TradeTheNews.com Asian Market Update: China releases new property price measurements;

February 16 2011 by Milla Schmidt in Forex Release |No Comments

***Economic Data*** – (CH) CHINA JAN NEW PROPERTY PRICES: BEIJING M/M: 0.8%; Y/Y: +6.8%; EXISTING HOME PRICES M/M: 0.3%; SHANGHAI M/M: 0.9%; Y/Y: +1.5%; EXISTING HOME PRICES M/M: 0.5% – (JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) MEETING MINUTES FOR JAN 24TH-25TH: MANY SAYING THAT THE ECONOMY IS LIKELY TO RETURN TO MODERATE RECOVERY – (CH) CHINA DEC LEADING INDEX: 154.3 V 101.58 PRIOR; -0.5% v +0.5% prior – (AU) AUSTRALIA JAN RBA FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRANSACTION (A$): 326M V 855M PRIOR – (JP) Japan Jan Nationwide Dept Sales y/y: -1.1% v -1.5% prior; Tokyo Dept. Store Sales y/y: +1.4% v -0.3% prior – (CL) CHILE CENTRAL BANK RAISES THE NOMINAL OVERNIGHT RATE TARGET BY 25BPS TO 3.50%; AS EXPECTED

***Markets Snapshot (as of 12:30amET)*** – Nikkei225 +0.1% – S&P/ASX flat – Kospi +1.8% – Taiex +1.9% – Shanghai Composite -1.1% – Hang Seng +1.0% – Mar S&P Futures +0.1% at 1,339 – Apr Gold +0.1% $1,385/oz – Mar Crude oil -0.25% $86.15/brl – Mar Copper flat at $4.48 – Mar Wheat -0.4% at $8.47

***FX USD Majors Session Range*** – EUR/USD: 1.3589-1.3627 – GBP/USD: 1.6161-1.6185 – USD/CHF: 0.9490-0.9512 – USD/CAD: 0.9835-0.9853 – AUD/USD: 1.0109-1.0131 – NZD/USD: 0.7584-0.7608 – USD/JPY: 83.22-83.41

***Overview/Top Headlines*** – Currencies remained quiet throughout the Asian trading session with little catalyst to move them ahead of the European open. The equity markets on the other hand were feeling some Friday frisk. Shanghai yo-yoed around up and down over 1.0% at any given time. Hang Seng up over 240 points led by the financial stocks, Taiex also up well over 2.0% at one point. Markets seem to be adjusting to the interest rate hike in China and under the new property price calculations in Jan only showed a modest increase city by city. January new property prices for Beijing m/m: 0.8%; y/y: +6.8%; Existing home prices m/m: 0.3%; Shanghai m/m: 0.9%; y/y: +1.5%; Existing home prices m/m: 0.5%. PBoC also had the second day of setting the yuan mid point at a new high, today’s record was 6.5781 v 6.5871 prior close.

- Down under BHP announced they were looking to revise pricing of coking coal contracts with Japanese steelmakers from a quarterly to a monthly basis amid constantly rising commodity prices. Nikkei News reported that the Japan Cabinet Office is likely to raise economic assessment for February, marking second consecutive upward revision; this would follow an upgrade by BOJ this week. The EU parliament has approved a free trade agreement with South Korea, it will move on to ratification by the 27 member states, would go into effect July 1st.

- Bank of Japan released their meeting minutes for the January meeting. Comments were all in line with what we have seen out of the BoJ when they announced the rate decision earlier this week. One member thinks that Japan will resume recovery in Q1/Spring. Very few felt that uncertainty remains for the Japan economy after the recovery resumes.

- During the US session it was affirmed that Egypt had received a request from Iran for transport of warships through Suez. Striking workers at the Suez Canal Authority said their protests in the three major canal cities – Suez, Port Said and Ismailiya – would not interfere with the operations of the canal.

- Just a reminder we have the G20 Fin Min meeting in Paris this weekend; commodity prices, hot money flows and changes to the international monetary system are all on the agenda with little results expected.

***Speakers/Geopolitical/In the press*** – (CH) Droughts in China are increasing in terms of severity and frequency and it is threatening grain security – China Daily – (CH) China Daily citing local statistics agency state about 68% of Shanghai residents are “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with wages – (CH) China China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC): Has urged banks to not rely too much on reports from credit ratings and use their own judgment when issuing loans and making investments; Warned they will be enforcing policies osely this year – HK Standard – USD/CNY: (CH) PBoC Advisor Xia Bin: Yuan internationalization needs to be gradual and is at the heart of China’s monetary strategy

***Equities*** – BBG.AU: Reports H1 Net A$57.2M, -18% y/y; Rev A$837M, +15.7% y/y; Has not received any takeover approaches; closed +6.4% – NSANY: Deliveries of Leaf electric vehicles expected to remain very slow until April at the earliest – US Financial Press citing company exec; Closed +0.6% – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine, 042660.KS: Awarded a $2B order from Maersk to build 10 container ships – BYD Company Limited, 1211.HK: Spokesperson Wang: Lowering prices by CNY3K-15K on 5 best selling models – Chinese Press – FMG.AU: Reports H1 profit $314M v $296Me ($43M y/y), Rev $2.5B v $1.2B y/y; Approves

***US Equities*** – BUCY: Reports Q4 $1.58 v $1.31e, R$1.24B v $1.1Be; +0.2% after hours – SPWRA: Reports Q4 $1.36 v $1.05e, R$937M v $931Me; +7.8% after hours – CECO: Reports Q4 $0.81 (adj) v $0.76e, R$542.9M v $552Me – BCSI: Reports Q3 $0.34 v $0.36e, R$122.9M v $125Me; -8.2% after hours – RRGB: Reports Q4 $0.12 v $0.05e, R$193M v $191Me; +9.9% after hours

***FX/Fixed Income/Commodities*** – (JP) Japan Jan Crude Steel Production m/m: +5.3%; y/y: +10.7% at 9.65AM tons – FCG.NZ: Will freeze New Zealand wholesale domestic milk prices in 2011 in order to keep prices steady for consumers – (CH) China Iron and Steel Association (CISA): Jan Steel inventory +11% m/m (largest increase since Oct 2010); Exporters continue to face difficulties – (KS) South Korea Vice Fin Min: Will increase of tariff free pork imports by 50K tons in H1; Will also allow aluminium imports tariff free

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