Asian Mid-session Update: Markets recover as oil advances; Samsung Electronics rallies after prelim Q4
***Economic Data***
- (AU) AUSTRALIA NOV BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: +7.5% (2nd month of increase) V -3.0%E; Y/Y: 10.1% (3-month high) V 1.2%E
- (JP) Japan Dec Tokyo Average Office Vacancies: 5.5% v 5.6% prior
***Index Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT)***
- Nikkei225 +1.8%, S&P/ASX +0.3%, Kospi +1.0%, Shanghai Composite -1.8%, Hang Seng +0.5%, Mar S&P500 +0.6% at 2,032
***Commodities/Fixed Income***
- Feb gold -0.4% at $1,206, Feb crude oil +0.9% at $49.10/brl, Mar Copper +0.2% at $2.76/lb
- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall 3.0 tonnes to 704.8 tonnes; Lowest level since Sept 2008
- (CN) China said to have imported record amount of crude oil of over 31M tonnes (or over 7M bpd) in Dec - financial press
- JGB: (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥500B in 0.1% 10-year CPI-linked Bonds; Bid-to-cover ratio: 2.97x v 2.11x prior
- (JP) Japan investors bought net ¥19.7B in foreign bonds v sold ¥1.36T in prior week; Foreign investors sold net ¥40.7B in Japan stocks v sold ¥387.1B in prior week
- (CN) PBoC won't conduct open market operations (OMO) in today's session (12th consecutive halt); Net zero position this week (4th week of neutral position)
- USD/CNY: (CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.1302 v 6.1269 prior setting (weakest Yuan setting since Dec 4th)
***Market Focal Points/Key Themes/FX***
- US equities broke a string of 5 consecutive losing sessions with robust gains, and S&P futures are pointing to another strong open on Thursday. Fed minutes clarified that participants thought the "reference to patience indicated that the Committee was unlikely to begin the normalization process for at least the next couple of meetings", potentially signaling that as long as "patience" remains in the statement, liftoff in rates is a couple meetings away. During the Asian session, one of the FOMC's more dovish members, Chicago's Evans, added he'd like to see rates on hold until 2016. Evans also noted that inflation outlook is worrisome, growth would trend in 2.0-2.25% range, and the housing sector is yet to show evidence of required strength. Despite the dovish remarks, USD is still a bit firmer in the key majors with USD/JPY up 60pips above 119.70 on risk appetite.
- South Korea's Samsung Electronics rose about 2% at the open but pared some gains after reporting better than expected prelim Q4. Despite posting its 5th straight quarter of declining op profit y/y, KRW5.2T op profit was still better than KRW4.8T expected. Reports also suggest Samsung's mobile Division Q4 may be improving relative to Q3.
- Down under, Australia Building Approvals were much stronger than expected, as y/y 10.1% increase was a 3-month high. Meanwhile, CBA and BNZ pushed back their respective expectations for tightening by RBA and RBNZ to Q1 of 2016 from late 2015. AUD/USD is up about 40pips from the lows above $0.8110 in late afternoon session.
- Shanghai Composite has lost some momentum after a torrid end of 2014 and is also lagging other regional indices today. China Pres Xi stated the economy has entered a "new normal", expecting mid-high rate of economic growth. Separately, NDRC planning agency announced the govt is promoting 7 large fiscal packages which would be different from projects planned in 2008. Researcher with China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) noted PBoC may lower RRR again in 2015, while the deposit/lending rate cuts would be determined by continued retreat in CPI figures.
***Equities***
US markets:
- NRX: Announces that the European Medicines Agency Supports the Company's Study Design for Ongoing Trial in Diabetic Nephropathy; +18.8% afterhours
- EXFO: Board authroizes C$30M issuer bid (30% of market cap); +9.1% afterhours
- RECN: Reports Q2 $0.21 v $0.16e, R$151.5M v $148Me; +5.5% afterhours
- ZUMZ: Reports Dec SSS +8.0% v 6.3% m/m; Raises Q4 guidance to $0.75-0.76 v $0.73e, Rev $255-256M v $252Me (guided Q4 $0.69-0.72, R$249-251M prior); +3.3% afterhours
- ALXN: Phase 2 Clinical Trial with Eculizumab in Antibody Mediated Rejection (AMR) in Living-Donor Kidney Transplant Recipients did not meet primary composite endpoint; -5.3% afterhours
- WDFC: Reports Q1 $0.73 v $0.80e, R$96.4M v $98.8Me; -5.7% afterhours
- PODD: Guides Q4 lower to R$71-73M v $79.4Me; -7.9% afterhours
Notable movers by sector:
- Consumer Discretionary: Qantas Airways QAN.AU -2.3% (shareholder cuts stake)
- Financials: Evergrande Real Estate 3333.HK +0.9% (Dec sales result); Standard Chartered 2888.HK +2.1% (to close down cash equities business and cut jobs)
- Materials: Doray Minerals DRM.AU +4.2% (Q4 gold production)
- Energy: Xiangtan Electric Manufactruing [600416.CN] +1.6% (awarded major contract)
- Industrials: COSCO Shipping 600428.CN +0.6% (to issue shares to invest in shipbuilding projects)
- Technology: Samsung Electronics 005930.KR +0.5% (prelim Q4 results)
- Healthcare: Kyowa Hakko Kirin 4151.JP +3.7% (announces cooperation with Syndax)