Japan Shows Growth In Q1 GDPEconomic Data
(JP) JAPAN Q1 PRELIM GDP Q/Q: 1.0% V 0.9%E; NOMINAL GDP Q/Q: 1.0% V 1.0%E ; GDP ANNUALIZED: 4.1% V 3.5%E
(SG) SINGAPORE Q1 FINAL GDP: Q/Q: 10.0% V 10.6%E; Y/Y: 1.6% V 1.8%E
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 PRODUCER PRICES INPUTS Q/Q: 0.3% V 0.0%E (10-quarter low); OUTPUTS Q/Q: -0.1% V 0.0%E (9-quarter low)
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND APR ANZ JOB ADS M/M: -2.0% V -0.9% PRIOR (2nd consecutive decline and 3-month low)
(JP) JAPAN MAR FINAL INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: 1.3% V 1.0% PRELIM; CAPACITY UTILIZATION M/M: +1.3% V -1.7% PRELIM
(AU) AUSTRALIA FEB AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES M/M: 1.1% V 1.0%E; Y/Y: 4.4% V 4.1%E
(AU) AUSTRALIA APR RBA FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRANSACTION (A$): 366M V 944M PRIOR
(AU) AUSTRALIA MAY CONSUMER INFLATION EXPECTATION: 3.1% V 3.3% PRIOR (first decline in 3 months)
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND MAY ANZ CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: 113.9 V 114.0 PRIOR; M/M: -0.1% v 3.4% prior
(SG) SINGAPORE APR ELECTRONIC EXPORTS Y/Y: 1.0% V 4.0%E; NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: 13.1% V 5.7%E; Y/Y: 8.3% V 5.9%E
(KR) South Korea Apr Discount Store Sales y/y: -2.4% v 3.2% prior
(JP) Japan Q1 Housing Loans y/y: 2.4% v 2.2% prior
(JP) Japan investors bought ¥1.26T in foreign bonds last week v ¥55.9B bought in prior week
(JP) Japan Apr Tokyo Condominium Sales y/y: 81.7% v -6.1% prior
(CO) Colombia March Trade Balance: $1.02B v $537M prior
Markets Snapshot (as of 04:30GMT)
Nikkei225 +0.1%
S&P/ASX -0.5%
Kospi +0.4%
Taiwan Taiex +1.5%
Singapore Straits Times Index +0.5%
Shanghai Composite +0.7%
Hang Seng +0.5%
Jun S&P Futures +0.4% at 1,328
June gold +0.6% at $1,546/oz
June Crude +0.5% at $93.23
Overview/Top Headlines
Markets were less cautious today becoming accustomed to Greece's new instability, with a fresh election date and a caretaker government put in place confirmed today. Some of the positive sentiment can also be attributed to the US Fed's willingness to take further steps to stimulate the economy if needed. EUR/USD gained in the session testing $1.2750. Funds continue to flow out of Greek banks and there have been some reports that the ECB is not providing funding to Greek banks, however only Australia remained in negative territory.
AUD/USD traded in a 50 pip range with the top around $0.9950. Former RBA member McKibbin said that the RBA will probably wait for Greek elections before cutting rates again and that a Greek exit from EU will mean rates will need to be pretty low.
Nikkei225 and the yen were give a boost after Japan recorded positive preliminary GDP growth in Q1. q/q GDP was 1.0% while annualized rose to 4.1% better than the 3.5% expected. The positive readings also assuaged fears of a technical recession. Exports and private consumption also showed a marked improvement. Several Japanese press sources reported that Japan may raise its economic assessment tomorrow. Japan Economic minister Furukawa said the pace of deflation in Japan is moderating; No change to assessment that Japan is in moderate deflation. Japan Post Insurance (Kampo) reported that their JGB investment volume will decline by ¥2.1T to ¥3.1T for FY12/13; intends to raise foreign bond purchases by ¥200B for FY12/13, mostly in US treasuries. Investments will concentrate in superlong Japanese government bonds.
USD was weaker against the won, SGD and Philippine peso, silver and copper contracts both gained in the session, rising to $27.60 and $3.50 respectively.
Speakers/Geopolitical/In The Press
(KR) South Korea Vice fin Min Shin: Currency reserves are enough to cope with the crisis; borrowing conditions are still stable.
(JP) Japan Econ Min Furukawa: Japan's economy is continuing upward; Reconstruction demand and car subsidies lifted Q1 domestic demand.
(JP) BOJ Gov Shirakawa: Reiterates important for BOJ to support growth; The economy is in a severe state, doing utmost to achieve stability and growth.
(SG) Singapore Govt: Affirms 2012 GDP forecast 1.0-3.0%; Expects total trade, non-oil domestic exports to rise 3-5% in 2012.
Equities
HSBC, 5.HK: Affirms ROE target of 12-15%; $2.0B in sustainable cost savings achieved.
LG Electronics, 066570.KR: Qualcomm chip shortage may curb smartphone increases.
Samsung Electronics, 005930.KR: Report that Apple placed a "huge" DRAM order with Elpida is not true.
CBA.AU: Reports Q3 Net A$1.7B v A$1.5B y/y; Cash earnings A$1.75B v A$1.7B y/y.
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, 1929.HK: May cut salaries of its employees to help offset higher costs and add more cash back into the company. - Chinese press
1299.HK: AIG sold 119M shares (approx 1% of shares outstanding) of AIA on May 10th off exchange for an avg price of HK$26.06/shr.
BAC: Royal Bank of Canada and Credit Suisse have expressed formal interest in acquiring non-US wealth units - financial press; +0.1% after hours
JPM: The disclosed $2.0B trading loss has already been exceeded by at least another $1.0B - NYT; +0.5% after hours.