Asia Equities Higher, AU Consumer Confidence Jumps, Japan PPI Mixed

The Asian markets have experienced a subdued start, notably with China absent for the remainder of the week. The NZD has displayed some weakness, declining by 0.13% against the USD as it eyes a test of the overnight lows at 0.6120. On the data front, Australia featured WBC Consumer Confidence and NAB Business Confidence, while Japan released PPI data.

• Cross-asset movements during the early Asian session have been relatively calm. US equity futures dipped by 0.20%, hovering around Monday's lows. Meanwhile, Asian equity indices showed strength, with the BBG Asia index rising by 1.17%. US Tsys Futures and BBDXY remained largely unchanged, and EUR/USD experienced a modest 0.02% increase.
• Earlier today, RBA Acting Assistant Kohler addressed the market, emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding the RBA's inflation projections. Despite her comments, there was minimal market reaction. Westpac Consumer Confidence in Australia witnessed a notable 6.2% increase to 86.0 in February, reaching its highest level since June 2022. In contrast, the expectation for a rate hike within the next year dropped by 10 percentage points to 42%, while NAB Jan Business Conditions declined to 6 from the previous 7.
• Aussie yields (YM -2.0 & XM -1.5) are 1-2bp higher 2Y at 3.871% while the 10Y is at 4.181%, while AUD/USD trades 0.08% lower to 0.6526, AUD/NZD continues to recover off lows from Friday, touching 1.0660 on NZD weakness, the worst performing of all G10 currencies.
• Elsewhere, Japan Jan PPI rose +0.2% YoY vs +0.10% YoY est, JGBS are little changed post the data with front end 1bp higher, while the 10y is +0.3bp higher.