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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Nikkei (0.17%), Hang Seng +0.78%, Shanghai Composite +0.25% as of 04:10 ET

Apr 22 ,2025

  • Synopsis:

    • Asia equities ended mixed Tuesday with most benchmarks ending well off their troughs. Japan's Nikkei closed with some losses but Topix ended a few points higher. Greater China mixed with Hang Seng and Shanghai higher but Shenzhen closed lower. Australia and South Korea flat, Taiwan saw more steep losses. More gains for India led by its bank stocks again, Southeast Asia mostly higher. US futures higher, Europe opened with modest losses. US dollar volatile, yen strengthened to below 140 per dollar briefly, other Asia currencies stronger ex yuan. Treasury yields higher across tenors, JGB yields mixed, IGB yields lower again. Gold surging to record high above $3.5K, base metals lower on global growth concerns, oil recovering yesterday's losses. Cryptocurrencies supported again.

    • Assets giving conflicting signals on risk sentiment Tuesday. Gold rose beyond $3.5k briefly, Treasury yields at the long end spiked again, and the dollar DXY index sank back toward 98 for a time before rallying. Yet US equity futures trading higher and Europe's markets capping early losses, matching the trajectory of Asia equities today that gapped lower before a recovery toward the flatline. Concerns over the Fed's independence following Trump comments and ongoing worries over impact of tariffs on global economy continue to be underlying source of the angst. Little constructive newsflow on tariffs Tuesday: speculation a Japan-US deal was hitting hurdles, postponement of US talks with Thailand, and fresh tariffs on Southeast Asia solar equipment only partially offset by India PM Modi and US VP Vance talking up progress on a US-India deal.

    • Elsewhere, the weaker dollar intensifying analysis of Asia currency direction with yen strengthening to below 140 per dollar for a time, but the yuan resuming its weakening trend amid a weaker fixing this morning by the PBOC and glut of yuan supply in Hong Kong that has driven Hibor rates to record lows. India's 10Y yield hit three-year low following another liquidity boost for banks late Monday that pushed the overnight borrowing rate to below policy rate, indicating the RBI's accommodative stance would likely continue.

    • Hino Motor (7205.JP) said to be nearing a merger with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck after restarting talks last month. CMOC (3993.HK) confirmed it has paid C$580M for Lumina Gold with completion of the deal by Q3. 360 One (542772.IN) has entered a strategic collaboration with and sold 5% stake to UBS on wealth management in India, may expand cooperation to asset management and investment banking. Macquarie Group (MQG.AU) is to sell its North American and European public investments business to Nomura (8604.JP) for A$2.8B in an all-cash transaction.

  • Digest:

    • Investors snapped up Asian bonds, fled foreign debt amid tariff-driven market tumult:

      • Tariff fallout rippled through global bond markets over past two months with investors favoring Asian markets Regional data showed Asian bond funds experienced biggest monthly inflow in seven months during March with South Korea experiencing second-straight month of large inflows (Reuters). Foreigners also favored longer-dated JGBs, with maturities 10Y and above attracting JPY2.18T ($15.5B) in March, highest since JSDA records began in 2004 (Reuters). Inflows occurred in weeks when Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, before2-Apr 'Liberation Day' reciprocal tariff announcement preceded more volatility in bond flows. While global investors snapped up JGBs in March, domestic investors offloaded more than $20B in foreign debt over weeks ending 5-Apr and 12-Apr - largest two-week outflow since records began in 2005 (FT). Similarly, LSEG figures showed US bond funds experienced net $10.07B outflows in week to 16-Apr, coming on top of $15.64B in net outflows over prior week and marking fifth straight weekly exodus (Reuters).

    • Trade negotiation hurdles:

      • Still some uncertainty around prospects of trade deals being finalized that will assuage both Trump and negotiating counterparties. On Sunday Trump appeared to set high bar for countries to win tariff relief while outlining his interpretation of non-tariff barriers, some of which may prove sensitive for countries such as Japan (currency manipulation) and EU (value-added taxes). Discussions on FX to feature in planned talks between Japan Finance Minister Kato and Treasury Secretary Bessent this week (Bloomberg), with PM Ishiba stressing issue must be dealt with on basis of fairness (Reuters). Ishiba also said there are limits to Japan's concessions (Bloomberg), cautioned areas like food safety standards not up for negotiation and voiced opposition to linking security talks with trade South Korean ministers to meet US counterparts on Thursday, which acting President Han Duck-soo anticipates will pave way for mutually beneficial solution. However, he also tempered expectations by warning talks may not be easy with Seoul also not willing to discuss defense cost sharing despite Trump arguing otherwise (Reuters). Meanwhile, Trump administration imposed new tariffs on solar imports from South East nations, hitting firms in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand amid allegations of dumping by Chinese companies operating in those countries (AFP).

    • Yuan weakens and faces further pressure despite dollar plunging to three-year low:

      • Onshore and offshore yuan renewed their weakening trend Tuesday after tick higher in trade tensions yesterday when Beijing warned nations negotiating trade deals with US not to penalize China. Both yuan streams weaker by around 0.3%, followed weaker fixing point above 7.20 per dollar mark seen as red-line for Beijing in allowing yuan to depreciate. Offshore yuan still 1.6% stronger than low point last month as dollar slides under tariff and Powell developments but analysts said renewed selling may be attempt by authorities to control pace of weakening. In separate development, Bloomberg reported Hong Kong's Hibor borrowing rate for yuan fell 11 bps to 1.46%, lowest since records began in 2013, showing ease of yuan's availability in Hong Kong markets, paves way for further yuan weakness. Article said reflects PBOC's attempts to allow managed yuan depreciation, comes amid growing evidence Beijing wants to keep liquidity high to support economy to offset US tariffs.

    • RBI sets lower bank liquidity requirements further to push key overnight lending rate lower:

      • RBI late Monday directed lenders to assign buffer rate of 2.5% on digitally-linked products to start 1-Apr 2026. New guidelines to also allow lower run-off rate of 40% from current 100% from non-financial deposits, boosting liquidity further (Reuters). RBI said move will improve banks' liquidity coverage ratio by 600 bps by Dec-year end while economists noted buffer rate was lower than 5% expected; combined will release INR 2.2-2.5T in balance sheet liquidity across banks, add to loan/deposit growth. Analysts said measures will be significant boost to banks HDFC (500180.IN), Axis (532215.IN), Kotak Mahindra (500247.IN), Yes (532648.IN) among others. Bloomberg noted RBI series of liquidity injections, easing measures for banks, has pushed banks' weighed average call rate (overnight borrowing cost) to below RBI policy rate for 11 consecutive days, and yields on IGBs down across tenors. IGB 10Y yield at lowest since late 2021 with analysts expecting more declines ahead. Article said recent measures at banks also signal RBI intention to keep borrowing costs low to support economic growth during tariff uncertainty.

    • BOJ still lacks sufficient clarity to change policy stance:

      • With the main focus of next week's BOJ meeting on the Outlook Report given policy rate is widely expected to remain unchanged, Bloomberg sources said BOJ officials see little need to change policy stance for now despite tariff-related uncertainties. Overall economic projections said to remain largely intact as they wait for more data to analyze tariff impacts. Moreover, with a wide range of possible economic scenarios, officials think it's too early to incorporate into their baseline scenario and signal a clear shift in policy stance. This will likely result in the BOJ reaffirming its main scenario with a caveat of elevated uncertainties. Board members will probably also consider a downward revision to inflation forecasts, albeit tied to yen strength, lower oil, while also factoring in weaker growth prospects. First FY27 core inflation projection said to be around 2%. Article echoes similar discussions indicating BOJ staff struggles to compile clean analysis for the Outlook Report and there was no consensus within the MPC as of last week on the extent of damage from Trump tariffs, which will partly depend on trade negotiations. Reuters sources reaffirmed BOJ's view that risks from US tariffs will not derail progress in the virtuous wage-inflation cycle.

    • Notable Gainers:

      • +9.6% 3993.HK (CMOC Group): to acquire Lumina Gold for C$581M in all-cash transaction

      • +5.8% 7205.JP (Hino Motors): reportedly near merger agreement with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck

      • +0.5% 8604.JP (Nomura Holdings): Macquarie Group to sell North American and European public investments business to Nomura for A$2.8B in all-cash transaction

      • +0.3% 8725.JP (MS&AD Insurance): to invest ¥600-700B to expand in North American market

      • +0.3% 011200.KS (HMM): reportedly plans to launch up-to-KRW2T buyback through tender offer in H1

    • Notable Decliners:

      • -6.9% 300122.CH (Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products): reports FY and Q1 earnings; FY revenue misses FactSet estimates; Q1 revenue declines year-on-year

      • -6.1% 780.HK (Tongcheng Travel Holdings): to acquire 100% stake in Wanda Hotel Management from Wanda Hotel Development for initial consideration CNY2.50B; JPMorgan downgrades to neutral from overweight citing factors including relative valuation

      • -3.9% 002008.CH (Han's Laser Technology Industry Group): reports FY and Q1 earnings

  • Data:

    • Economic:

      • New Zealand March

        • Trade balance +NZ$1B versus +NZ$0.4B in prior month

    • Markets:

      • Nikkei: (59.32) or (0.17%) to 34220.60

      • Hang Seng: 167.18 or +0.78% to 21562.32

      • Shanghai Composite: 8.32 or +0.25% to 3299.76

      • Shenzhen Composite: (2.02) or (0.11%) to 1908.73

      • ASX200: (2.40) or (0.03%) to 7816.70

      • KOSPI: (1.78) or (0.07%) to 2486.64

      • SENSEX: 221.19 or +0.28% to 79629.69

    • Currencies:

      • $-¥: (0.45) or (0.32%) to 140.4150

      • $-KRW: +1.34 or +0.09% to 1423.9700

      • A$-$: +0.00 or +0.03% to 0.6417

      • $-INR: (0.05) or (0.06%) to 85.1126

      • $-CNY: +0.02 or +0.26% to 7.3115

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