $148-150M; -1.5% afterhours
- TWTR: CEO: expect factors that impacted Q1 results will also impact our FY15 guidance - conf call; -1.6% afterhours
- WDC: Reports Q3 $1.87 v $1.92e, R$3.55B v $3.64Be; Guides Q4 $1.50-1.60 v $1.95e; Rev $3.3-3.4B v $3.7Me; GM 27-32% - conf call comments; -1.9% afterhours
- AFL: Reports Q1 $1.54 v $1.55e, R$5.23B v $5.39Be; -2.2% afterhours
- PNRA: Reports Q1 $1.20 v $1.44e, R$649M v $658Me; -3.7% afterhours
- AKAM: Reports Q1 $0.61 v $0.62e, R$527M v $527Me; Guides Q2 R$532-547M v $547Me - conf call; -5.7% afterhours
- X: Reports Q1 -$0.07 v $0.27e, R$3.27B v $3.50Be; -6.9% afterhours
- OTEX: Reports Q3 $0.66 v $0.87e, R$447.6M v $476Me; Increases dividend 16% to $0.20/share; -7.0% afterhours
- BWLD: Reports Q1 $1.52 v $1.66e, R$440.6M v $454Me; -9.7% afterhours
- WYNN: Reports Q1 $0.70 v $1.34e, R$1.09B v $1.21Be; cuts dividend to $0.50 from $1.25/shr; -10.2% afterhours
- SSYS: Reports prelim Q1 $0.02-0.04 v $0.32e, R$171-173M v $202Me; Lowers FY15 $1.20-1.70 v $2.10e; Rev $800-860M v $948Me; -16.6% afterhours
Notable movers by sector:
- Financials: Haitong Securities 6837.HK +1.0% (Q1 results); China Merchants Bank 600036.CN +1.6% (Q1 results); Financial Street Holdings 000402.CN -3.2% (Q1 results)
- Materials: Resolute Mining RSG.AU +10.5% (production results); Sims Metal Management SGM.AU -7.0% (H2 forecast); Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.JP +1.5% (FY14/15 results); Maanshan Iron & Steel 323.HK -2.8% (Q1 results)
- Energy: Senex Energy SXY.AU -8.7% (Q3 results)
- Industrials: East Japan Railway 9020.JP +1.2% (FY14/15 results)
- Technology: Panasonic Corporation 6752.JP +1.0% (FY14/15 results); Samsung Electronics 005930.KR +0.2% (Q1 final results)