TheChek News Flow

***Economic Data***

- (CN) CHINA JAN NEW HOME PRICES M/M: FALL IN 64 OUT OF 70 CITIES VS 66 PRIOR; Y/Y: FALL IN 69 CITIES V 68 PRIOR

- (SG) SINGAPORE Q4 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 4.9% V 2.2%E; Y/Y: 2.1% V 1.7%E

- (SG) SINGAPORE JAN ELECTRONIC EXPORTS Y/Y: 5.0% V 0.1%E; NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: 1.6% V -0.3%E; Y/Y: 4.3% V 2.0%E

- (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index: 109.8 v 111.7 prior

- (KR) South Korea Jan PPI Y/Y: -3.6% v -2.0% prior; 6th month of decline, 4-year low

***Index Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT)***

- Nikkei225 -0.2%, S&P/ASX -0.6%, Kospi +0.2%, Shanghai Composite +0.8%, Hang Seng +0.3%, Mar S&P500 -0.4% at 2,086

***Commodities/Fixed Income***

- Apr gold +0.1% at $1,228, Mar crude oil -0.1% at $56.17/brl

- JGB: (JP) Japan's MoF sells ¥1.10T in 1.2% (1.2% prior) 20-year JGBs; Avg yield: 1.274% v 0.905% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.51x v 3.26x prior

- (CN) PBoC won't conduct open market operations (OMO) in today's session (1st halt after 7 consecutive injections)

***Market Focal Points/FX***

- European negotiators and the new Greek anti-austerity govt remain at odds on how to handle the expiring bailout program. The former insist that Athens request an extension under the previously agreed upon terms, the latter continue to push for a bridge loan while it evaluates its fiscal state. The meeting of the two sides ended abruptly on Monday when Greek officials said the opening EU offer demanding adherence to the existing bailout was "absurd" and "unacceptable". The draft called for a 6-month technical extension of current program, calling on Athens to continue to guarantee debt sustainability. In a NY Times Op/Ed, Fin Min Varoufakis said his govt is "determined not to be treated as a debt colony that should suffer what it must", refusing to accept VAT hikes or cuts in pensions in the coming months. The Fin Min later added he still believes a deal can be reached in as early as two days. Eurogroup's Dijsselbloem meanwhile said Greece has until the rest of the week to formally request extension to bailout program, adding its govt cannot attempt to roll back agreed upon measures unilaterally. EUR/USD fell as low as 1.1320 in the holiday-thinned New York session before a bounce to 1.1360 during Asian hours.

- China property prices fell m/m for the 9th consecutive decline, sliding -0.4% v -0.3% prior. Y/Y price decline also deteriorated to -5.1% v -4.3% prior. Note that after last month's rosier figures, some economists began to anticipate the end of the correction in China housing prices. Separately, official with China FX regulator SAFE noted today's environment is reminiscent of the Asian financial crisis coming closer amid expected US policy tightening and global disinflationary pressure. Shanghai Composite is in its final trading session before the week-long departure for the Lunar New Year holidays.

- Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting minutes from this month revealed that the surprise rate cut was in fact a very close call, and that policymakers considered waiting until March. RBA also offered no forward guidance and expressed some concern over the risk of housing inflation given the rise in mortgage lending. AUD/USD initially fell as low at 0.7740 on minutes release, but has since retested a 1-week high above 0.78 as traders increasingly tempered expectations for further RBA easing in spite of the disappointing employment figures. S&P/ASX is leading regional indices to the downside. In an active earnings session, Macquarie is up on expectation of FY15 net profit rising significantly, but ANZ is down nearly 3% as net profit was up just 3.6% and net interest margins fell 6bps. Fortescue Metals is also down on a near 20% decline in H1 Revenue and reduction of interim dividend to 3c from 10c per share.

- As widely expected, Bank of Korea left rates on hold for the 4th straight meeting at 2%. In a unanimous decision, BOK noted inflation would remain low and economy would maintain negative output gap for considerable time, though conditions would likely begin to improve in the coming months. BOK said it would monitor oil prices, spare capacity, China slowdown, and monetary policy shifts of other nations in considering future actions. Gov Lee later added global easing is positive for Korea and that KRW is somewhat overvalued on REER (Real Effective Exchange Rate) basis.

***Equities***

Market Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT):

US markets:

- GLF: Reports Q4 $0.17 v $0.10e, R$116.1M v $115Me

- CSX: Train carrying Bakken crude reportedly derails in West Virginia; 12-15 cars involved in the incident

- PSXP: To Acquire Equity Interests in 3 Pipeline Systems for Approximately $1B

- VIPS: Reports Q4 $0.09 v $0.10e, R$1.36B v $1.23Be

- RIG: Lowers annual dividend from $3.00/shr to $0.60/shr; implied yield 3.1%

Notable movers by sector:

- Consumer Discretionary: Panasonic Corporation 6752.JP +1.2% (to reorganize home appliance business); SEEK Ltd SEK.AU -9.2% (H1 results); Coca-Cola Amatil CCL.AU +5.0% (FY14 results); Dick Smith Holdings DSH.AU -7.3% (H1 results)

- Financials: Macquarie Group MQG.AU +3.2% (FY15 guidance); NZX Ltd NZX.NZ -4.1% (FY14 results); Challenger Financial Services Group CGF.AU -2.7% (H1 results); ANZ Bank ANZ.AU -2.6% (Q1 results)

- Materials: Iluka Resources ILU.AU +6.0% (FY14 results); Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AU -1.5% (H1 results)

- Industrials: Asciano Limited AIO.AU -2.2% (H1 results); Amcor Ltd AMC.AU +2.4% (H1 results; proposes shar buyback); Cardno Ltd CDD.AU +4.6% (H1 results); GWA Group GWA.AU -14.8% (H1 results)