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StreetAccount Summary - Asian Market Recap: Nikkei +1.56%, Hang Seng +0.40%, Shanghai Composite (0.30%) as of 04:10 ET

May 09 ,2025

  • Synopsis:

    • Asia equities ended mixed Friday. Strong gains for the Nikkei and Topix to follow the US's lead overnight. Taiwan outperformed as TSMC surged on April chip sales data. Australia and Singapore also showed positive momentum. Small losses for South Korea and mainland China, Hang Seng slightly higher. India sharply lower as geopolitical tensions with Pakistan remain elevated. Southeast Asia ended mainly higher. US futures higher, Europe higher again in early trades. US dollar lower, yen strengthening, other currencies unchanged. Treasuries mixed. Oil and precious metals higher. Industrial metals under pressure with iron ore sharply lower after China's steel association confirmed output curbs had begun.

    • Further positive newsflow on tariffs propelled Asia stocks upward while technology-leaning boards outperformed on Nasdaq's outperformance overnight. NY Post reports said the White House was considering cutting China tariffs to 50-54% as soon as next week if talks this weekend in Switzerland go well with Bloomberg adding China could cut US tariffs to below 60% as an initial step. On the more cautious side, US commerce secretary Lutnick said trade deals with Japan and South Korea will take much longer to finalize than the UK deal announced Thursday.

    • In regional developments, China export growth showed shipments to the US fell 21% in April but were more than offset by exports to Europe and Asia. Imports fell but not as much as feared. Japan real wages contracted for the third consecutive month; household spending rebounded by more than expected. Japan's export growth in first 20 days of April weakened slightly from March with autos a drag.

    • Nintendo (4502.JP) forecast it would sell 15M Switch 2 consoles in its first year despite US tariffs. Nissan Motor (7201.JP) said it will drop plans for its Fukuoka battery plant to focus on broader recovery. Panasonic (6752.JP) says it will clash 10K jobs as it looks to boost profitability by culling non-growth operations. SIMC (981.HK) warned sales could fall up to 6% this quarter because of manufacturing disruptions at its production lines. TSMC (2330.TT) April sales surged 48% y/y as electronics firms rush to buy chips ahead of US tariffs. OCBC (039.SP) posted a drop in Q1 profits fall but its CEO kept the bank's full-year targets. Takeda Pharmaceuticals (7974.JP) said it will invest $30B in the US over five years.

  • Digest:

    • US may reduce China tariffs to below 60% as Trump sounds optimistic note on talks:

      • More traction behind US-China de-escalation theme with President Trump on Thursday saying 145% tariffs on China will be coming down, predicting concessions from Beijing will help bring about a substantive outcome from trade negotiations (Bloomberg, Reuters). Trump said if upcoming talks between US officials and China Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland went well he'd consider reducing 145% tariffs. Added that he may speak with China President Xi following the talks. Development comes day after Trump rejected notion reducing 145% tariffs in bid to jumpstart talks. New York Post cited sources close to negotiations, who said Trump administration considering plan to cut China tariffs to between 50-54% from current 145% as soon as next week. Tariffs on neighboring south Asian nations would be reduced to 25%. Bloomberg sources also noted US targeting China tariff reduction to below 60% as an initial step officials feel could be matched by Beijing. White House had been tempering expectations ahead of Switzerland meeting with Treasury Secretary Bessent saying talks would focus more on de-escalation rather than a sweeping deal. For its part, China Commerce Ministry spokesman on Thursday repeated demand for US to show sincerity and unilaterally reduce tariffs (Bloomberg).

    • China April exports beat expectations despite fall in US shipments, import declines narrow:

      • Dollar-denominated exports rose 8.1% y/y in April, well above Reuters consensus 1.9%, following 12.4% growth in March. Imports dropped only 0.2%, versus expectations of 5.9% decline, after falling 4.3% in March, leading to a trade surplus of $96.18B, versus consensus $89B and $102.B in March. Attention was on export strength as China's exports showed resilience in the first month after President Trump hit China with 145% tariffs (Bloomberg). Customs data showed shipments to US fell 21% y/y and 17.6% m/m in April, while ASEAN and EU are top two trading partners with Beijing. Still press noted April's data may have only captured initial impact from prohibitive tariffs with their effects likely to become more significant from May. Current tariff regime between US and China is likely to bring down trade to negligible levels if no de-escalation efforts are made. Markets will scrutinize outcome of first high-level tariff talks this weekend between Secretary Bessent, USTR Greer with Vice Premier He, though both laid out strong positions, which might indicate an immediate deal is unlikely.

    • Lutnick downplays hopes of quick end to trade talks with South Korea, India and Japan:

      • Speaking to Bloomberg, Commerce Secretary Lutnick voiced caution on timeline for potential agreements with major Asian nations. Said agreements with Japan and South Korea require enormous amount of time while noting around 7,000 lines of tariffs needing changes or modifications under hypothetical agreement with India. Press reports have recently highlighted how US and Japan at odds over tariffs (Kyodo, Nikkei) while access to Japan's auto and agricultural sectors another sticking point. US-India talks seemed to have gotten the most traction with Trump praising India's offer to reduce tariffs to nothing (Mint). Bloomberg sources noted offer was made by Indian officials to expedite talks on trade deal expected by the fall. However, two sides still negotiating over non-tariff barriers, including US concerns over Quality Control Orders. US and South Korea officials held negotiations in late April, where they agreed to craft trade agreement before reciprocal tariff pause is lifted in July (Reuters). However, comments from Korean officials suggested process won't be easy, while South Korean presidential election on 3-Jun another complication to the timeline (Reuters).

    • US and UK highlight details of new trade agreement; market more focused on China:

      • US and UK provided some details on new trade agreement (many of which had already leaked), which marked the first for the White House since Trump reciprocal tariff announcement on 2-Apr. As expected, US to maintain 10% tariff on UK goods, which is estimated to generate $6B in annual revenue. UK will be able to send 100K vehicles to US and pay just a 10% tariff, marking a discount from the current 27.5% level. In addition, US to allow Rolls-Royce engines to enter US free of tariffs, while Rolls Royce set to commit to $10B of Boeing aircraft purchases. US tariffs on British steel and aluminum cut to zero, while UK farmers will be allowed to ship 13K metric tons of beef with no tariffs. Trump also noted deal will drive billions of dollars of increased market access for US products, including beef, ethanol, chemicals and machinery. UK to leave digital services tax in place but said the two countries are working on a digital trade deal. Added they are also working on a deal for the pharma industry. Agreement fits with broader but volatile de-escalation theme that has been the big driver of the recent bounce in risk assets, though market more interested in US-China trade talks set for this weekend in Switzerland. Trump reiterated that China "very much wants to make a deal" and that the 145% tariff rate on China is "coming down".

    • Japan real wages remain negative, household spending beats:

      • Headline nominal average wages rose 2.1% y/y in March, softer than consensus 2.5%, following revised 2.7% in the previous month. Main drag was overtime earnings, down for the first time six months while special payments slowed sharply from the prior month's spurious spike. Scheduled earnings growth was steady. MHLW added two series for real wages with separate deflators. Continuous deflator uses CPI excluding imputed rent, notably firmer than the overall CPI, the former posing a bigger drag on real wages. Still, both series remained negative for the third straight month. Total hours worked fell for the eighth straight month with relatively sharp declines in the latest two, reflecting weakness in overtime shifts. Household spending rose 2.1% y/y in March, above consensus 0.2%, rebounding from a 0.5% decline in February. Inflation still a key factor with nominal spending up 6.4%. Main growth drivers were private university tuition fees, electric utilities and PCs. Inflation also continues to erode growth in household incomes, particularly main breadwinner salaries. While consistently positive in nominal terms, total and disposable incomes fell for the third straight month. Attention turns to BOJ consumption activity indices for clearer GDP implications.

    • Notable Gainers:

      • +14.3% 9613.JP (NTT DATA Group): reports FY results; Nippon Telegraph & Telephone to acquire remaining 42.3% stake at ¥4,000/share

      • +9.6% 220.HK (Uni-President China Holdings): reports Q1 profit after tax CNY602.0M; StreetAccount notes year-ago figure CNY329.4M

      • +7.2% 010130.KS (Korea Zinc Co.): reports Q1 results

      • +1.7% 9434.JP (SoftBank Corp): reports Q4 earnings with revenue and operating income ahead of StreetAccount estimates

      • +1.2% 035420.KS (NAVER): reports Q1 results with operating profit KRW505.3B vs StreetAccount KRW505.23B

      • +0.6% 033780.KS (KT&G Corp): reports Q1 results with revenue ahead of StreetAccount estimates

    • Notable Decliners:

      • -18.1% 6135.JP (Makino Milling Machine Co.): Nidec decides to withdraw tender offer

      • -7.9% 1347.HK (Hua Hong Semiconductor): reports Q1 results below StreetAccount estimates; guides Q2 revenue $550-570M vs FactSet $601.3M

      • -5.4% 6367.JP (DAIKIN INDUSTRIES): reports FY results with operating profit below FactSet estimates

      • -4.8% 981.HK (SMIC): reports Q1 results with revenue $2.25B vs FactSet $2.36B

      • -1.7% 7974.JP (Nintendo): reports FY results with revenue and operating income below FactSet estimates

  • Data:

    • Economic:

      • China April

        • Trade balance $96.2B vs consensus $89B and $102.6B in prior month

          • Exports +8.1% y/y vs consensus +1.9% and +12.4% in prior month

          • Imports (0.2%) y/y vs consensus (5.9%) and (4.3%) in prior month

      • Japan March

        • Average nominal wages +2.1% y/y vs consensus +2.5% and revised +2.7% in prior month

        • Household spending +2.1% y/y vs consensus +0.2% and (0.5%) in prior month

          • Spending +0.4% m/m vs consensus (0.5%) and +3.5% in prior month

    • Markets:

      • Nikkei: 574.70 or +1.56% to 37503.33

      • Hang Seng: 91.82 or +0.40% to 22867.74

      • Shanghai Composite: (10.00) or (0.30%) to 3342.00

      • Shenzhen Composite: (17.41) or (0.88%) to 1970.70

      • ASX200: 39.50 or +0.48% to 8231.20

      • KOSPI: (2.21) or (0.09%) to 2577.27

      • SENSEX: (964.18) or (1.20%) to 79370.63

    • Currencies:

      • $-¥: (0.75) or (0.51%) to 145.1540

      • $-KRW: (3.63) or (0.26%) to 1401.1900

      • A$-$: +0.00 or +0.09% to 0.6406

      • $-INR: (0.63) or (0.73%) to 85.4621

      • $-CNY: +0.01 or +0.14% to 7.2448

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