ASIA-PAC EQUITY WRAP: Asian stocks trade mixed with outperformance in Japan as focus centred on the BoJ nominee hearings

Analysis details (05:41)

Asia-Pac stocks were mixed with trade mostly rangebound after the choppy but ultimately positive performance on Wall St where markets spent most of the session recovering from the initial data-induced selling. ASX 200 (+0.3%) was positive with the index led by outperformance in tech although gains are limited amid another batch of earnings releases and continued weakness in the mining industry. Nikkei 225 (+1.2%) outperformed as the focus centred on comments from BoJ Governor nominee Ueda at the lower house confirmation hearing in which he noted that current monetary policy is appropriate and that Japan still needs more time for inflation to sustainably hit the 2% target, while he also suggested the BoJ would either need to move towards monetary policy normalisation or must consider ways to maintain YCC depending on if inflation improves significantly or not. Heng Seng (-1.1%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.6%) were lower after a substantial liquidity drain by the PBoC and as the US looks to include Chinese companies in a fresh round of Russian sanctions, while Hong Kong underperforms amid heavy losses in tech owing to weaker earnings from NetEase and after Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group’s quarterly profit fell around 83%.

24 Feb 2023 - 05:37- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk