Asian Equities Higher, Led by Japanese Stocks, RBA Later

Asian markets have seen a significant rebound this morning, after a historic plunge the previous day. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained as much as 3.9%, driven by recoveries in Japanese, South Korean while foreign investors seemed to be back selling Taiwan equities after the Taiex reversed most of this mornings gains. Japan's Topix surged nearly 11%, with major contributors including Toyota Motor and Hitachi, following a sharp decline in the yen. Market volatility remains high, with the VIX hitting 65 overnight, before ending the session at 38.

• Japanese stocks have surged higher this morning, recovering from the previous day's historic 12% collapse. The Nikkei 225 and Topix indices jumped more 10%, marking their biggest gains since October 2008. This rebound was led by exporters such as Toyota Motor and Hitachi, they were also helped by a weaker yen which fell about 1.5%. The Topix Bank Index dropped 17.45% on Monday, although has jumped 8.30% this morning.
• South Korean stocks have also jumped this morning, following the previous session's nearly 9% crash. Earlier there was a halt on program trading after the KOSPI rose over 5% in a minute, this was the first halt for program buying since June 2020. Samsung is currently trading 2.80% higher, after initially opening up over 5%. The KOSPI is 3% higher, while the KOSDAQ is 4.75% higher.
• Taiwan equities opened 4% higher, before giving all gains up and trading back below the 200-day EMA, we have since recovered again to trade 1% higher for the session although still hold just below key support. Foreign investors have been heavy sellers of stocks recently and could have used the gap high on the open as a liquidity window.
• Australia equities are only slightly higher today as we await the RBA meeting at 2.30pm local time, the bank is expected to hold its cash rate steady at 4.35% for the sixth consecutive session. This decision is seen as a signal of the RBA's cautious approach amidst lingering inflation concerns, despite cooling inflation trends. New Zealand equities are lower today, after largely avoiding the sell-off on Monday.
• In the EM space markets are mostly higher, with Malaysia's KLCI up 1%, Philippines PSEi up 1.20%, Indonesia's JCI up 0.90%, while Singapore's Straits Time is 0.90% lower.