Economic Data
(JP) JAPAN JAN RETAIL TRADE M/M: 4.1% V 1.0%E; Y/Y: +1.9% V -0.1%E; LARGE RETAILERS' SALES: -1.0% V -1.1%E
(KR) SOUTH KOREA JAN CURRENT ACCOUNT: -$772M V +$2.80B PRIOR (2-year low); GOODS BALANCE: -$1.4B V $2.7B PRIOR
(PH) PHILIPPINES DEC TRADE BALANCE: -$1.2B V -$1.64B PRIOR
(JP) JAPAN FEB SMALL BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: 45.3 V 45.7 PRIOR
(CO) Colombia Dec Industrial Production Y/Y: 2.4% v 5.5%e
Markets Snapshot (as of 05:30GMT)
Nikkei225 +0.1%
S&P/ASX -0.1%
Kospi +0.6%
Taiwan Taiex closed
Singapore Straits Times +0.2%
Shanghai Composite -0.4%
Hang Seng +0.8%
S&P Futures +0.2% at 1,369
April gold -0.2% at $1,771/oz
April Crude -0.4% at $108.17
Overview/Top Headlines
A small decline in crude gave a relief rally to most markets across the region.
Yesterday's heavy hit South Korea tested above the 2,005 level and emerging market currencies gained. Philippines Central Bank Gov Tetangco said that overseas easing is complicating policy and capital inflows are turning emerging markets into portfolio managers. The PHP for its part gained over 0.7% to PHP42.81 to the USD. He also said that inflation should be manageable as long as there were no major shocks from oil prices. Japan Fin Min Azumi said that right now Japan is working on passing the next FY budget and was not considering a stopgap. Japan would only start looking to a hold over budget if an agreement cannot be reached by mid-March. S&P cut Greece's sovereign rating to selective default from CC, saying that if the debt swap was successful it would raise the rating to CCC. This initially led to some euro weakness, later on EUR/USD gained 0.3% today testing $1.3444 ahead of the second round of LTRO scheduled for the 29th. Yen gained against for the Greenback and the Euro, most major Japanese exports paused in their gains with the renewed strength in the yen. A$ had a positive session, though failed to break above $1.0790 level. South Korea's DRAM chip makers Samsung and Hynix both rallied on the news of Elpida's bankruptcy, though neither has indicated any interest in its assets. China PBoC offered CNY10B in 28-day repos at 2.80% (unchanged) though failed to sell any bills.
Speakers/Geopolitical/In the press
(CN) China State researcher Zhang: Sees 2012 exports +15% y/y; GDP will be slow in H1 and picking up into H2 - Chinese press
(MX) Mexico Deputy Fin Min: Not concerned about recent peso bond market developments
(US) Fed's Duke: FOMC's focus on housing is important and key in monetary policy; Housing has been slow in response to low interest rates
(KS) South Korea Financial Services Commission official Kim: To carefully monitor foreign investor capital flow
Equities
VAH.AU: Raises domestic surcharges by A$1.50-6.00, effective from July 1st
BBG.AU: Ends talks with TPG after revised offer of A$3.30/shr (A$3.00 prior) is deemed too low
Tepco, 9501.JP: Will start to pay out compensation in March to residents who voluntarily evacuated their homes due to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant - Nikkei
Elpida, 6665.JP: Bond default to reach ¥138.5B as part of bankruptcy protection; Micron seen as the prime candidate to sponsor Elpida rebuild - Nikkei News
GFF.AU: Confirms that Singapore's Wilmar International acquired 10.1% stake for A$115M after the close yesterday; May raise stake further - financial press
TLS.AU: ACCC accepts changes to structural seperation proposal, opening the way for the NBN deal to go ahead - financial press
US Equities
CVI: Reports Q4 $0.34 v $0.38e, R$1.06B v $1.0Be; -2.2% after hours
KOF: Reports Q4 Op profit MXN6.5B v MXN5.1B y/y, Rev MXN36.2B v MXN28.0B y/y; +0.5% after hours
UHS: Reports Q4 $0.91 v $0.90e, R$1.84B v $1.9Be; +1.1% after hours
URS: Reports Q4 $0.89 (adj) v $0.98e, R$2.37B v $2.5Be; initiates dividend of $0.20; -0.5% after hours
FB: Yahoo claiming that Facebook is infringing on 10-20 of its patents covering social networking, advertising and personalization - FT