Asian Market Update: March 30, 2012

(JP) JAPAN FEB HOUSING STARTS Y/Y: +7.5% V -1.1%E; CONSTRUCTION ORDERS Y/Y: -1.8% V 24.6% PRIOR; ANNUALIZED HOUSING STARTS: 917K V 840KE

(JP) JAPAN FEB NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: 0.3% V 0.0%E; CORE CPI Y/Y: 0.1% V

0.1%E (5-month high); MAR TOKYO CPI Y/Y: -0.1% V -0.1%E; CORE CPI Y/Y: -0.3% V -0.3%E

(KR) SOUTH KOREA Q4 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 0.3% V 0.4% PRELIM; Y/Y: 3.3% V 3.4% PRELIM; 2011 GDP 3.6%

(JP) JAPAN FEB JOBLESS RATE: 4.5% V 4.6%E (3-month low); JOB-TO-APPLICANT RATIO: 0.75 V 0.74E

(NZ) NEW ZEALAND FEB BUILDING PERMITS M/M: -6.7% V 0.0%E (1st decline in 3-months, 5-month low)

(AU) AUSTRALIA FEB PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT M/M: 0.4% V 0.3%E; Y/Y: 3.5% V 3.3%E

(JP) JAPAN MAR MARKIT/JMMA MANUFACTURING PMI: 51.1 V 50.5 PRIOR (7-month high)

(UK) UK MAR GFK CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SURVEY: -31 V -29E (3-month low)

(KR) SOUTH KOREA FEB INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: 0.8% V -0.3%E; Y/Y: 14.4% V 10.0%E

(AU) AUSTRALIA FEB HIA NEW HOME SALES M/M: +3.0% V -7.3% PRIOR (3-month high)

(JP) JAPAN FEB PRELIMINARY INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: -1.2% V 1.3%E; Y/Y: 1.5% V 3.7%E

(JP) JAPAN FEB VEHICLE PRODUCTION Y/Y: 19.7% V 18.6% PRIOR

(JP) JAPAN FEB OVERALL HOUSEHOLD SPENDING Y/Y: +2.3% V -0.5%E (23-month high)

(SG) SINGAPORE FEB MONEY SUPPLY M1 Y/Y: 11.5% V 13.1% PRIOR; M2 MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 9.5% V 9.9% PRIOR

(NZ) NEW ZEALAND FEB MONEY SUPPLY M3 Y/Y: 5.2% V 5.4% PRIOR

(SG) SINGAPORE FEB CREDIT CARD BAD DEBTS (S$): 16.5M V 16.1M PRIOR; CREDIT CARD BILLINGS: 2.9B V 3.0B PRIOR; BANK LOANS & ADVANCES Y/Y: 27.6% V 28.4% PRIOR

(JP) Japan Feb Loans & Discounts Corp y/y: 0.2% v 0.0% prior

Markets Snapshot (as of 04:30GMT)

Nikkei225 -0.3%

S&P/ASX +0.2%

Kospi unchanged

Taiwan Taiex +0.1%

Singapore Straits Times +0.4%

Shanghai Composite +0.4%

Hang Seng -0.6%

S&P Futures +0.2% at 1,401

April gold +0.5% at $1,660/oz

May Crude +0.5% at $103.35

Overview/Top Headlines

Asian markets were mixed today. The yen continued to gain against the dollar and euro. Yen hit a three week high against the dollar, spending most of the session around ¥82 handle. Japan's Cabinet approved the bill to double sales tax, it will now head to the Diet. The big story out of Hong Kong was Sun Hung Kai's (16.HK) co-chairmen were arrested for corruption. The stock fell over 10% on the news, though the company assured the market that it would not impact the operations of the world's second largest real estate company.

South Korea Q4 GDP came in slightly weaker than preliminary readings, however Bank of Korea (BoK) Gov Kim: Q1 GDP will grow more than expected 3.0% seen in late 2011. The Bank of Korea also disclosed that it cut its USD portion of forex reserves in 2011 to the lowest level since 2007 at 60.5% of total v 63.7% in 2010. PBoC released its 2011 China Financial Development Report saying that financial markets kept healthy development in 2011; will keep proactive policy and prudent monetary policy in 2012. US Fed's Lacker noted that the labor market is facing some serious impediments, not sure additional easing would help the labor market.

Fed's Plosser indicated that he thought that the unemployment rate will not fall below 6% for another 2-3 years and that rising employment and stable inflation would support raising interest rates. Commodities were strong with silver up over 1% in the session to $32.37, copper tested $3.81 while corn traded around $6.06 and wheat at $6.15.

Speakers/Geopolitical/In the press

(CN) S&P: Chinese reforms may help improve its productivity; financial system performance well below potential.

(JP) Japan Financial Services Minister Shozaburo Jimi: People's New Party (PNP) will not leave the coalition - Nikkei News

(CN) According to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau property sales for Jan-Feb -13.9% y/y to 2.03M sq meters; Residential sales -8.4% to 1.78M sq meters - Chinese Press

Equities

RIO: Joins China Beijing Metals Exchange.

BHP: Announces Iron Ore President Ian Ashby is stepping down; effective July 1st.

WES. AU: Will invests AUS 1.5B to expand Bunnings and create 6,000 jobs over the next 3 years. Australian Financial Review

US Equities

MU: Settles Lawsuit With Oracle; Revises Q2 lower from -$0.23 to -$0.29; Rev from $2.07B to $2.01B;p -0.2% after hours.

RIMM: Reports Q4 $0.80 v $0.81e, R$4.19B v $4.5Be; Will no longer provide quantitative guidance; CTO retires after 13 years; -2.4% after hours.

WEC: Cuts Q1 EPS guidance to $0.72-0.73 v $0.76e, citing unseasonably warm weather (guided $0.75-0.78 on 2/2); Reaffirms FY12 forecast of $2.24-2.29 v $2.28e - filing; -0.6% after hours.