Feb 16 ,2026
Synopsis:
Asian equities set for mixed start to Tuesday trade. Futures signaling small opening decline in Japan while Australia higher in initial trade. Greater China, South Korea and other markets closed for LNY holiday. Not much in way of leads with US closed for Presidents Day and Europe ending mixed in lackluster trade. S&P 500 futures remain flat. Australian bonds little changed ahead of RBA minutes. FX markets steady after dollar recovered against yen. Crude consolidating Monday gains while gold and silver lower. Bitcoin fluctuating below $70K.
AI narrative divergence remains high profile talking point with big tech underperformance and widening disruption trade playing out in US. Asia seen as relatively more immune (hardware > software) while China AI firms seeing positive reaction to flurry of AI model updates. Asia EM outperformance also getting attention with tech concentration, Fed rate cut expectations (which firmed following softer January CPI), dollar weakness, and commodity rally driving risk sentiment.
RBA minutes will expand upon reasons for February's rate hike with discussions on inflation drivers, restrictiveness of financial conditions and private demand among areas of interest. Minutes dated to extent by subsequent speeches from RBA's top officials conveying similar message that that inflation is too high and could warrant a further policy response to prevent it from becoming entrenched. Economists and markets already coalesced around expectation RBA will hike cash rate again in May.
In company news, BHP (BHP.AU) H1 earnings in-line while dividend surprised higher, copper growth offset tepid performance in iron ore division. Mizuho Financial (8411.JP) confirmed Mizuho Securities being investigated for insider trading by Japan's financial regulators. Alibaba (9988.HK) launched Qwen 3.5, joining other China AI companies releasing updated models ahead of LNY.
Pre-open Company News:\
4324.JP -- Dentsu Group upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA
TTB.TB -- TMBThanachart Bank Public Co. upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA
2269.JP -- Japan Activation Capital acquires shareholding in Meiji Holdings; stake undisclosed
540678.IN -- Cochin Shipyard declared L1 bidder for INR50.00B Indian Navy next generation survey vessels contract
500257.IN -- Lupin enters license and supply agreement with Spektus for commercializing DeslaFlex in Canada
LLY -- Eli Lilly's Phase 3 LIBRETTO-432 trial of Retevmo met its primary endpoint
6723.JP -- GlobalFoundries, Renesas enter multi billion dollar U.S. manufacturing partnership to expand semiconductor capacity
543994.IN -- JSW Infrastructure to consider issuance of equity shares at its 20-Feb board meeting
1777.HK -- Fantasia Holdings Group extends long stop date for debt restructuring to 31-Mar, schedules EGM on 11-Mar
2503.JP -- Kirin downgraded to hold from outperform at CLSA
ABBN.SW -- EU sets a provisional deadline of 20-Mar to rule on SoftBank Group's acquisition of ABB's robotics division
On Deck:
China:
Economic:
08:00 CST: Foreign Direct Investment Y/Y; consensus
Australia:
Earnings:
Australian Finance Group (AFG.AU), Santos (STO.AU), The Lottery Corp. (TLC.AU), Chrysos (C79.AU), Dexus Property Group (DXS.AU), Healius (HLS.AU), Hansen Technologies (HSN.AU), Lycopodium (LYL.AU), Magellan Financial Group (MFG.AU), Mirvac (MGR.AU), Shape Australia (SHA.AU), Superloop (SLC.AU), Step One Clothing (STP.AU), Solvar (SVR.AU), Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (SXE.AU)
New Zealand:
Earnings:
Fletcher Building (FBU.NZ), Spark New Zealand (SPK.NZ)
Market Data:
Gold (Apr 26): ($31.70) or (0.63%) to $5014.60
WTI Crude (Mar 26): +$0.83 or +1.32% to $63.72
$-¥: +0.94 or +0.62% to 153.6290
$-KRW: (3.98) or (0.28%) to 1440.2400
A$-$: (0.00) or (0.06%) to 0.7071
$-INR: +0.15 or +0.17% to 90.7850
$-CNY: (0.00) or (0.01%) to 6.9077
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